One of the things not mentioned in this discussion is whether such an implementation (infinite scroll) is appropriate for all kinds of information. There is tool/technology/feature, on the one hand, and there is the content on the other. While there are probably people who read entire novels online, they likely constitute a minuscule minority. Browser based interaction is very well suited for relatively small quantities of content, especially content that is highly hyperlinked (which was the original purpose of the web, wasn't it?). I don't think the book or book-like devices are likely to go away because the form is very well suited to the nature of content and manner in which that content is imbibed. Likewise, infinite scrolling works very well in Google Reader and other such applications that contain many pieces of small, independent chunks of content. I absolutely detest reading looooong articles online (such as articles from The Atlantic Monthly, New Yorker, Salon). The moment I see that the article runs into, say, 14 pages, I search for a link that generates all the content on a single page (if available) and after reading the first couple of paragraphs, I read the concluding ones and quickly scan the rest. If it takes too long to load, I bail out.
To return to the main issue, one must evaluate the usefulness or usability of Infinite Scrolling with respect to the nature of content in question. My hunch is that if a study were to be conducted, people would rate the U/U of IS variably according to application/content. Unfortunately, every time a new technology or paradigm is developed, there is a rush to try applying it indiscriminately to just every manner of content on Teh Interwebs. - murli ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
