[Sigia-l] Long scrolling pages and Usability

[cwodtke at eleganthack.com]

I think a problem in the debates over this is very few folks have looked
at scrolling vs. clicks. Of course people don't like to scroll, jakob said
so. of course everyone clicks links, or the web wouldn't work. so
therefore multiple pages *must* be better, right?

pas de tous!

In several testsI've observed across different clients (pre-yahoo days)
scrolls were quite preferred over clicking pagination links.

On B&A we recently have stopped using pagination for long articles. The
drop-off on click through from page 1 to page 2 is amazing. But one can
only measure clicks-- measuring scrolls is not possible (is it?) so I
dodn't have quantitative data on scrolling vs. clicks. Just observations
from the lab.

The one place I can see a big advantage of clicks over scroll is when you
have a download time issue, like for the GAP's results pages-- but even
then they let the user choose-- perhaps you could find a similar solution?
http://www.eleganthack.com/widgetopia/archives/003740.html


> We have opted for long-scrolling pages on our site (Wachovia.com) for
> deeper
> content "destination pages" and they've usability tested very well. Users
> do
> often say that they would print the material and read it later, but I
> believe that's the nature of the content, as you've mentioned, and not the
> length of the page.
>
>
> Samantha Bailey
> samantha at baileysorts.com | http://baileysorts.com
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <Thomas.Donehower at eurorscg.com>
> To: <sigia-l at asis.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2004 11:57 AM
> Subject: [Sigia-l] Long scrolling pages and Usability
>
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm trying to make a decision about long scrolling pages (equivalent of
>> 3
>> printed 8.5X11 pages or longer). My feeling is that they are OK and are
>> in
>> fact probably better than separate pages especially if the piece was
>> meant
>> to be read as a whole. However, I have no data to support my position. I
>> am leaning toward long scrolling pages for individual article-type
>> content
>> pages for these reasons:
>>
>> 1. I don't have to introduce another form of navigation
>> 2. Easier for the user to print
>> 3. I believe it's easier for the user to scan and read as a whole
>>
>> If anyone has any thoughts on the pros and cons of long scrolling pages,
>> please weigh in. Again, I am talking about "Article-type pages" not
>> category or home pages. Imagine you're reading an article online and you
>> see the text continue below the fold, you scroll (or maybe you dont?)
>> and
>> see the page continues for a couple more page lengths. Is this bad? Is
>> there a better way that this content should be served up to you as a
>> user?
>>
>>
>> I did scan IAWIKI and the archives, but didn't find anything.
>>
>> -TD
>>
>>
>> Manager, Information Architecture
>>
>> EURO RSCG Life Interaction
>> 200 Madison Avenue
>> New York, New York 10016
>> Web: ERLInteraction.com
>>
>> ------------
>> When replying, please *trim your post* as much as possible.
>> *Plain text, please; NO Attachments
>>
>> Searchable list archive:   http://www.info-arch.org/lists/sigia-l/
>> ________________________________________
>> Sigia-l mailing list -- post to: Sigia-l at asis.org
>> Changes to subscription: http://mail.asis.org/mailman/listinfo/sigia-l
>
> ------------
> When replying, please *trim your post* as much as possible.
> *Plain text, please; NO Attachments
>
> Searchable list archive:   http://www.info-arch.org/lists/sigia-l/
> ________________________________________
> Sigia-l mailing list -- post to: Sigia-l at asis.org
> Changes to subscription: http://mail.asis.org/mailman/listinfo/sigia-l
>