We've reached a point on the internet where page loads are unnecessary and instant gratification is expected. AJAX has become the new standard for how we retrieve and post information. Pagination has always been one of those tedious and annoying necessities for breaking up information, and the time has come to put an end to it! If there's anything that iPhone email or Google Reader has taught us, it's that pagination sucks. Once you use either of these products, going back to the "old way" of pagination will make you want to go do some yoga breathing exercises (or am I the only one?).
Why pagination sucks:
- when you're on page 3, all the content you've loaded from pages 1 and 2 are now inaccessible without clicking your browser's back button a few times...then scrolling back to the information you wanted.
- Target areas of pagination links are normally tiny and hard to quickly find.
- Pagination causes unnecessary server load when people request previously loaded information via pagination links.
A better way : AJAX "Load more":
- Use AJAX to load additional content below existing content without refreshing the page
- Have two HUGE buttons: "Load next 20..." and "Load All..."
- For textual content, add a visual indicator to separate every 20 or so items to aid in knowing where you currently are in the list
I know you might be saying to yourself..."Dude, your blog still has this crappy pagination!". Yes, I am fully aware that my wordpress site you're viewing does not utilize this. My current endeavor of changing how we organize and share our photos takes up most of my time these days. That is why I would encourage you to go and write a wordpress plugin for me and the rest of the blogosphere to solve this problem :)