Alternate titles: Paging.

Problem summary

The user needs to view a subset of sorted data in a comprehensible form.

Example

webdesignledger.com

Creative pagination design at webdesignledger.com

Usage

  • Use when it is unsuitable to display all the data on a single page/screen.
  • Use when the dataset is in some way ordered.
  • Do not use when you don’t want the user to pause for navigating to the next page.

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Solution

Break a complete dataset into smaller sequential parts and provide separate links to each.

Provide pagination control to browse from page to page. Let the user browse to the previous and next pages by providing links to such actions. Also, provide links to the absolute start and end of the dataset (first and last).

If the dataset has a known size then show a link to the last page. If the dataset’s size is variable then do not show a link to the last page.

Rationale

Reduce perceived complexity by parting large datasets into smaller chunks that are more manageable for the user. Significant technical performance can be achieved by only having to return subsets of the overall data.

First and foremost, pagination parts large datasets into smaller bits that are manageable for the user to read and cope with. Secondly, pagination controls conveys information to the user about, how big the dataset is, and how much is left to read or view and how much have they already viewed.

Pagination provides the user with a natural break from reading or scanning the contents of the dataset, and allows them to re-evaluate whether they wish to continue looking through more data, or navigate away from the page. This is also why pagination controls are most often placed below the list: to provide the user with an option to continue reading through the larger dataset.

This article has been commented 5 times.

More examples of the Pagination pattern See all 36 example screenshots

User Interface Design Patterns

5 comments

  • yuva on Mar 03, 2008

    can you tell how to do pagination………….

  • seregaborzov on Jun 05, 2008

    Great pattern! Thanks!

  • webgurl on Jul 10, 2008

    Thanks for putting such a simple, easy to understand tut. This is what I have been searching for all over.
    Cheers!

  • Willie on Oct 26, 2011

    While this is a slick solution to the problem. It’s the wrong problem to solve. How is someone to know that the content they’re looking for is on page 262? With that much data, they’re going to want to search for it.

  • Chris Jakeman on Mar 30, 2012

    If you are paginating, the content should fit on a single screen so you don’t have to scroll.

    You should be able to step through several pages without re-positioning the mouse.

    You can provide a keyboard shortcut for Next Page and you can position the Next Page button in exactly the same location on every page.

    Just my thoughts.

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