Is there too much content on your website? It probably depends on the type of content you are creating. But if you’ve spent months, if not years, filling your lifestyle-themed WordPress website with top-notch content, you’d be forgiven for thinking you can’t have too much good stuff. And your website visitors might also agree with you.
The problem with having a lot of stuff to show on the website is that sometimes it’s hard to do it seamlessly. So if your site visitors aren’t a fan of “next, previous” navigation or numbered pagination, you’re bound to try something else to help them easily find what they need.. And that’s where infinite scrolling in WordPress comes in.
In this article, we will explain:
What is Infinite Scroll?
Have you ever seen the footer on a website like Facebook? Probably not, because you’ll usually be scrolling down and down on something that seems like an endless stream of posts and announcements. This is an example of infinite scroll, a navigation method that allows you to browse articles, pages, or websites by scrolling endlessly..
So it’s an infinite scroll for you. You don’t reach the footer, and you don’t reach a button that says “next” or shows you the page number you’re on and the adjacent pages. You can reach a button that says “load more,” a popular prompt that’s used by people you like on Buzzfeed, but you can pretty much keep scrolling down as much as you want. Thanks to something called Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, or AJAX, content continues to load as you approach the end of the page.
What are the pros and cons of infinite scrolling?
While you can easily find proponents of infinite scrolling in social media and blogs, as well as many WordPress websites with portfolio themes, some notable detractors may spring to mind as well. Google, on the other hand, uses numbered pagination for its search results, even though YouTube uses infinite scroll. Amazon also uses numbered pagination, as do a good portion of media and content websites..
The Infinite Scroll has its champions and opponents, and that’s because it has distinct advantages and disadvantages. On the list of benefits you will find:
If any of the above is a priority for your website, you might also consider adding infinite scroll to it. However, you shouldn’t do this until you read the list of cons, which includes:
So there you have it, four pros and four cons. If the pros outweigh the cons in your book, you’re more than welcome to take the next step and find out what’s the easiest way to add infinite scrolling to your website..
How to Add Infinite Scroll in WordPress
In some cases, you might not even need to add infinite scroll to your website — your WordPress theme may already support infinite scroll navigation. In the Bridge theme, for example, you need to navigate to Qode Options > Blog, then scroll down to “Pagination on Masonry/Pinterest/Titles option and choose “Infinite Scroll” as the navigation method for the blog list.
If you don’t have a WordPress theme with built-in Infinite Scroll, you’ll need to download and install a plugin for it. There are a few you might want to try. If you use Jetpack, for example, you won’t need another one. But if you don’t, you might as well give the Catch the Infinite Scroll since.
After successfully installing the plugin, you need to navigate to the “Catch Infinite Scroll” item in the dashboard. There you will find some basic settings that you get with the free version. You will be able to set the trigger for loading new content – it can be click or scroll.
You will also find the option to upload a GIF which will display while the infinite scroll loads the content. If your theme supports infinite scroll, chances are it will come with a suitable GIF.
Finally, you will be able to set the “Load more” button text that will trigger additional content to load if you choose “click” on “scroll” as the trigger. And you will also have the possibility to modify the end text, the text that appears where there is nothing else to load.
Between these options, you’ll find everything you need to set up infinite scrolling on your website’s blog page. Choosing to purchase the premium version of the plugin will give you access to additional options.
Let’s get it over with!
Infinite scroll can be an incredibly useful feature that will help you stick people to your website. Or, maybe it’s just the thing your website needed to get unruly and too much for most browsers to handle.
In general, unless you have a clear plan for its use and a valid reason why you need it, infinite scroll can be a feature that will do you more harm than good. Otherwise, you need to consider this when buying a WordPress theme and get one that integrates it and save yourself some resources that you would use on an infinite scroll plugin.
