29/12/2022
Infinite Scrolling: When to Use It, When to Avoid It
Infinite scrolling is where content streams constantly and is equally relevant to the user. Example: social media sites (e.g., TikTok, Instagram, Twitter) news and eCommerce websites (e.g., Apple News, Nike.com).
Benefits:
- Reducing interruptions: helps to create a seamless experience and encourages users to stay engaged.
- Lowering interaction cost: page loads new items continuously and quickly, without users having to press a button and wait for a new page to load, the interaction cost is diminished. Moreover, helps users to navigate back to items easily.
- Well-suited for mobile devices: Because mobile viewports are small, users are already engaging in extensive scrolling, they keep their finger close to the screen and ready to swipe down.
Drawbacks:
- Difficulty refinding content: it is hard for the user to remember the location of any specific item and return to it.
- Inability to access the end of the page: Infinite scrolling (without a Load More button) can make it impossible to access the footer of a website.
- Increased page load: Sites with infinite scrolling often tend to take longer to load due to the infinite flood of new content.
- Poor SEO performance: search engine crawlers cannot always access all the content that is hidden below the first section of your page and page speed (an important SEO factor) can be slowed down by infinite scrolling.
- Illusion of Completeness: This problem arises when there is no indication that additional content is loading as users reach the end of their preloaded content.
A Compromise: Infinite Scrolling with a Load More Button; reduce some of the usability issues created by classic infinite scrolling.
There is no solution (infinite scroll, pagination, Load More, or integrated pagination) that is overall superior and the perfect fit for every website. It always depends on the specific circumstances of your website and the goals that your users want to accomplish.
Infinite scrolling typically works best for situations where users will want to scroll through homogeneous items with no particular task or goal in mind โ for example, entertainment, news, or social media.