All these problems are solvable. I co-founded Discourse (
http://discourse.org) which uses infinite scrolling heavily. Discourse is also 100% open source so you can see how we did it.
My responses below:
> Users will lose the page length orientation - the browser scrollbar become useless.
We have a fixed "x/y" posts widget at the bottom with a progress bar.
> There’s no ability to jump to the end of the list.
The aforementioned widget has an up arrow and down arrow to jump to the top/bottom.
> Your users will not be able to get back to the same in-page position in 1 click.
We use replaceState to update the URL as they scroll. The back button works fine, and you can link to any position in the topic.
> There’s no visible footer until your users come to the end of the list/content.
Isn't this true of all sites where the user scrolls anything? I guess the difference is you see it more often with pagination. We instead have a fixed header with navigation options and extra details.
> Slow Experience - You are using a lot of browser memory as the page scrolls down.
We unload posts that have scrolled off the screen. We released a library for it too - http://eviltrout.com/2014/01/04/hiding-offscreen-ember.html
> If you switch away from the page by following a link there's no way of getting back to where you left off.
The back button works fine thanks to replaceState!
> Lack of sense of completion- no closure for users.
The progress bar and constantly increasing numbers in the widget help a lot.
> There’s no SEO opportunities for content located below the first scroll.
We serve up google indexable content just fine. See: http://eviltrout.com/2013/06/19/adding-support-for-search-en...
> You lose the ability to bookmark a dedicated point of interest.
With replaceState and updating the URL, you can bookmark at any point and return right back to where you left off.
> Distraction - The fear of missing out on data or other options will deter your users from completing an action.
I'm pretty sure this isn't relevant since we support all the above.
My responses below:
> Users will lose the page length orientation - the browser scrollbar become useless.
We have a fixed "x/y" posts widget at the bottom with a progress bar.
> There’s no ability to jump to the end of the list.
The aforementioned widget has an up arrow and down arrow to jump to the top/bottom.
> Your users will not be able to get back to the same in-page position in 1 click.
We use replaceState to update the URL as they scroll. The back button works fine, and you can link to any position in the topic.
> There’s no visible footer until your users come to the end of the list/content.
Isn't this true of all sites where the user scrolls anything? I guess the difference is you see it more often with pagination. We instead have a fixed header with navigation options and extra details.
> Slow Experience - You are using a lot of browser memory as the page scrolls down.
We unload posts that have scrolled off the screen. We released a library for it too - http://eviltrout.com/2014/01/04/hiding-offscreen-ember.html
> If you switch away from the page by following a link there's no way of getting back to where you left off.
The back button works fine thanks to replaceState!
> Lack of sense of completion- no closure for users.
The progress bar and constantly increasing numbers in the widget help a lot.
> There’s no SEO opportunities for content located below the first scroll.
We serve up google indexable content just fine. See: http://eviltrout.com/2013/06/19/adding-support-for-search-en...
> You lose the ability to bookmark a dedicated point of interest.
With replaceState and updating the URL, you can bookmark at any point and return right back to where you left off.
> Distraction - The fear of missing out on data or other options will deter your users from completing an action.
I'm pretty sure this isn't relevant since we support all the above.