An Analysis of Infinte Scrolling

Have you ever felt exhausted by infinite scrolling?

Infinite scrolling merely tempts you to continue reading, wasting time and decreasing productivity in the process ... Even more annoying is that scroll bars do not reflect the actual amount of data available. You’ll scroll down happily assuming you are close to the bottom, which by itself tempts you to scroll that little bit more, only to find that the results have just doubled by the time you get there.

I've encountered this many times. It's exhausting. The worst part is that you keep telling yourself “just a little further” because you perpetually see the scroll bar two-thirds of the way down the page and don't want to feel as though you're missing out on any information.

Yogev Ahuvia wrote a great article over at Smashing Magazine that analyzes the benefits and drawbacks of using infinite scrolling. It's worth a read.