Pagination Usability

[abilstein]

We are having a debate at work about how best to present pagination for multipage record display.

Lets say you are on page 9 of a 27 page record set. Here are the options:

Numerical page display with First, Previous, Next, Last arrows:

<< < 7 8 9 10 11 > >>

Numerical page display with ellipses and First, Previous, Next, Last arrows:

<< < 1...7 8 9 10 11...27 > >>

First, Previous, Next, Last arrows only:

<< < > >>

Drop Down menu showing current page and total pages. Drop Down would allow you to jump to any page in the system:

¦ 9 of 27 ¦

Or some combination thereof:

¦ 9 of 27 ¦ << < 7 8 9 10 11 > >>

¦ 9 of 27 ¦ << < > >>

We are all pretty much in agreement that a drop down menu is important in case we have 50+ pages of records. And next/previous arrows are important for easily moving up and down pages. But what about numbers? But what do you think is the best method or combination?

[Robino]

Look at how it is done on this site:
[webmasterworld.com...]

I also like:
[< Prev] 1 2 3 4 5 ... [Next >] [Last>>]

Some say that you should use 'End' instead of 'Last' because 'Last' could be construed as the page you visited before the current one. Personally, I don't think it's a problem.

[edited by: Robino at 1:28 am (utc) on Mar. 4, 2004]

[figment88]

Unfortunately their are no definitive answers, but I would make these points:

1) your combination ideas look way too confusing

2) hate drop-dwon boxes. only use in situations where absolutely necessary. this is not one.

3) instead of your arrows, I would recommend text links for "first" "previous" "next" and "last"

[Robino]

Oh yeah, and bold the current page like this [3].

[abilstein]

We need some method of jumping straight to any page becuase there may be situations that return 50+ pages and we don't want to make people click through them one at a time.

It doesn't have to be a dropdown, but I'm not sure how else to present it. I've seen another method of direct page access used here:

[forums.invisionpower.com...]

If you click on the number of results you get a javascript popup that lets you go straight to any page.

[Purple Martin]

Personally I like words instead of arrows for next etc, and I like the idea of making the current page bold:

first previous 7 8 9 10 11 next last

I've been to some sites with 50+ pages, and it can be a real pain to get to the middle pages. Therefore I think that having a drop-down as well is a good idea, or perhaps a field where the user can enter the page they want to go to. Whatever system you choose, being able to jump straight to the middle is essential.

[abilstein]

Assuming we have a text box or dropdown, I think the arguement against this:

¦ 9 of 27 ¦ first previous 7 8 9 10 11 next last

or

Page: [____] first previous 7 8 9 10 11 next last

Is that it is becoming quite large horizontally. Someone else brought up the point that using > and >> might be a problem with screenreaders such as JAWS (which is actually important for us), however it might be possible to use title tags on the arrows to say "Next" etc. I don't have a copy of JAWS installed locally so I'm not sure.

[AWildman]

Why not do it like Adobe does it?

¦< < [1 of 50] > >¦

People should be familiar with this as you run across many pdfs on the web and it gives the user the choice to type in a number in the box and automatically jump to a page.

[ergophobe]

We need some method of jumping straight to any page becuase there may be situations that return 50+ pages

Agreed. If you have more than a few pages, it's best to be able to jump directly. I modelled mine of MS Access (because that's what everyone was using and used to, and I was specifically asked to make it look that way).

<< < Viewing page [1][Go] of 55 > >> >*

Where the [1] is an input box and [Go] a submit button. Of course, people used to Access, would enter a number and hit return (hopefully) and it would Go.
>* is to enter a new record.

I won't say it's the best solution, but it might work for you.

Tom