Pagination on the Internet and why it’s weird

Transcript

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