Jaikiran Pai wrote:Logged out users only see a minimum set of functionality and that implies no pagination links at the bottom of the page but are only available on page top.
By the power invested in me by 13 years of building websites for a living, I hereby declare with great authority and absoluteness that not having pagination at the bottom of the thread is bad usability.
Requiring a user to scroll to the top to see if there are additional pages, let alone navigate, is a cognitive roadblock.
Some people will be lost, going away not knowing additional pages are even possible.
Mobile users have to swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe, all the way to the top, then maybe a little ways back down, unless they're lucky enough to have a scrollbar and even more lucky to know how to use it.
Someone used to being authenticated whose browser session expires without them realizing it may expect bottom pagination.
A user might also reasonably expect to not have their day RUINED AND WRECKED over and over again by simple usability issues such as this.
What is the purpose of having this off for unauthenticated users? The tiny block of code is not saving that much bandwidth or cpu and the usability benefit is massive.
Now that I know I can get bottom pagination while being logged in, I will be browsing the site authenticated which turns on all the bells an whistles, just to get the bottom pagination. Oh the horror of wasted and mutilated data and cpu resources.
I have seen people on here mention in a reply that only after they discovered the pagination at the top were they able to get the whole story.
How many people are just lost?
This is not to say that the top pagination should be removed for unauthenticated users. It is useful to have an immediate indicator of how far along one is in the conversation, and, of course, current users expect it.
While completely unnecessary due to my previously established absolute authority and full knowingishness of the situation, I hope that my reasoning will convince, NAY, INSPIRE, you to turn on the bottom pagination for unauthenticated users.
:)
John Polk wrote:Enjoy full functionality each time you visit. See what you are missing.
Lol what brand?