> Infinite scrolls are inhumane. People need to be able to reach “the end.” There are forms of eternal torment described in religious texts that are less mean.
Infinite scrolls are ugly, but i'm not sure artificially "paginated" text is better. The worst thing about infinite scrolls is that you cannot search for a word in the whole document (just on your visible part of the screen, and a screenful below that).
Why does infinite scroll have to suck on the web, yet you never see pagination in mobile and desktop software?
It makes me think that it's not inherently bad, it's the technology that's lacking.
If the file explorer would split a 1000 file listing into 10 files each it would drive anyone insane. The "Artists" list on my phone's music player can probably be meassured in meters yet it's a joy to use because momentum scrolling is very good.
Your phone’s music player’s list of artists does not use infinite scroll, which explains why you like it. If you scroll to the bottom of your list of artists on your phone, you will see “ZZ Top” and nothing special will happen – you’ve reached the end. File explorers, which you mentioned, also do not use infinite scroll.
“Infinite scroll” means you can never reach the end, because every time you get close to the end, more content is downloaded and your scroll bar readjusts. There is theoretically some end to the content, but most users will never reach it. Examples are Twitter and Facebook feeds.
I really hate the trend with having infite scroll on blogs/news sites. I just scroll to the bottom looking for the comment section and suddenly I'm on a completely new, unrelated article? It's like forcing information into my brain, or someone suddenly placing a newspapper in your face.
the worst is when the "About Us", "Company", "Help", "Contact Us" page links are at the "bottom" and you want to click on them... momentarily appearing and disappearing...
If I had to pick just one, it would be this.