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There is a page in my website that people can browse and see all the available images.
I have created a section where people can enter a number in an input box to see the images starting from that number.
For example, if someone enters 10, then the user doesn't see the first 9 images, but the images starting from 10th image.

What is a good label for that input box?

Should it be 'Start from', 'See from', 'Offset' or something else?

Thanks.

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Design the entire interaction, not just the label

If the interaction is for the user to enter an image number in the box, then the interaction must include clear labeling for the images so the user understands what entering an image number means.

For example:

enter image description here

  • Here, the images are clearly numbered so it makes little difference whether the caption reads Go to image, Jump to image, or Start from image. They will all be pretty clear to the user, because the design of the entire interaction, including the relationship between the input box and the image view, is more important to get right.

  • (I omitted a Go or > button next to the box for simplicity, but you should probably add that)

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  • I don't need an image number for each image! Please see this image: imgur.com/XPnd3gg But about the left section. Do you think Start from is good? – Robert Jul 11 '15 at 17:22
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    Sorry I can't opine then, because without the numbers I think the interaction is not clear at all. – tohster Jul 11 '15 at 17:45
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A commonly used pattern to skip a displayed number of pictures is pagination.

Pagination solves a few UX problems commonly associated with skipping content:

  • A reference point is needed. (Where am I now?)
  • How do I get where I need to go (Where do I go?)
  • On Mobile/Table devices it's important to limit the use of the keyboard when using navigational features.

By using an input box you're re-introducing these problems and many more. Thus each pictures needs to display a number of which pictures it is. How do they reset it so it starts at the beginning again? What if they enter invalid data?

but more importantly: Do my users need to skip a specific number of pictures? or does it not matter? Is a general "show next 10" enough?

Familiarity is also a big thing to keep in mind. It show also be noted that users don't know terms like offset or image number but everyone understands the concept of pagination. (Next page, previous page, if I have 10 showing and click page 5, I'll skip the first 40)

The concrete answer to the question: "What is the Appropriate wording for the input box users use to navigate images" is: It depends on how you prefix your images.

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Jump to image #:

View image #:

Similar in phrasing to jump to page, which many users will be familiar with.

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  • I think it's a little different. I don't think we can say 'Jump to image' because many images will be shown, not one image. Images from that image. – Robert Jul 11 '15 at 16:33
  • I'd have to agree with Tohster's mockup/example. It won't be cohesive to the user to input an image number without visual indicators of what number corresponds to what image. And "jump" or "go to" indicates a change in view, which makes sense given the situation. – Alan Jul 11 '15 at 19:33

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