The emerging use of infinite scrolling in 2012 is something you’re probably familiar with, but may not realize it yet. Think of searching for an image on Google images. Or how about search results on Pinterest, Lookbook, Polyvore or Udemy. You’ll find it more common in “search results” type applications, but there doesn’t seem to be a certain rule defined.
I think there are cases where this can be useful. Take for example Pinterest. When you’re searching for something on Pinterest, chances are you’re not looking for something specific. Most likely you’re kind of dreaming, and browsing for random things, like recipes that may peak your interest. It feels very natural on a tablet to keep “swiping” to see what other treasures there might be.
But what if after infinite scrolling for a little while you want to go back and look at something that had peaked your interested? Must you infinite scroll back and hope you stumble across it again?
Frankly I’m undecided on how I feel about the infinite scroll technique and if its growing popularity is a good thing. I think I might develop of feeling of paranoia, where if something looks slightly interesting I must click on it now for fear of not remembering where exactly it was…. Wouldn’t it be better to just jump back to “page 5” whenever you feel like it knowing it’s waiting there for you?
What do you think? Death to pagination, or does pagination still have its uses?
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