7 ms·
Ask HN: Do you like to see “Back to top” buttons on websites?
I'm talking about the ones that are pinned to the bottom right and scroll along with you.
I use a low mouse sensitivity so they're useful for getting back to the top.
Do you find them annoying, useful, don't care? What about on mobile - I find that they just get in the way there.
- camtarn 8y agoAnnoying, yes. If I'm on desktop and I want to get back to the top, I'll flick my scroll wheel or hit the Home button. On mobile I'll just flick the screen.
- __float 8y agoI've always wondered about these. I don't care on desktop, because high velocity scrolling on a MacBook is easy. On mobile, the iOS pattern to tap the top of the screen is my go-to, I find these buttons to waste valuable screen real estate.
- bhengaij 8y agoI find them very important on phone, hate elsewhere.
- anoncoward111 8y agoI use back to top heavily on 4chan for very long threads. However, I would prefer the site just be minimally designed, so one fast flick of the screen returns to top.
- PavlovsCat 8y agoWhen I want to go up, I have already pressed the home key on the keyboard before I can think of looking for something to click.
- drngdds 8y agoI don't think I've ever used one because I usually have a home key. When I don't, I just swipe up.
- anoncake 8y agoThings like that should be browser features.
- wtroughton 8y agoI use Vimium plugin to navigate web pages. gg brings to the top of the page whereas Ctrl + G brings me to the bottom.
- chrisshroba 8y agoThis is probably the Vimium feature I use most often!
- s4vi0r 8y agoC-g? Does that also work, or did you mix up G/S-g?
- jplayer01 8y agoIt really bothers the fuck out of me that I can't find any iOS browser with a back to top feature. It makes browsing far more annoying than it needs to be and I end up not bothering.
- WA 8y agoDouble tap the address bar in Safari. This goes back to top. edit: or the status bar (tested on iPhone XS)
- setr 8y agoWorks on ios chrome too, but for both it breaks down when a call/gps banner is up there
- saurik 8y agoEven more: it is a global feature that is supposed to work for any view controller with a scrollable view. (I wouldn't describe it as "double tap", though: you tap the status bar once, but in Safari the status bar is hidden as you scroll down so you have to tap the top of the screen to reveal it.)
- md8 8y agoI use them very often.
- CM30 8y agoI just don't care about them. They don't harm anything, I just never really need a link to go back to the top of the page, so I barely notice their existence.
- t-3 8y agoOn desktop - no, I use qutebrowser or firefox/vim vixen. On mobile: Yes. I have fat fingers and find gestures both difficult and unintuitive.
- ktpsns 8y ago"Back to top" buttons are a system-in-system effect (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner-platform_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner-platform_effect) and clearly an anti-pattern. Scrolling should be handled by the browser and if a user agent (for instance with a small screen) thinks it is neccessary to give help for scrolling, it should do so, customizable for the user. This is not the task of a website.
- MiddleEndian 8y agoOccasionally useful on mobile for giant pages. Useless on devices with keyboards.
- yesenadam 8y agoNo, don't like them (or anything fixed on screen like that), don't use them. (I use a desktop computer only) They're possibly worse (because not removable) than windows that pop up saying Subscribe? Cookies? etc which all always get a big NO from me.
- yesenadam 8y agoWorse than Subscribe popups?! Are you crazy?! Oh wait, I said that. :-)
- zzo38computer 8y agoLike you, I also hate it (which I mentioned already). However, often it can be removed by adding user CSS (if you use a browser or extension that supports that) (which I did not mention already).
- askafriend 8y agoI just always use the "CMD-Up" shortcut on Mac so the "Back to top" buttons feel like visual clutter once you've learned the keyboard shortcut.
- sergiotapia 8y agoWhat I do is just press the Home key. I have literally never used one of those back to top buttons.
- sylvanhughes 8y agoLove it!! When I don't see one, I actually get frustrated. Especially when it's a super long multi-section landing page.
- zzo38computer 8y agoNo, I don't like it. I push the "home" key to get back to the top.
- dexterw10 8y agoIf you accidentally click on that button while you are amid reading or something....it can be a great frustration as it will land you to the top. So, sometimes I too find "back to top buttons" frustrating.
- rchaud 8y agoDepends on the page design and target user. For lengthy, multi-section pages, a "Back to Top" can be helpful, but it'd be better if there was a fixed Table of Contents with links to the sections of the page. Otherwise, I always have the Home/End buttons. On mobile, page should be designed such that the button is easy to reach, visible and not blocked by or blocking the text. For a button placed on the bottom right of the page, the body content should be set up so there's a little extra padding on the right. This way, there's a clear visual separation between the text and the button.