I just realize that how effective it is to add page navigation to your blog. I remember when I first put Rolling Archives to this blog few months back, that my girlfriend easily browses all my previous entries right from the beginning. And today I just found out that my friend also done the same, browsing my old entries but this time not using Rolling Archives but using standard Page Navigation. At first I kind of like the idea, but now I don’t. Mainly because they browse my freaking older entries (oh the nostalgia).
If you’re wondering about the title - Pagination is when you have more item that desired to be appeared on one page and then breaking up the item so that it can paginated or presented on multiple pages.
Let’s do some overview
My reference goes back to YDN Design Pattern Library on Object Pagination. It’s really a good material to read. So basically there are 2 patterns - Item Pagination and Search Pagination.
On this blog, I use the Item Pagination pattern to browse entries per page as seen on the front page and the category page. And of course the Search Pagination pattern for the search results page. The only difference between those 2 is that the ability of the Search Pagination to access Paged content.
Even though the result is not exactly the same with the solutions that have been propose in that articles, but I think that it reach its purpose here. Besides, it’s better than the WordPress default next and previous navigation.
None for single entry?
You don’t want to drag your reader to another page when the user is actually reading the current entry. What if your previous entry link is a lot more interesting than the current? I must say that this is called distraction. My main priority is always to make reader focus on the current entry, not the previous. There’s a proper way to do it, use an Archives page or Related Entries (well at least it’s sort of related).
Where exactly to place it?
I really can’t tell. Usually the Previous or Next navigation are put at the bottom of the page. But instead of doing the ordinary, I put it at right hand corner on top of the first entry on that particular page. My reason is that if I placed it at the top, it could attract more interest for user to use the navigation (since it’s at the top).
If you display a full content of an entry rather than using an excerpt, then you should add top and bottom navigation. Usually, what interest user are the first few thing splashes from the page on the current view port. And of course it’s every item at the top, unless you put a naked picture of someone in the middle.
Conclusion
I think the most effective way is to add the page navigation at the top and the bottom. And not forgetting that it’s also must fit your current design. But at the end of the day, it actually depends on how your reader browses and reading habits are.