Scrolling vs. Paging
The showdown continues
I have a motto, that if you ask me a question about anything web related, my answer is always “It depends”. We’ve been exploring different UI options in my “quickpolls” like, hover vs. click navigation and accordion styles.
But — there are many times where maybe it doesn’t depend all that much. I’m starting to wonder if scrolling vs. paging is one of those times.
I’ll admit that this question came from bias — I personally really dislike pagination and was being asked about it for an application I designed, so I thought I’d throw it out there to see what my friends think*.
I had ~25 of my Facebook friends respond, only 1 of which is a professional designer. Overwhelmingly, the answer was “Scrolling” — in fact, only 1 person preferred not scrolling.
It was interesting to see the different contexts they had in mind — listicles, search results, e-commerce — it wasn’t just one particular context that they preferred scrolling.
Looking through their comments, here’s what I found they said:
Scrolling
Pros
- Much better on mobile
- Can use CTRL-F to find things in the whole list
- Lazy load can make the experience feel more seamless
- More likely to get beyond the “first page” of results or even read in its entirety
Cons
- If you leave, you may never find your spot again (AMEN)
- If it’s infinite, you can’t have a footer
- It can feel infinite even if it isn’t
- Can be tough to get back to controls on a page (unless they’re fixed)
Pagination
Pros
- Can find your place again (unless the content changes rather quickly)
- Can feel less overwhelming (easily see how finite the list is)
Cons
- Typically don’t go past the first page of results
- Can feel really overwhelming (can see the list is quite long, depending on the pagination style)
- You’re probably feeding an advertiser
So what do you think? Have you found any use cases that overwhelmingly called for pagination or scrolling? How do you determine which pattern to use?
*I’m aware that my Facebook friends hardly count as data, but it is so fascinating to see how vocal they are about these preferences and why.
Ashley Crutcher is a Digital Designer at InterVarsity located in Madison, WI. She tweets at @ashleyspixels and enjoys cuddling with her cat, crafting, working out, and thinking too much about everything.
