Fits finite content that still needs a footer
Aliases: when to use load more · finite catalogue
What it is
Load more is not a generic compromise that is trendier than pagination and safer than infinite scroll. It fits finite lists that still need a footer: a whole set exists, people must at some moment reach the document end, and this content is not worth maintaining page coordinates for. Choose the wrong scene and neither the latch nor footer reachability will save it — the job wanted pagination’s location, or automatic append’s continuous scan.
Why it happens
Finite means exhaustion exists: after some batches, “no more” should appear, and a footer or closing note can sit still. Needing a footer means those end-of-document links, summaries, or exports are not decoration; they must be reachable without pressing More — or reachable after exhaustion, but not blocked forever by the next batch. Not worth paginating usually means results are not cited, a given page is not shared, and no one jumps to chunk n: catalogues, notifications, medium search, logs inside settings, are all “finish this batch, then decide on the next”.
Once the set is actually endless (a social feed), or the task is “get back to that screen from last Wednesday” (needs a coordinate), or legal entries live only in a footer that never stops appending (the footer is dead), the pattern is using the wrong latch on someone else’s problem. The selection criterion is task structure: is there an end, is there something at that end that must be reached, and is a stretch used as an address. When the first two are true and the third is false, load more is the matching container.
Where it stops holding
A known but huge total where people explicitly jump to a later stretch wants pagination, not twenty presses of More. An unknown total where users must still be able to stop can keep load more, provided the footer appears on exhaustion or on a deliberate stop. Faceted shop results often need “the item on page 3” for support — they look like a catalogue and actually need coordinates. Internal audit tables need export, a footer summary, and citable pages; pagination plus footer is more complete. Mobile feeds almost never need a footer; using this pattern there only manufactures extra clicks.
Applying it
- Before choosing, write three sentences: is there exhaustion, is there end content that must be reached, will people cite a stretch. Use load more only when the answers are yes, yes, and no.
- Make exhaustion a product state: after the last batch, replace the button and leave the footer or summary, rather than keeping a pressable More.
- If the third answer later becomes “yes, they cite”, migrate to addressed pagination; do not fake page numbers onto load more.
- How to check: walk real tasks — do one thing via the footer, finish a finite catalogue, describe to someone else where an item sits. The first two should be cheap. If the third happens often, the pattern was the wrong container.