Why do threads have pages?

[August1991]

I recently went through a thread to find a specific page where I had posted. Why?

I can understand, in the past, when bandwidth posed a problem and so the forum broke threads into pages. Nowadays, transmission of data is not a problem. Why are threads broken into pages? Why do we have to leaf through pages to find a specific point?

I think threads should have a single downloadable page. It's simple data and whether 2MG or 20MG, download times are now minor - even in third world countries where Internet connections are weak.

[Michael Hardner]

I recently went through a thread to find a specific page where I had posted. Why?

I can understand, in the past, when bandwidth posed a problem and so the forum broke threads into pages. Nowadays, transmission of data is not a problem. Why are threads broken into pages? Why do we have to leaf through pages to find a specific point?

I think threads should have a single downloadable page. It's simple data and whether 2MG or 20MG, download times are now minor - even in third world countries where Internet connections are weak.

It's more a matter of information architecture.

'Best practices' dictate that information needs to be paginated if there is too much of it. Otherwise, you would get a huge page with hundreds, thousands of articles on it. Not readable.

Maybe you disagree. Indeed, there's something to be said for people who say "that design makes no sense" ... my idea is better. Sometimes, indeed they are, and sometimes they are not.

I submit - Mr. Tucker's car with its 3 headlights.

Click

Edited June 24, 2010 by Michael Hardner

[kimmy]

Why do threads have pages?

Because people keep clicking "Reply"!

I recently went through a thread to find a specific page where I had posted. Why?

To get to the other side?

I can understand, in the past, when bandwidth posed a problem and so the forum broke threads into pages. Nowadays, transmission of data is not a problem. Why are threads broken into pages? Why do we have to leaf through pages to find a specific point?

I think threads should have a single downloadable page. It's simple data and whether 2MG or 20MG, download times are now minor - even in third world countries where Internet connections are weak.

Other forums I have seen give the user the ability to select the number of posts per page... this one does not appear to.

I have had the same experience.

-k

[GostHacked]

It depends on how the people running the website want to run the website. I prefer the pages myself, give information in smaller chunks and people can absorb it better. We do have better tech for bandwidth, but this is a thing more to do with server capacity/power.

Website owners also pay for the bandwidth that we all use. It's more cost effective for them in the long run to have the site delivered in pages. If you want more, you click 'next page'.

It's run as Greg sees fit essentially.

[bloodyminded]

Overall, I prefer the page-break style.

[dre]

Theres major driving forces behind pagination on the web.

1. Bandwidth / Bytes Received Time

Large unpaginated datasets result in way more data being transmitted than necessary in almost all cases, and result in way slower load times.

2. Rendering Time / DHTML Clog

Large unpaginated datasets render very slowly in web browsers and DHTML performance seriously suffers. If you load 10 megs into a web browser basic DHTML behaviors such as setting an attribute or CSS style in a DOM element slow to a crawl, and the browser will take much longer to render a page even after it already has all the bytes.

3. Ease of use.

It doesnt help the user to flood them with a mountain of data they dont want.

Consider the origional complaint about pagination..

Why do we have to leaf through pages to find a specific point?

Its really no more usefull to have to scan through a gigantic single page to find a certain point. This is example where SEARCH functionality should be used to isolate a specific piece of data.

1. Could be resolved once the internet is a lot faster, and is already less of an issue now than it was years ago.

2. Could be partially resolved by faster computers, and better browser rendering engines, or different HTML Specs.

3. Cant really be resolved.

Pagination is here to stay. Its the proper way to organize data.

[Bonam]

Consider the origional complaint about pagination..

Its really no more usefull to have to scan through a gigantic single page to find a certain point. This is example where SEARCH functionality should be used to isolate a specific piece of data.

If you are looking for a specific piece of information, it is actually much quicker and easier to find it in one "gigantic single page" than it is to find it in multiple pages. This is because you can use your browser's built in text search functionality simultaneously on the entire thread, rather than clicking to each page and searching them one by one.

This is important because "search functionality" on internet forums is usually absolutely terrible and extremely slow, this forum not being an exception.

That being said, with the exception of improved efficiency for browser text search, I agree that a thread organized into pages is easier to read and keep track of.

[GostHacked]

If you are looking for a specific piece of information, it is actually much quicker and easier to find it in one "gigantic single page" than it is to find it in multiple pages. This is because you can use your browser's built in text search functionality simultaneously on the entire thread, rather than clicking to each page and searching them one by one.

This is important because "search functionality" on internet forums is usually absolutely terrible and extremely slow, this forum not being an exception.

That being said, with the exception of improved efficiency for browser text search, I agree that a thread organized into pages is easier to read and keep track of.

I've never encountered a problem with MLW's search function. I've used it almost daily to find something and it works well. It really depends on how the database is set up and organized. I know a very popular gaming site that has a custom database and the search function is broken more often than not.