Pagination on the Internet and why it’s weird

A slightly aimless foray into how we sort collections of items on the internet, meant as a basis for a discussion on the topic.

Held at up.front Berlin in June 2012

1. PAGINATION
2. PAGINATION SRSLY.
3. soundcloud.com /shigeto/tracks?page=1
4. But what does that actually mean?
5. The page with the newest stuff.
6. So what does this mean?
7. The page with the… slightly older stuff?
8. How much older? It varies.
9. Fair enough.
10. But what will it mean in 4 weeks?
11. It‘ll mean what page 1 meant today. More or less.
12. The meaning of page numbers changes over time.
13. 1 2 3 4 new old
14. 1 2 3 4 5 new old
15. 1 2 3 4 5 new old
16. The meaning of page numbers changes over time. Which defies the whole point of a URL.
17. Page 2 has no relationship to the content of the page. It has no more intrinsic meaning than next.
18. So how is it supposed to work?
19. So how is it supposed to work? Like in books. You know: where page numbers come from.
20. 1 old new
21. 1 2 old new
22. 1 2 3 old new
23. 1 2 3 4 old new
24. 1 2 3 4 old new 5
25. So. Page 1. Book: the beginning Net: the end
26. So. Page 1. Book: the beginning Net: the end WEIRD.
27. On the internet: • Pages go from newest to oldest • Page content varies over time • Page numbers are for relative navigation only
28. WAT
29. Solution: • Number pages from first to last • Newest content stays left (because we read ltr) • We use older and newer instead of forward and back
30. 1 new old
31. 2 1 new old
32. 3 2 1 new old
33. 4 3 2 1 new old
34. 4 3 2 1 new old 5
35. Now: • Page numbers are deterministic • Content is stable and linkable • Page numbers actually have inherent meaning • The whole thing actually makes sense • Dead easy to implement
36. BUT:
37. New SoundCloud: • Endless scrolling
38. MEH
39. Pagination: still relevant? • endless scrolling is everywhere • lots of collections change all the time anyway • no-one minded when pagination was broken • is a book really the best basis for an interaction pattern for collections of items?
40. Pagination: still relevant? • content has changed • behaviours and expectations have also changed • finding things is different: less browsing, more searching, filtering, tags, recommendations etc.
41. But pagination still is useful: • Are streams really applicable to everything? Naw. • Some collections are meant to be stable and long-lasting • Archivability is still useful there
42. So if you‘re going to have page numbers, you might as well make them consistent and useful.
43. Thanks! Alex Feyerke @espylaub up.front June 2012