Ask HN: Why 30 posts per page?

5 points by dcpdx 11 years ago | 4 comments

I'm sitting at my desk eating lunch and browsing HN and a thought occurred to me--why does HN display 30 posts per page? Is there some attribute to the design that makes 30 an ideal number for usability, or some optimization on the backend that makes 30 the ideal number? Why not 25, or 35, why not infinite scroll? Is it because "it's the way it's always been, and users are used to it?"

I am not a technical person but enjoy the content posted here and love learning about why things are the way they are. If anyone has any background on this from either inside YC or out, I'd love to hear it.

allworknoplay 11 years ago |

Just got here after thinking about asking the same question!

From a usability perspective, I'd rather have more than have to go to the next page, solely because of the static next links HN uses -- they confuse me with their making me refresh (usually), catch anything that newly popped onto the page, THEN click next. Would be a lot easier to simply show more.

I'm sure the reason is some combination of load speed and a pseudo-designers' perspective that simpler == better. Who knows.

allworknoplay 11 years ago | |

This related question from some time ago shows experimentation with 25: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2869239

talles 11 years ago |

I have no really info why HN guys decided to go thirty but...

I bet it's because gives the screen a great height. I believe that with 30 you have to scroll down only once on most monitors, and still 30 is a great number of content in single page.

dang 11 years ago | |

That's roughly my understanding, too.