Infinite Scrolling

An infinite scroll is a user interface feature that allows a website or application to load new content continuously as the user scrolls down the page, eliminating the need for pagination. The content is loaded dynamically as the user approaches the bottom of the page, and the page appears to be infinitely long. Infinite scrolling is often used in social media feeds, news websites, and e-commerce sites to allow users to browse a large amount of content without having to click through multiple pages.

Infinite scrolling can improve the user experience by allowing users to quickly and easily access large amounts of content without having to navigate to multiple pages. However, it can also have some drawbacks, such as making it more difficult for users to find specific content or track their progress through the content. Some users may also find it disorienting to have content continuously loading as they scroll.

Things that I hate about infinite scrolling:

• They are more often than not, badly implemented. The promise of “infinity” is simply not there, because I always end up waiting (too much time) to load more content, in fact, a loading gif started to appear for that purpose. That’s almost the same as clicking on the next page.
• The user never reaches the footer of a page, where normally you find relevant info, (or, as a user one expects to find it). A footer filled with relevant info like contacts or a sitemap or a common UI pattern. Not allowing the user to ever reach the footer is letting the user down because he/she expects to find the “end” of the page.
• The infinite scroll makes it impossible to make a quick assessment of the total amount of information that is listed, by not displaying the total number of pages and the number of items per page, keeping the user on a task with an unknown end.
• It removes the feeling of control from the user. Whereas in classic pagination the user can choose the number of items to display on each page, and maybe jump immediately to the end by simply clicking on the last page, the Infinite scroll doesn’t allow that. The user always needs to scroll first through all of the items to reach the end.

There. I’ve shared my personal dislike towards infinite scrolls. What about you? what is your view on this?