Making pagination usable
“Pagination”, for the uninitiated, refers to the system we use to number pages, and on the web this usually means a set of links that allow you to navigate bewteen all the available pages for a section of a site.
The big problem
Firstly, the linked text is not usually a problem, example formats such as “Pages: 1 | 2 | 3” or “Older | Newer” are all fairly obvious to the user. What does cause frustration for many people are tiny links on a big monitor!
OK, lets say you’re running at 1280x1024 or 1600x1200 display resolution, which is not uncommon nowadays, and you come across simple numbered page pagination in a relatively small font size…
Now try and hover your mouse cursor over one of the links…
The chances are you’ll need some precise mouse movement to get to the link? Now, imagine being on a site where navigating pages requires that amount of precision for every page you visit, you’d soon grow tired of using it.
A simple solution
Make those links bigger baby! Making the hyperlink target area larger would make it a whole lot easier for everyone.
Just by adding a bit of styling you can present pagination that’s much easier to use…
Notice how it requires much less effort to get your mouse cursor over a link? That’s got to be good! It might only take you a second less to get to a link but a second is a long time on the web.
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