Use “Infinite Scroll” For Feed-Style Content Only

Infinite scroll—where the page just keeps scrolling, loading more items asynchronously as the user hits the bottom—is extremely handy for users.

Scrolling with a mouse wheel or a touchscreen is inherently quicker, and simpler, than clicking through pages, and, when the content is a newsfeed of Instagram photos or tweets, it’s perfect. Always give the user an indication that there is more content loading, or tell them if they’ve reached the end.

Figure 23.1: Loading the next few items. I hope

However, infinite scroll should be limited to only a few types of content. If applied to finite lists (messages, emails, to-do items, and so on), then the user has no way of determining a beginning, middle, and end to the content. When used with this kind of content, infinite scroll is confusing and slower to use, so save it for feeds.

Although feeds used to be predominantly chronological...