Martin Underhill

'Next' and 'Previous' in a paginated list is straightforward: 'Next' takes you forward a page, even if it's backwards in time, like a list of blog posts; 'Previous' takes you back a page.

But 'Next' and 'Previous' when on an item within a reverse chronological list is all sorts of mind-bending 😵‍💫

Dec 3 at 8:32pmWeb
Show threadMartin UnderhillDec 3
'Previous' is the item that was published prior the one you're on, so you're going backwards in time as you go forward through the list. 'Next' is back the way in the list, but forward in time. So it's the opposite of pagination 🙃
Show threadMartin UnderhillDec 3
Maybe it's the terminology? 'Previous' and 'Next' for pagination feels right, so what about the items? 'Earlier' and 'Later'? 'Prior' and…? I dunno, 'Previous' and 'Next' makes sense there too 😭
Show threadPatrick Johanneson 🚀 🇨🇦Dec 3
@tempertemper I prefer something like "Older" and "Newer".
Show threadMartin UnderhillDec 3
@pjohanneson Oh! Nice!
Show threadKev QuirkDec 4

@tempertemper I've always struggled with pagination links, particularly their names and whether they should be left or right.

I ended up going with "older" and "newer" with older on the left. Rationale is that it's like a book then. I think that's the reverse of how others do it though. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Show threadMartin UnderhillDec 4

@kev The weirdness would continue where Newer would feel more appropriately placed before Older: left or above, with 'Older' right or below.

I think I've chickened out this time and just used the newsletter names as links 😅

Show threadKev QuirkDec 4

@tempertemper so I use 2 different methods. On my main blog I used older and newer, but on posts (where it gets really confusing to your point), I have:

"<-- The one before
[Post title]"

And

"Up next -->
[Post title]"

Show threadMartin UnderhillDec 4
@kev That makes a lot of sense. Easy to forget that fewer words isn't always the right approach!