Want infinite scroll on your WordPress site? With the right WordPress infinite scroll plugin, it's easy. Let's learn how!
Are you looking to add infinite scrolling to posts on a WordPress website? We can do that with little or no coding with the right WordPress theme or plugin.
First things first, let's define what we mean by infinite scroll. It's a browsing experience that allows users to scroll indefinitely until they run out of content.
But what kind of content? For most people looking to implement infinite scroll in WordPress, there are three common use cases:
- Infinite post loading: As users scroll through the list of blog posts, more posts appear. This functionality replaces the need for a load more button.
- Infinite scroll single post: When a user scrolls to the end of a blog post, another post loads.
- Infinite scroll custom content: Allow users to scroll custom content, like real estate listings.
In this post, we'll recommend solutions for all of the above. Luckily, some great infinite scroll plugins and themes help us do the heavy lifting.
But before we do that, let's ensure infinite scroll features suit your website.
Is infinite scroll for WordPress posts always a good idea?
Let's first ask ourselves: why do we want a WordPress blog with infinite scroll?
Infinite scroll can be a nice option for some websites. It allows your website to behave like Instagram and other social media platforms, where users can scroll "infinitely" and keep getting new content. This makes it ideal for mobile devices and users who are already used to this experience.
So, who should consider adding infinite scroll options to their sites? There are a couple of obvious choices:
- Websites with a mostly mobile audience
- Any site that wants to encourage browsing (eCommerce, real estate, listing sites)
But are there downsides to infinite scrolling? Yes - for example:
- It can cause SEO difficulties: Depending on what kind of content you are infinitely scrolling, you could run into trouble with SEO. The reality is that Google is still unsure how to crawl these pages properly, and they have recommendations on how to code your site properly to avoid problems.
- Your footer becomes useless: If your pages constantly load more posts, then your footer will never be seen!
- It can be confusing: Sometimes, users may not know where one post ends and another begins. It sounds simple, but this can affect UX on your WordPress site.
- Analytics becomes a challenge: Instead of tracking user behavior one post at a time, you'll now track them across infinite post loads. Setting up proper tracking is not yet intuitive. Plus, you're encouraging users to scroll endlessly, making your data unreliable if they scroll past an entire post.
So, on the one hand, it allows for a user experience that more and more people enjoy. On the other hand, it creates additional challenges that may not be worth it.
Let's get to our WordPress infinite scroll tutorial if you're all good with that!
The best WordPress infinite scroll solutions
We're going to show you the best options for the following infinite scroll modes:
- WordPress infinite scroll through posts (scrolling reveals more posts)
- WordPress post infinite scrolling (scrolling reveals the next posts)
- Custom WordPress Ajax infinite scroll (scrolling reveals custom content)
The first two modes are relatively straightforward and can be implemented through WordPress plugins and themes.
The third mode can be implemented via our low-code WordPress application builder: Formidable Views.
Ultimately, the reason you'd want to use any of these options is simple. Coding a WordPress infinite scroll Ajax loading solution from scratch isn't easy!
If you are wondering what Ajax is, don't worry! It's a technical concept with several different applications. However, when discussing Ajax infinite scroll in WordPress, it just means that new content loads "as you scroll."
This is important because, without Ajax, you'd need to load all the posts on your site if you wanted to do infinite scrolling. With Ajax, more posts are fetched as needed - when users scroll, Ajax requests to load more posts (allowing for much faster load times).
1. WordPress infinite scroll through posts
If you are looking for a way to allow users to load more posts as they scroll down the page, look no further. Here's a great solution: The Ajax Load More Plugin.
If all you want to do is replace your load more button with infinite scroll functionality, this is the plugin to choose. It has great reviews and even has some advanced features like:
- Elementor and WooCommerce add-ons
- A shortcode builder
- Customer repeaters
- Lazy loading posts
This plugin also allows users to apply infinite scroll based on default WordPress parameters like post type, category, tags, and more.
2. WordPress post infinite scrolling
If you want users to be able to scroll to the end of a post and load the next one, here's what you need...
Guess what? It's the Ajax Load More Plugin again!
But truth be told, there are some honorable mentions:
- Catch Infinite Scroll: This free plugin is recommended often, and it appears to work well.
- YITH Infinite Scroll: A plugin designed specifically for WooCommerce users. It's a bit expensive but includes more options for using WooCommerce.
3. Custom WordPress Ajax infinite scroll
The above two modes are fairly standard. If you've been using the internet over the last few years, you've likely encountered them before. That's probably why you are here looking for solutions!
But what if you want to create something entirely custom? I'll use a real estate listing site as an example.
First, let's think about who uses a real estate listing site:
- Home buyers (and their agents)
- Real estate agents selling properties
Now, let's think about how a real estate listing site works:
- A selling agent uploads listing data (via a WordPress form)
- The form generates a customized listing page based on the uploaded data
- The listing page is added to the list of other current listings
You'll need a web form that creates and displays a custom post type automatically. In other words, you'll need to code a custom solution.
Unless, of course, you use ours! We call it Formidable Views. There's virtually no limit to what you can build with it. Here's another example, restaurant listings:
Formidable Views makes it easy to build a web app with WordPress. While infinite scroll on blog posts can be cool, it's a must for listing sites. You can also use standard pagination.
Here's how it works in Formidable. First thing, add any value to the Page Size field. Doing so will reveal the Pagination Type dropdown menu.
Then, you can choose the type of pagination you want to use! There are 4 main options:
- Reload full page: Reloads the entire page.
- AJAX pagination: Pagination without reloading the entire page.
- Load more entries: Adds a Load More button that displays more entries when clicked.
- Infinite scroll: Automatically loads more entries as the user scrolls down the page.
Wrapping up
There you go—infinite scrolling isn't hard when you've got the right plugin! We hope you've found what you're looking for today. Let us know in the comments below if you have any questions.
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