I don’t know when it started, but I hope it stops soon.
Infinite scrolling on websites annoys me.
Why? Because like the infinite scroll trend, I never know when a website’s page it’s going end. It just keeps going, without purpose.
The Pros of Infinite Scroll
Few.
- Feeds. I find infinite scroll in social media feeds makes sense. Users post countless material on these networks, and displaying posts in a descending order is an appropriate way to show that content.
- Loading. It’s also helpful because you don’t have to wait for a page to load new information, it just appears.
That’s all I can ponder.
The Cons of Infinite Scroll
Far greater.
- The great unknown. You don’t know when it ends. It just keeps going. Pagination at least shows how many pages to expect.
- You can’t find what you’re looking for. This includes using a browser’s find on page feature.
- Lack of control for a user.
- I expect there to be a footer on most websites.
- Doubt it’s search engine friendly. How does a crawler discover content not yet rendered on a page?
That’s it. Just short rant about something I hope goes away.
August 1st, 2019 Update: Looks like might have fished my wish, and I’m not the only one who feels this way.
A new bill has been introduced to ban infinite scrolling, autoplay and addictive technology as a part of the Social Media Addiction Reduction Technology Act (SMART).
One of the things I did not consider is the accessibility impact of infinite or endless scrolling, or the potential addictive nature. Sometimes our politicans do have our best interests in mind.