this might be a hot take but I prefer page-by-page browsing instead of infinite scrolling for several reasons:

• it gives you clear breakpoints to remind you to take a break
• you can scroll all the way to the top or the bottom to access UI elements in those places without losing your place too badly (especially if some of the links are purple, showing you what you’ve already clicked on)
• you can let the entire tab unload and then reload it later without losing your place either
• it’s more intuitive to have discrete webpages that are a fixed size, and to have no special behavior on scrolling, because that’s how 90% of the internet works
• it’s also just drastically simpler to implement (no javascript needed!) and eliminates tons of potential bugs

to be honest I am almost at the point where I’d call infinite scrolling a dark pattern - to manipulate people into browsing mindlessly without taking a break

@kasdeya 100% endorse

@kasdeya companies do know that with an infinite scroll folks stay longer on their sites. Can def see a strong case in it beïng a dark pattern.

@kasdeya 100%. Best is when the page numbers are clearly there in the URL.

So I can be on page 3, and go straight to page 15 by updating the URL.

@kasdeya agree. it was a neat idea, but give me pages!

@kasdeya this is true and would likely be the case if the Internet was being designed for the user. Instead it is being designed for the advertiser and data collectors.

@kasdeya Infinite scrolling is absolutely a dark pattern, especially when it doesn't properly remember where you were when the page reloads.

@kasdeya it should be a check box in the options menu

@steven @kasdeya And new material should be added to the last page, not the first page, so I can put the links away for a month and come back and everything hasn't moved.

@wizzwizz4 @kasdeya I think how Tumblr does the URL is something equivalent to "25 items, working backwards from this timestamp".

So that they're stable like you're saying.

@kasdeya the thing when you scroll by dragging the scrollbar (almost feels like being an elder saying that) and suddenly the website jerks abruptly because you've hit the loading zone is super annoying.