Page Navigation, goto page N, feature request

Question

My feature request is for the page navigation buttons that are on many of the different pages.

I would like to see, aside from the usual page buttons, a small input box and a "goto" button so that you can skip directly to a particular page.

For example on the Tags page, the page navigation buttons have:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] ... [353] [next]

I would love to see:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] ... [353] [next] [inputbox][goto]

That way the user can jump around the pages much quicker than only being able to skip ahead 2 pages at a time.

Edit - added:

Alternatively you could just have the [goto] button and then when it is clicked, have a small popup appear with the input area and another [goto] button, you can see an example of it here: http://www.diecast-pub.com/forums2/index.php?showtopic=44473, just goto the bottom and click on the button with [2 pages] on it to see the popup appear.

Answer 1

Real programmers edit the URL to go to specific pages. :)

Seriously though, this would be useful at times.

Answer 2

Here's a GreaseMonkey script to do it (tested on tags, users, questions & question answers):

(function() {
    function GM_wait() {
        if (typeof unsafeWindow.jQuery == 'undefined') { 
            window.setTimeout(GM_wait,100); 
        } else { 
            $ = unsafeWindow.jQuery; letsJQuery(); 
        }
    }
    GM_wait();
    function letsJQuery() {
        var pageHref = $(".pager:first a:first").attr("href");
        var $gotoBox = $("<input type='text' value='goto' />")
            .css({ "margin": 0, "padding": "0 4px", "width": "35px", "color": "#CCC", "font-size": "130%"})
            .appendTo($(".pager"))
            .keypress(function(e) {
                if (e.which == 13)
                    window.location = pageHref.replace(/page=[0-9]+/, "page=" + $(this).val());
            })
            .focus(function() { $(this).val('').css('color', '#808185'); })
            .blur(function() { $(this).val('goto').css('color', '#CCC'); });
    }
})();

So, now next to the next link, there should be a [goto] text box. Just enter a number, hit enter & voila.

Answer 3

It's hard to edit URLs on some touchscreen and mobile devices. A button generating a 'goto page #' prompt would be very useful.

Rather than having a new button (which could potentially clutter the interface), how about generating the 'goto page' prompt by clicking on the existing ellipsis (…)? I remember being able to do this on another site, which is what caused me to discover that I can't on SE.

Note: I originally had posted this as another question which was closed as a duplicate for this one.

Answer 4

As Series8217 mentioned, text entry can be fiddly on touchscreen devices, so another alternative is to have 100-page jump buttons*.

When currently on page 1:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] … [101] … [5195] next

When currently on page 243 (who ever goes that deep?):

prev [1] … [143] … [241] [242] [243] [244] [245] … [343] … [5195] next

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*Real programmers don't use touchscreens.