8 Top Read Progress Bar WordPress plugins (Most are for free)

Aug 4, 2022
Small figures talking about wordpress progress bar plugins

Do you want to add the possibility of viewing the progress bars of WordPress?

The bar which shows the progress of reading can be a fantastic option to boost your site's user experience by giving them a visual indicator of how fast they're reading through a certain piece of content.

In this blog article we've collected eight of the most popular choices, including six that are absolutely cost-free.

We'll provide the specifics of each plugin as well as brief explanation of the way the progress bars work and the reasons that they are beneficial for your website.

What exactly is can you call an Reading Progress Bar?

Most often, you'll put an horizontal bar either at the bottom or near the top of your page. As users browse through your post it's likely that the bar will "fill up" in order to display how much you are from completing your content.

Certain plugins give the option of creating an oblique progress bar that is either of the sides of the content. It appears like scroll bars. One of the main differences is that the progress bar will be based on the size of the page itself in contrast to the scroll bar that is found in browsers, which is based on the complete width of the page.

This is a real example of the way websites usually use the progress bars...

A HubSpot reading progress bar
A sample of a progress reading bar that was created by HubSpot.

The Thrive Themes features the bar in green to read that can be visible beneath the header which features a sticky back

A reading progress bar example from Thrive Themes.
A reading progress bar created from Themes Thrive. Themes.

But, you are able to try different progress bars according to the site that you're on.

Why is it necessary to add this Reading Progress Bar to WordPress?

We'll start with a discussion of the experience of all users.

The majority of people would like to learn about the topic before spending enough time to read your article. Do you write a five minutes piece that you can glance at during breaks or a long up to 20 minutes which requires a lot of focus?

The bar's progress provides readers with the idea of what they can expect from your work when they first begin reading. This is why some sites provide an estimate of reading time as well as indicators of progress that a number of plugins listed below can support.

If your readers are beginning to read your piece the progress bar might be an effective way to encourage readers to continue reading the entire article. Like in the previous example after readers have completed the bulk of the article, they'll want to read the rest of the article once they've read all of the content.

Improved user experience could lead to positive changes in two important indicator variables:

  • Dwell time is a way to encourage users to take the time to read through the entire page when they've finished. It will also increase the amount of amount of time users spend on your site.

8 of the Top Reading Progress Bar WordPress Plugins

This article will take you deep into the best 8 progress bars for WordPress plugins that can help in incorporating a reading progress bar on your website.

There are numerous standard progress bar plug-ins that permit you to build custom progress bars that can be used for any reason This article is targeted at plugins that provide reading progress indicators that are based on what length is the webpage's content.

Concerning price, six of the plug-ins listed are completely free. Two cost fairly, and provide more flexibility that isn't available with the alternative free options.

Read Meter

The Read Meter plugin.
Read Meter

This plugin allows you to instantly add a progress bar. It can be put in the top or middle of the page. You also have the option to show the expected reading time and the time indicator.

What you will get from Read Meter

  • The top and the bottom position. the progress bar can be visible on the bottom or top of the screen that the user is using.
  • Read-timeAutomatically add the expected read time to various parts of the article (e.g. under in the post's title) or manually enter it by using a shortcode.

Price Read Meter is 100% free.

Reading Progressbar

The Reading progressbar plugin.
Reading Progressbar

In conjunction with Read Meter, Reading progressbar is another well-known Progress bar plugin on WordPress.org. It's distinct from Read Meter, however, it doesn't offer the option of incorporating the length of the reading session in the as Read Meter does - it's used only for the progression bar.

However, it does give more flexibility when it comes to focusing on areas of interest, something that Read Meter doesn't offer. It is able to customize the progress bar of your choice to particular kind of templates as well as the specificity of each type of post.

What you will get with Reading Progressbar:

  • Modifiable styleYou may alter the height as well as the color of the progress bar in order to match the layout of your website.

Pricing Progressbar reading is absolutely no cost.

It's a must Read

The Worth the Read plugin.
An Essential Read

worth studying is among the progress bars that could be altered to fit your requirements. WordPress plugins. This is a great option for people who feel that older plugins restrictive.

It provides distinct targeting and location options that many other plugins can't provide, as well as different alternatives. Users also have the possibility of adding an estimation of the length of the read in the event that they want to add it.

What will you receive with the purchase? Worth the Read:

  • Horizontal and Vertical position options The horizontal progress bar is located in the upper or lower right of the screen , or the vertical progress bar located in the left or side. Vertical placement is unique as the majority of plugins are not equipped with this option.
  • Post types that are targetedYou will only be able to add your progress bar of reading to certain types of post.
  • Devices that target HTML0You can choose to disable the progress bar on smartphones and tablets (or computers).
  • RTL can support RTL It's one of the plug-ins that allow you to convert to RTL and works great for websites that use RTL languages.
  • Style optionscan be altered to conform to the thickness and hue as well as the transparency and more. If you've enabled the option to comment, you may pick a distinct colour to signal that the area for comments will begin with a progression bar.
  • Reading time estimationWhen you turn on reading time, it's possible to modify its function before putting it in place in a manual or automatic manner with the shortcode.

cost is worth reading totally without cost.

The Progress Bar for Catch Scroll

The Catch Scroll Progress Bar plugin settings area.
Catch Scroll Progress Bar

the Catch Scroll Progress Bar is a fantastic alternative for adding a a basic progress bar to your site.

The interface is straightforward and offers only the essential options you need to design and place the bar of progress.

What will you get From The Catch Scroll The Progress Bar

  • The lower or upper section of the web page. It is possible to put the progress bar either at the top or bottom the page.
  • Post type targetedYou cannot connect your progress bar to particular post types.
  • Template-targetingfor these post types, you can only display it on specific templates. Also, you can apply it to particular post types , but not to the archive page.
  • Style and color choicesCustomize the hue, opacity as well as the size of the progress bar.

The cost is the Scroll Progression Bar 100% free.

WP Reading Progress

The WP Reading Progress plugin.
WP Reading Progress

WordPress Reading Progress is a distinctive and free bar for progress WordPress plugin. It is available on WordPress.org.

Like the other plugin This one also offers minimal options that you need to customize the appearance of your Reading bar progress. But for most people the default settings are sufficient, which makes it an excellent choice.

The information you'll get when you sign up for WP Reading Progress:

  • Post-types that targetOnly will show the progression bars for certain kinds of posts. Also, you can offer archive pages or none at all.
  • Style modificationsallows users to change the hue as well as the width that the bar appears. However, you only have the option of selecting a single hue, and there's not any choices regarding transparency.

Price The cost of HTML0 is: Reading Progress is 100% absolutely cost-free.

Reading Time

The premium Reading Time plugin.

Reading Time is the very first plug-in related to reading on this list that's offered in an upgraded version.

However, it's not expensive and includes unlimited upgrades through Envato's CodeCanyon marketplace.

There are two primary motives to think about Reading Time over the free alternatives:

  • 8+ preset styles There are distinct design options for vertical bars, such as instead of solid fills inside the progress bars (pictured below).

Additionally, you get the "standard" options one would like to see from a plug-in

  • Flexible positioning Alongside the automatic placement of top and bottom, it's also possible to use the feature of custom positioning to add your progress bar on every CSS selector.
  • Style alternativesin in addition to the 8 styles already set, there are numerous options to customize the color and size of the progress bar.

cost Read Time costs $15. It includes lifetime updates to a single site and 6 months of assistance.

Reading Position Indicator

The Reading Position Indicator plugin.
Reading Position Indicator

Reading Position Indicate is a lightweight plug-in that is free to show the progress bar on WordPress.org.

The app does not offer many options for setting, however one of the features that stands out is that you are able to add a personal gradient on your progress bar (in place of the traditional hue).

What you'll get with the Reading Position Indicates:

  • Positions at the top or bottom There's an absence of a CSS selector to target the top or bottom position, but you are able to incorporate an offset.
  • Post Type TargetingYou could target your progress bar on specific post types.
  • Style options for customizing the appearance of the HTML0.You can choose between shades of gradient and solid. You can also adjust the width of your progress bar.

Price Read Position indicator is completely free.

ReBar

The premium ReBar plugin.
ReBar

ReBar is yet another premium Reading Progress Bar WordPress plugin available through the Envato CodeCanyon marketplace.

This is also true of Reading Time, here are some of the unique attributes it offers that are worthwhile to put your money into:

  • 8 different styles of presets There's an array of distinctive styles that surpass the standard hues, such as the use of shades, plastic, iPhone-style and much more.
  • infinite scrolling featureReBar is able to support endless scrolling. ReBar is still able to work in endless scroll layouts making ReBar a fantastic option for sites that require endless scrolling. The size of the scroll is decided by CSS selectors. After that, create a customized progression bar for each blog post that is scrolling endless.

Here are some other important points to consider:

  • Horizontal and Vertical styles There is the possibility of placing a an horizontal progress bar in the upper or lower part of the page OR set an indicator for vertical progress whether on the left or right side of the webpage.
  • Flexible stylesIn addition to the eight types of styles, you are also able to change the color , width and height of the progress bar.
  • RTL can be utilized asthe reverse that of the progress bars in RTL language.

Cost ReBar's cost is $15.00. It includes unlimited updates to a single website in addition to the period of 6 years of support.


Summary

This collection contains the top 8 bars charts that can be read using WordPress plugins.

If you're interested in adding the appearance of a progress bar it's possible to look into applications such as Read Meter or Reading progressbar.

But if you're trying to find the most customized customization possible for your money You might start with Worth the Read, as it includes a number of different options and options that other plugins don't include.

If you're looking to go beyond a simple background color and adding a progress bar, you should look into the best options on CodeCanyon for Reading Time or ReBar. One of the greatest features of these plugins is they come with more than 8 designs and advanced choices for targeting.

Each plugin comes with its own unique design and function. It's important to explore them all in search of which one is suitable for your site.

Time, costs and savings and boost website performance

  • Assistance is immediately available from WordPress experts at all times on hosting.
  • Cloudflare Enterprise integration.
  • International reach thanks to 34 data centers all over the world.
  • Optimization by using the integrated Application for monitoring the performance.

This post was first seen on here

Article was first seen on here