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

Transcript

1. PAGINATION
   

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2. PAGINATION
   SRSLY.
   

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3. soundcloud.com
   /shigeto/tracks?page=1
   

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4. But what does that actually
   mean?
   

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5. The page with
   the newest stuff.
   

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6. So what does this mean?
   

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7. The page with the…
   slightly older stuff?
   

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8. How much older?
   It varies.
   

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9. Fair enough.
   

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10. But what will it mean
    in 4 weeks?
    

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11. It‘ll mean what page 1
    meant today. More or less.
    

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12. The meaning of page
    numbers changes over time.
    

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13. 1 2 3 4
    new old
    

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14. 1 2 3 4 5
    new old
    

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15. 1 2 3 4 5
    new old
    

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16. The meaning of page
    numbers changes over time.
    Which defies the
    whole point of a URL.
    

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17. Page 2 has no relationship
    to the content of the page.
    It has no more intrinsic meaning than
    next.
    

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18. So how is it
    supposed to work?
    

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19. So how is it
    supposed to work?
    Like in books. You know:
    where page numbers come from.
    

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20. 1
    old new
    

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21. 1 2
    old new
    

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22. 1 2 3
    old new
    

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23. 1 2 3 4
    old new
    

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24. 1 2 3 4
    old new
    5
    

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25. So. Page 1.
    Book: the beginning
    Net: the end
    

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26. So. Page 1.
    Book: the beginning
    Net: the end
    WEIRD.
    

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27. On the internet:
    • Pages go from newest to oldest
    • Page content varies over time
    • Page numbers are for relative
    navigation only
    

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28. WAT
    

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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
    

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30. 1
    new old
    

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31. 2 1
    new old
    

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32. 3 2 1
    new old
    

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33. 4 3 2 1
    new old
    

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34. 4 3 2 1
    new old
    5
    

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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
    

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36. BUT:
    

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37. New SoundCloud:
    • Endless scrolling
    

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38. MEH
    

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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?
    

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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.
    

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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
    

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42. So if you‘re going to have
    page numbers, you might as well
    make them consistent and useful.
    

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43. Thanks!
    Alex Feyerke
    @espylaub
    up.front June 2012
    

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