Hackernews explicitly states they want users to engage meaningfully and critically with the content on the site, and also they don't serve up ads for revenue. Given that, infinite scroll seems likely to run contrary to all of their goals with the message board.
Downsides of infinite scroll:
- Requires JavaScript (adds complexity, especially when site doesn't already require dynamic rendering)
- Loose/unpredictable UX behavior can be discomforting (loads when you don't want it to load, doesn't load when you want it to, scroll bar suddenly changes size, etc)
- Reloading the page/clicking the back button loses your position
- Monotonically-growing DOM slows things down eventually, unless you start de-rendering previous "pages", which adds even more complexity and unpredictability (Ctrl+F doesn't behave as expected, for example)
I think it can make sense for some things, but not for a simple and stable website like HN. Even for something like Twitter I wish they hadn't added it.
Is this what Twitter is doing? Is this why Ctrl+F almost never works there?
There's a more general principle here where, once you start trying to override core browser behaviors, you usually end up with a never-ending rabbit hole of corner cases that you now have to cover yourself that used to be handled for free (and probably with better performance, and stability, and accessibility...), and an ensuing complexity-explosion in your code. I won't say it's never worth it, but it's something you should really really put a lot of thought into before you go down that road. All other options should be exhausted first.
Some say it's a dark pattern, but I don't think so. Wouldn't it feel silly if Twitter made you paginate through your feed?
I had so much bad experience with infinite scroll that I want to curse that whoever invented inf scroll is a P, M and I.
(new IntersectionObserver(v => { if (v[0].isIntersecting) {document.querySelector(".morelink").click()}}, {rootMargin: "0px", threshold: 1})).observe(document.querySelector(".morelink"))
You'd have to rerun the snippet for each page load, so not quite effortless. Throw it into a browser extension content script and you'll get it truly infinite.This resonates with me. I don't like when I can not "feel the size" of a page. This might be ridiculous but I find it helps to materialize web pages when they do have a bottom.
For things like Apps, such as Twitter. I am fine. The difference can be reduced to experience. App tends to be so much better with loading / pre-loading all the information. I have never seen any infinite scrolling that works well inside web browser. Even the best of them seems to be janky.
I also want to mention Twitter is more like continuous scroll. Since there is a definite bottom of your main feeds.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26069395
He tends to post the comment like that on all of the most popular posts
Apparently they're working on adding infinite scroll back but she also mentioned in thesw threads
HN is purposely bare bones - it does what it's intended to and nothing else.
1. https://www.digitala11y.com/infinite-scroll-accessibility-is...
Personally, I'd like to see them add it just to watch HN lose their collective minds.