What Is Pagination?

Date First Published: 28th August 2022

Topic: Web Design & Development

Subtopic: Web Design

Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty Level: 3/10

Learn more about what pagination is in this article.

Pagination is the process of breaking up web content into different pages in order to make it more user-friendly, prevent the page from becoming overloaded, and prevent users from becoming overwhelmed by the large amount of content on one page. These different pages can be accessed by clicking on the page numbers, often located near the bottom of the page. Search engines, homepages, and image websites use pagination. Sometimes, articles may be separated into separate pages, even when they are short and a reader might have to click through several pages to read the entire text. This is often performed to increase ad impressions in order to generate more advertising revenue.

In addition to page numbers, 'next' and 'previous' buttons may be included, which will jump to the next or previous page. For example, if a visitor was on page 6, they could click the 'next' button to jump to page 7 instead of clicking on the number. However, these extra buttons are not required as it is already very clear which page is the next or previous one because numbers are present.

Once a user reaches the end of a page, pagination acts as a page break, allowing them to think about their next page view and providing them with a way of jumping from one section to another. The page number that they are currently visiting will usually appear in a different colour from the other ones for differentiation and to tell visitors where they are. They may be non-clickable in order to avoid unwanted page reloading.

Considerations

When implementing pagination, website owners should always ensure that it is easy to understand and not confusing. If pagination is improperly implemented, it can lead to misunderstandings and confusion. In the screenshot below, see how this pagination can confuse users as not everyone knows that clicking on the double arrows takes them to the very first or very last page, leading to a poor user experience. Also, the page numbers should not be too small as users might accidentally click on the wrong page number and click the back button on their browser, especially when using a mobile device.

How Is Pagination Controlled?

Pagination can be controlled in two ways including:

Code

Pagination can be automatically controlled with a PHP, ASP, or JSP script that orders items from newest to oldest. The code sets page breaks based on rules and algorithms, such as the maximum amount of items per page, whether they are related, and more. For example, algorithms are used in search engines to divide content into separate pages and sort large numbers of entries.

The advantage of this method is that it is much quicker, eliminates the need for website owners to manually sort content into separate pages, and reduces the chances of human errors. However, it is more complex to implement and requires knowledge of scripting languages.

Manually

Pagination can be controlled by manually sorting items into separate pages. This method is much slower as for every new item, the website owner will have to manually add an entry each time, which is unsuitable when handling thousands of entries. However, it is much simpler to implement and does not require knowledge of scripting languages.

Advantages and Disadvantages Of Pagination

• Quicker loading times - Instead of placing all the content onto one page, website owners can place it on separate smaller pages, speeding up the page loading times and improving user experience. If a page was overloaded with content, it would load much slower and may cause users to get bored of waiting for it to load and leave. Also, it will increase the load on the server.
• Since smaller amounts of content are on the pages at a time, it is easier for users to process and understand compared to a huge page of content. Users can make use of pagination to take a break and navigate to another group of items.
• Users can filter, search, and index results from different pages. For example, someone might bookmark the page number that contains exactly what they were looking for. Without pagination, users would have to look through a lot more content.
• It can generate more advertising revenue for the website owner as the different pages will generate more ad impressions, increasing the chances of clicks.

• Users may have to click through a lot of pages, continue to find the pagination buttons, and take extra actions to find what they are looking for, especially if there is only a small amount of content or items on each page. Every time a user wants to visit another page, another request for a file has to be processed, which can be time-consuming.
• It can sometimes cause issues in relation to SEO. Search engines will have to rank individual pages with smaller amounts of content, links, data, and items. This can cause the pages to not get a ranking as high as if all of the content was on a single page.