Small paging design

1. Original design of small paging

There are many reasons for paging, especially in terms of performance optimization, but the most important reason is that it allows users to find what they want. Taobao has done a good job in pagination with a large number of pages. But on the small pagination, the last time I was reviewing a small distribution design method with a group of designers, we had some different opinions. Let’s first take a look at the original design (interactive whiteboard, non-visual final draft) of this small paging (here defined as a paging design with less than or equal to 5 pages):

Looks familiar, huh? Yes, many websites actually use this type of display method. A designer here suggested putting the "Previous Page" and "Next Page" buttons together so that it would be more convenient for users to click them. Like this:

Hmmm, indeed, this is much better than the original one. At least users can turn pages with less effort. Then another designer jumped out and asked, can we make further optimizations? Because generally speaking, we press "Next Page" more often and "Previous Page" is less common. The solution he proposed at this time was:

Of course, this is also good, and the reason is reasonable. There is something hard to explain in it, like which is more important, technology or art, or the relationship between knowing Chinese characters and being able to write good essays. In fact, the problem lies in that, firstly, users need to make a "guessing" process to guess whether the left-pointing indicator means turning the page up; secondly, the inconsistency in design makes people feel psychologically disharmony. This is especially true in China, where there is a culture that believes "good things come in pairs" and everything should come in pairs.

2. My plan

However, personally, I do not agree with the above practices. Since this page is small and can be fully listed in a small space, why do we need to complicate the user's selection process instead of directly providing a more convenient way to achieve the goal? My idea is that small pages should display them all to make it easier for users to operate. as follows:

Comparison between this expanded paging design and the original solution:

• From the space

  Expanded display saves pixels. Many good designers will consider leaving blank space, and will also consider how to use this precious space reasonably to save pixels.

• From the practicality

  If you see page 3 and suddenly want to go back to page 1, according to the original design, do you have to press "Previous Page" twice? What if there are 5 pages? How can I ensure faster switching between pages? The expandable design can better solve such problems.

3. Conclusion

Of course, this doesn’t mean that such expanded paging is better. It may also be necessary to combine it with the scenario. For example, in places like Weibo that allow unlimited scrolling down along the timeline, we can completely let users ignore the concept of "paging". As long as the user scrolls down, we will provide automatic loading of information to make it more convenient for users to consult. The application scenarios are always changing, but what remains unchanged is that I think I should continue to do this:

1. To accumulate. Sometimes there are always such little entanglements, which can also be said to be a kind of cleanliness obsession, like always pursuing the optimal solution for the code. Although such entanglement will not have much impact on users, when you have 10, 30, or 100 such optimizations in a project, I believe the website experience will exceed users' expectations. Of course, there will also be a qualitative improvement in my ability in this area. So, go accumulate.

2. Think beyond design. Regarding interaction, our ultimate goal is actually whether it is convenient for users to use (not the users, sometimes the users may just need something very simple, such as a faster carriage, but what if you give them a Ford car?), so we should think beyond the design itself, so that we are more likely to get satisfactory results.