How do you decide whether you should go for pagination (a static page) or infinite scroll (content continues to load after clicking on next)?
When building websites, designers and developers often get stuck between Pagination vs Infinite Scroll.
Pagination is a well-known way of presenting information on the web. It consists of displaying a fixed number of pages at once. Paginated pages tend to load faster and provide an intuitive way for users to navigate through long lists.
In contrast, infinite scrolling allows you to present a large amount of data without having to reload the page. Infinite scroll allows users to click through links to see new posts without having to wait for them to load. Infinite scrolling means you keep adding elements to your page until it gets too big for the user’s screen.
There’s no definitive answer as to which method is superior. Both methods offer advantages and disadvantages, depending on the situation.
Now you might have questions like:
Should I use Infinite scrolling or Pagination for my content?
Which one is best among Pagination vs Infinite Scroll comparison?
Let us explain each of the methods in detail with advantages & disadvantages so that you can easily opt for one that suits best for your eCommerce store.
What is an Infinite Scroll?
Infinite scrolling allows visitors to browse through content without having to reload the page. The idea behind this technique is to create a seamless experience within a site. As users scroll down, the browser continuously loads additional items onto the screen. In other words, the user does not have to remember where they left off. They can simply start browsing from wherever they last stopped. Infinite scrolling provides a cleaner experience that lets users focus on what’s relevant on each page.
The Magento 2 infinite scroll module by MageAnts is designed to load the next page of the website automatically through Ajax. This extension makes a shopping experience more pleasant by providing an uninterrupted product loading experience and allows customers to find the products they need much faster.
Advantage of Infinite Scroll
- Makes content load faster!
- Helps users get around slow connections
- Gets rid of annoying page breaks and scroll bars
- Enables users to stay on-site longer
- Eliminates back button problems
- Users don’t have to wait for the page to load
- Keeps the website open and active while being scrolled
- Allows for a clean interface design
- Improves usability
- Does not conflict with the existing navigation structure
Disadvantages of Infinite Scroll
There are several limitations to using infinite scrolling.
- It requires a large amount of data.
● No Access to a Footer
- Infinite scrolling does not provide any feedback to its visitors regarding the number of pages left to view.
- Loading images takes time.
- Infinite scroll requires users to go back and forth between pages.
What is Pagination?
Pagination is a method of displaying results on a web page where the user can only view the first x number of pages before being presented with the Next/Previous buttons to navigate to subsequent pages. Pagination refers to using multiple pages or posts within a single webpage to display content. Pagination uses scrolling to move from page to page. Pagination is often used to optimize the user experience. In order to build paginated websites, developers need to use HTML markup elements, CSS, JavaScript, and other technologies.
Advantages of Pagination
- There are times that paginated pages can be easier to manage as well as faster loading.
- A better way to organize content, especially when you have a large number of pages or posts. Use to improve user experience.
- Plus, pagination is considered SEO friendly. This means that if you don’t want to show every single post ever published on your blog, you could consider paginating posts instead.
Disadvantages of Pagination
- Pagination can be confusing and difficult for users to navigate your site.
- Pagination obstructs seamless browsing and breaks the flow of a user by asking them to navigate to another page.
● More clicks and loading time
Pagination vs Infinite Scroll Performance
Pagination is more useful than Infinite scroll in terms of performance. Infinite scroll is good for user experience.
Pagination is not the best approach if we are talking about how many pages to load at once. If you want to show only 10 items per page then Pagination is ideal, but if you want to display 100+ items per page then Infinite Scroll is a way much better option.
If you anticipate having thousands of records, use pagination to give your users more control. On the other hand, if you expect millions of records, infinite scrolling may be the best option.
Pagination vs Infinite Scroll UX
Infinite Scrolling is a UX trend where the user is able to browse through a list infinitely without having to click through each item individually. Infinite scrolling is very useful to improve UX and give users more information at once. Paginating items in lists is a traditional approach to navigating long lists, but it requires significant effort on the part of the user. Infinite scrolling reduces the cognitive burden on the user by hiding the pagination buttons until they scroll down.
Pagination is a simple and intuitive method, but also slow. If you want your readers to stay engaged longer, you should try implementing infinite scroll. This option lets users load new content whenever they move down the page.
Pagination vs Infinite Scroll SEO
While you can see that every technique has its particular advantages relying upon the sort of website you work on. Pagination is considered the perfect solution if we look from an SEO point of view.
One of the major drawbacks of the infinite scroll technique is that Google crawlers can’t crawl the content that lays beyond their snapshot. Google doesn’t index the content which is out of its coverage or not able to see, which means that ranking potential is wasted for a large portion of your content.
When it comes to helping users and crawlers find exactly what they’re looking for, pagination is still the technique to beat infinite scroll.
Wrapping Up
Pagination vs Infinite Scroll is one of those topics that gets heated up among avid web developers. It always comes down to personal preference. The infinite scroll technique is one of the most popular ways to increase page views on your website. Pagination is a way to break a webpage into smaller sections, each of which contains less information than the previous section. Pagination helps visitors navigate the site while reducing cognitive load.
If you’re interested in learning about Pagination or Infinite Scroll, the above article helps explain what they do and why you should be using them in some situations.
Author Bio
Mr. Dhiren Parmar is a digital marketing professional at MageAnts, a Magento development company that helps clients in Magento migration, upgradation, extension development, etc. Dhiren loves to read about technology and digital marketing stuff in his free time.
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