Pagination 101

https://gist.github.com/622561

by moubarak • 14 years ago

39 17 14 years ago

gist.github.com

idunno246• 14 years ago

"I'm In Like With You is a brand-new site that is best described as an online flirting site, or if you don't mind the term, a "Web 2.0 dating site". Think eBay + dating + Web 2.0 + social networks. "

funny to see omgpop's old description.

james4k• 14 years ago

Yeah, that's a very strange description as well. As far as I remember, it's always been about social gaming, and far before that was what it was even called.

shabble• 14 years ago

One of the more non-obvious issues around pagination, especially with something like a webcomic where you're expecting to view multiple pages, is to have the page layout ensure that the buttons appear in the same place on each page.

This means that you can read the page, click 'next', and not have to move the mouse in order to progress onwards. Also annoying in slide decks and image slideshows.

Drbble• 14 years ago

This is in the Human Interface guidelines for GUI wizards (series of dialog boxes).

kijin2• 14 years ago

Even better, just allow the user to navigate by hitting the left/right keys. The Atlantic's "In Focus" photo galleries do this, though all the images are on the same page in that case.

It's not always possible to place pagination links at the same location if the webcomic has images of different sizes, but I have yet to see a physical keyboard that moves around depending on what's on the screen.

chris24• 14 years ago

Using the left/right keys is a great idea, but you'd have to have some clever way of making users aware of it.

You'd also have to come up with a solution that works on devices that don't necessarily have a keyboard available at all times (on iOS, for instance).

TeMPOraL• 14 years ago

Just don't bind to anything funny, like SMBC did, because it annoys the hell out of keyboard-based browsers users (like, try to copy URL to SMBC comic in Conkeror...).

makecheck• 14 years ago

Actually, I think a big one is missing: make next/previous redundant and put them side-by-side.

In other words, the layout should be like this:

    Previous   Next   1   2   3   4  . . .   Previous   Next

I hate accidentally clicking too far and then having to stop and figure out where the mouse should be to go back one page. Actions that are opposite should be side-by-side so that they can be undone quickly with minimal mouse movement.

Another good form of redundancy is to put all controls at the top of the page and all controls at the bottom. The top of the page is really good for keeping things in exactly the same place on every page, yet the bottom is often where people are after they're done reading.

kijin2• 14 years ago

Rule #0: Have proper pagination in the first place. Nobody likes it when they have to use "infinite scroll" to get to page 357. Especially if your site takes forever to load anything after the first few pages. (Yes, I'm talking to you, Twitter!)

lucasjans• 14 years ago

I think an updated version of this article should address continuous scrolling and when should it be used vs. pagination.

egypturnash• 14 years ago

One thing he misses is that a not insignificant number of webcomics will let you click on the comic to go to the next page. Biggest target you could ask for.

Sadly it's not a default on the very common Wordpress+Comicpress combo. Well it wasn't for a while, I just checked and there's a switch for it in my installation but I can't remember if it defaulted to on or off.

elktea• 14 years ago

The best pagination style I have come across is this: http://karaboz.ru/2007/11/19/paginator-3000-postranichnaya-n...

Just add text links for previous, next, last and first and you're set.

phpluver2• 14 years ago

nice, someone make a better example in english

buddydvd• 14 years ago

> 7. Put First and Last links on the outside > Nothing is more counter-intuitive than a Last link followed by a Next link.

Instead of making the following change like the author suggests:

    prev first [numbered links] last next

   first prev [numbered links] next last

IMO, it's better to always show the link to the first/last page as the first/last numbered link. For example:

    prev 1 ... 56 57 58 [58] 60 61 62 ... 120 next

Advantages:

1. You avoid showing disabled "first" or "last" link when you're at the first or last page.

2. The numbered link to the last page also show you the total page count.

3. It's more likely that people will want to click the "next" link than the "last" link.

4. It's more likely that people will want to navigate from page 2 back to page 1 via the browser's back button than clicking on a "first" link.

phpluver2• 14 years ago

worst is evow.com http://i.imgur.com/LyGPV.png can you guess what page I'm on?

Pagination 101

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