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Is it a good idea to use faceted/refining search with infinite scrolling in terms of user experience? If so, would it be a good idea to statically position the search/filter component on a web page?

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Yes, that is a very good idea. There are a number of sites that I have used that don't do this, and the result can be very frustrating.

Lets say that I have spent time looking at many items and I am many items below the search / filter component.

  • If I want to double check what it is, I have to lose my place and spend time scrolling up first. Poor experience.
  • If I want to refine the search more, I may not care too much about losing my place, but I still have to scroll all the way up again.

I would strongly suggest that you use what you have proposed. I only wish that more sites would do the same.

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Thank you for your comments. How should the page interact if the user refines search in the middle of a scroll? Refresh results and scroll top top automatically? – Yiğit Yener Jan 25 at 13:40
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@YiğitYener That would make the most sense to me. If you refine your search, the position you are currently in loses most of its meaning. I can think of some situations where this may not be the case, but those would be better to cover in chat. – JohnGB Jan 25 at 13:48
Thanks for your time again. – Yiğit Yener Jan 25 at 13:52
up vote 2 down vote

One alternative is to have the facet filters horizontally across the top and contract / expand them. Have them stick to the top of the page, or under other fixed items and you have a killer combination.

Also one thing worth thinking about with infinite scrolls is if you know how many items you have you can also give some indication of where the user is in the scroll (as technically it's not infinite - just long and has not pagination).

Let me know if you need more clarification on this.

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This is also a good idea in my opinion. May be more suitable for this case. I'll sketch it too. Thank you. – Yiğit Yener Jan 25 at 14:43

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