Scrolling vs separate pages

[James Bull]

I'm discussing a new site with a client. The site will include a catalog with photos and product descriptions.

A design issue will be whether to break up long product categories into separate pages, or put all the products from a category into single pages which will require vertical scrolling.

My preference is to create separate pages. My client thinks her customers will prefer to scroll down rather than jump to a new page.

I know there are some "it depends" answers to this debate. Has anybody got any good research-based evidence about what is best?

[paulhiles]

There are ways of making a long page easier to handle. The main one that springs to mind, being hyperlinked headers at the top of the page that link to specific anchor points in the document (as well as providing a simple "back to top" link).

My personal preference is for short pages, with the minimum of scrolling, and offering links to related information within easy reach. This isn't based on any scientific rationale, just my own belief on what makes for good page design.

Paul

[splinter]

I read somewhere that people don't really like scrolling more than 3 screen worths. After this their attention becomes less as they realise they've still got loads more to read.

It is much easier to digest in smaller fragments.

[jtenbrink]

When looking at successful e-tailers online, you will notice one thing that most of them have in common - they list their product categories by separate pages linked under a "Table of Contents" if you will. Overstock.com is a prime example. Many of their customers have grown to love them because of the sites simplistic and user-friendly design. I recommend letting your client in on the Overstock.com example.

[mktplace]

If you are displaying pictures (even thumbnails) and using tables, then a long page may take quite a while to load, and depending on the browser, until the </table> tag is hit, nothing gets shown (Broadband users don`t notice this, though).

Having built ecommerce sites that do both, I have found that having a category/subcategory selection goes a long way toward making a site more manageable, especially once you get over 1000 products or so. This also means more pages for the SE's to index, and lets you fine tune the keywords for not only the categories, but the subcategories as well.

If you have control over the database structures, this is pretty easy; if you are using a canned package and it doesn't support 2 or more levels of product heriarchy, then you may be toast.

Also, have you considered an alternate page layout? I have not seen the site, but having 2 or 3 columns of products using thumbnails lets you put more on a "page".

[mikmik]

I can't remember where I read this, but it makes so much sense even I rembered the gist :O)

A visitor will continue into a site or down a long page ifr they have confidence they are getting closer to where they want to go. This includes a sense of direction and orientation that doesn't confuse them.

For instance, it was shown that visitors would gladly click through 5 or 6 pages when they knew they were getting closer to their goal, and weren't overwhelmed so that they didn't know where they were.

Let's say they are looking for a recipe (that is what was used lol)

If they want a type of cake, say Black Forest, and the first page has 'entres', appetizers', and 'desserts' for categories, they go to desserts.

Then there have 'pies', puddings, and cakes to choose from.
On the cakes page, there are sponge and layer cakes, and on the layer cakes page, there are chocolate and 'all others' to choose from.

This is a very sequential and easily understood navigation that leaves little doubt about the outcome, or a sense of how deep you are in the site.


The same applies to a long page. People were comfortable with long pages if it was ordered properly, and gave a sense of structure.

So, if you have a long page full of randomly ordered products, people will get frustrated very quickly because they don't know where they are, where the product they are looking for is, etc. It may be fourth down, or fortieth, they wont waste their time, but even if they start to look, and they farther down without a sense of what is above or below, it is confusing and almost pointless.

But, if everything is in alphabetical order, well, you get the idea.

And, it also said to have 'back to top' links, as well as 'up one section' etc, depending upon how many hundred screens long your page is LOL.

have no sleep for two days, but I hope this makes sense. It is confidence and sense of familiarity that keeps a visitors interest more than 'three clicks' rule.

Good night all....zzzzzzzzzz

[Cristal]

We ran across this same problem when developing 2 of our gardening sites ( www.leotas-iris.com and www.NapaIris.com ) and what we decided to do is to create category pages from a drop down box, and to do an alphabetical page, however you will notice that they aren't really scrolling down too far. I agree that if I come to a page that has all the content on one page, I'm likely to click out.
But I think that mikmik has an excellent point about keeping the persons attention if they think that they are reaching thier goal.
Have fun!

[incrediblehelp]

As far as SEO is concerned I know for a fact linked and categorized web sites are more successful within search engines than ones with many products on one page to scroll through. If you have 20 different products listed on one page how should you expect the search engine to rank you for each product name? Of course this wont apply to everyone, but I have a client now that has too many products on one page and is wondering why they are not ranking better for these individual product names. I recommended to separate the products into there own pages linked from a manufacturer or category link page.

To me it just makes more sense to have web sites built in a manor of Index-->Category-->Manufacturer-->Product. It gives the search engines a better idea what each page is supposed to represent as far as a keywords/content is concerned and the end user gets a faster way to find products instead of scrolling.

[ohlson]

As an Estate Agent (real estate)it has to be scroll down every time with up to 25 properties to a page. Otherwise the number of pages would get out of hand.

[ahilton]

Have you considered letting the visitor choose how many product to display on a page?

I see this more and more often lately, and I really like it - a drop down box where the visitor chooses how many products to display.

This approach takes into account personal preference as well as connection speed, since visitors with slower connections can opt to display fewer products at a time.

[jomariet]

You might try a search at www.useit.com for facts to back up your point of view. I know they've addressed this issue on multiple occasions.

My question is why would the client prefer scrolling. I've had clients who thought the design phase would be cheaper with less pages and were willing to trade usability for initial costs. If this is the case with your client you'll need to make a case for a higher ROI even if the inital outlay is higher.

Good luck,

JM

http://www.crucibledesigns.com

[hommealone]

IMO, I like it when I can scroll down a catalogue page, thus allowing me to quickly scan (and reject) most of the items. Thumbnails make this option work much better, especially when the items load sequentially. I hate having to click through page after page (and reload the same headers, sidebars, etc. over and over and..) just to get through all of the stuff that's not what I'm after.