I trying to display a 2 page long page in a mobile website, i tried text area option but the scroll bars are not getting displayed in iphone mobile web. What are the ways you can think of for displaying a long page and options in the end if that page. What i can think of is pagination and what else are there ?
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1I think this is relevant What affords scrolling?– Roger AttrillSep 20, 2011 at 21:44
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Just to be clear, in what direction is the long text overflowing? Upwards / downwards or left / right?– Jimmy Breck-McKyeSep 20, 2011 at 22:36
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it is top to bottom kind of scrolling . .– thndrkissSep 21, 2011 at 0:47
3 Answers
Though you're displaying text, you might look at adding a graphical element like a patterned vertical line that runs alongside the text. The cut-off of the pattern can suggest that there's more, taking the place of the scroll bars that don't show up.
Alternately, you can design for an iPhone-sized screen and offer a next/previous page control. That might load a second page or just jump down/up in response, but it would make clear when the person is at the end of the text and when there is more to read.
Have you confirmed with anyone using your app / site that this is even a problem yet?
I read many long articles on my phone and have never considered it a problem, even without a scroll bar. The Economist app is an example of this. I know I'm at the end when I try scroll and there isn't anything more.
If it's really a problem for you, you could use something like the slider on the Kindle app for both navigation and position feedback but you would run into other problems determining the position.
I've seen the footers on mobile websites stuck to the bottom of the browser. So as you scroll down the page, the footer sticks to the bottom of the browser.
However, I have never seen it work without lag when you're scrolling - which is really annoying and not a great experience.