A useless infinite scroll experiment

Windows autoscroll makes this game too easy. This feature was introduced a very long time ago, possibly with the IntelliMouse in the year 1996. Press on the scroll wheel (considered to be middle-click) and release the button, which overlays a little scroll guide circle. Move the mouse down to begin scrolling, and don't touch anything else. Click any mouse button to stop scrolling. (Another variant is to click and hold the wheel button, move the mouse down to scroll, and release the button to stop.)

You may also be interested in my little modification of middle-scroll behaviour:

https://github.com/esporttoys/librescroll

"Windows" autoscroll? My Mac has had the same behavior for as long as I can remember. Did they copy it?

How do you do this on macOS? I can't find anything under Settings > Mouse and I can't find a way of fluking it with various random gestures. I don't think I'll ever need it, I'm just curious!

It has never existed natively on Mac OS X.

TIL - after you wrote this, I just tested in Numbers, Brave, and Finder and this behavior did not work.

It seems that it only works in Firefox and I assumed it was an OS-level feature as I've used it so many times (and my most frequent need for such scrolling is the web, so I never noticed it's absent from other software)

Yes, yes, I know, but the site is designed for mobile devices and for the real pleasure of scrolling, not just cheating. Just for fun ;)

Just likte this demonstrates the stupidity of infinite scrolling, here is a site that demonstrates how easy it is to manipulate everybody to click click on things that gives us rewards:

https://neal.fun/stimulation-clicker/

Yes, I knew about this site ;)

Nice. I will now start using it when I feel a compulsive need to escape boredom during unfocused Zoom calls.

A few remarks:

- some sentences (many) seem to be cut off on desktop. I only see, eg. "content to keep the site from going viral" or "around here. We're not that ambitious".

- It's interesting that for users who have their device set to the superior scrolling direction ("reverse" scrolling, drag your fingers up to see what's at the top), your website behaves correctly but gives the opposite feeling. It's the first webpage where I've ever felt like "normal" scrolling (drag your fingers down to pull the page down) would be more natural.

- scrolling for long enough to get the first sound effect was quite a surprise

Looking forward to your next Zoom meeting ;) That's strange about the cut-off sentences. What device are you using? I'll check it out, because I'm not having any problems on my end. Thank you so much for the great feedback, I really appreciate it!

"This scroll will get you nowhere."

I disagree. It has gotten me to being entertained.

Ohhhh, thank you, I'm delighted

Might want an epilepsy flashing warning? for things like 666m and 1000m

Yes, you're right, I hadn't thought of that! Thank you for your constructive feedback.

How to make it obvious you are from the UK, without mentioning you are from the UK. :D

Is finding bright flashing fullscreen images annoying, and knowing it can cause medical issues for some people a uniquely british thing?

I didn't mean to be snarky in any way, and I cannot really explain the why, but the following happened:

Read your comment -> wild "commenter must be British" thought appeared -> clicked profile -> co.uk checks out -> I found this whole experience funny enough in the moment to comment.

It can be worth it, for a better discourse, to add some context to your post from the onset. "I have no idea why, if its something about your wording or something else, but I immediately thought you were from the uk". Your post comes across as pretty snarky/condenscending.

iOS health app could track this like steps. Total distance scrolled on your phone.

There was a iOS jailbreak tweak called Treadmill where it exactly done that. Pretty cool to me.

https://www.idownloadblog.com/2016/01/31/ryan-petrich-treadm...

Never owned an iPhone after 3GS because it became prohibitively expensive.

I have so many memories of cydia and there was this itools, some Chinese software that let me do more than iTunes.

Those were the days. I was rocking an html lockdscreen which was pretty cool.

When I got hands on original iPhone back in 2008, I remember my PC having less ram, less storage as that was a handmedown. It was freaking cool to have more compute in hand than what my xp machine did.

The good old days! Still on iPhone, but no more jailbreaking... too restrictive.

I didn't know that, thank you for the information and for your feedback

Ahahah, that would be an excellent idea

Small experiment about infinite scrolling.

It converts scrolling into a measurable distance.

The more you scroll, the more the site reminds you you're still scrolling.

On smartphones for real-world use ! ;)

I'm confused by that thing. After scrolling for a couple of minutes, the animation seems to play on on its own for longer than I cared to wait. Isn't the animation supposed to be coupled to the scrolling?

And it doesn't really feel like scrolling either, since apart from the tiny depth bar on the left, no content scrolls by.

That's a fair point.

The punchlines are there mostly to make the empty scroll a bit more entertaining while you go down. But you're right that nothing really scrolls by in the traditional sense.

The idea is more about measuring how far your thumb travels than about browsing actual content.

Nice! Reminds me of https://gagzap.com/

I didn't know about that, thank you for the link.

Fun. I took out a tape measure to see how accurate it was. It wasn't very accurate. Also the scale on the left scrolls faster than my finger. Fennec(Firefox) on Android.

The scale on the left was also very stuttery. Even when scrolling slow I could see the distance at the bottom updating at a very high frame rate and the scale on the left only moved occasionally which felt awful.

I'll make a note of that and try to fix it, thank you.

Right. Thank you very much for the feedback, I'll check it out !

Omg, in 3 and half km I realized, that rankings are only for mobile devices! Is there really someone, who scrolled more than 35 km just by using his finger??

Sorry ;) Yes, recording is only possible on mobile devices, because otherwise it's far too easy to reach long distances. It's very easy to bypass scrolling on a workstation! And yes, some people have scrolled for an hour and a half :P

Tbh, I tried to fake the scrolling as well :D First with the infinet scrolling wheel on my mouse, then with a short console script :D But well played with mobile only recording! You are also totally right with the comparison to instagram scrolling. Same useless thing. Thank you, your "app" is great!

Thank you so much for your feedback ;) I really appreciate it! And yes, that's the goal, to criticise endless scrolling on social media. Thank you for your kind words.

wait, what?

We're not expecting anything, we're scrolling ;)

Yes, I have been warn multiple times - it's absolutely useless. However, I must admit, it's somehow catchy. Love the texts automatically appearing.

Ahahah ;) Thank you very much for the feedback, and I'm delighted to have wasted your time ;)

Finally, a website that makes me feel like activating a superpower when I unlock the scroll wheel on my mouse.

Ahahah. But it's more for your thumb, on mobile.

What a great time, accompanied by smiles at the punchlines. I love the idea. Thank you for the time wasted.

Really happy to read this comment, thank you so much !

Won't this lose precision as you near the limits of a double? Or is it using BigInt behind the scenes?

It's just standard JS numbers (IEEE-754 doubles), not BigInt.

The distance is accumulated in millimeters, so even if someone somehow scrolled hundreds of kilometers we'd still be far below the 2^53 integer precision limit.

So precision loss shouldn't realistically happen.

You should add a punchline about training for a thumb war (with a rocky reference ?).

Great idea! I'll do that ! ;) Thanks !

crazy level of eye damage from the flashing effects. Turns something cute into something painful, so thanks for that.

I'm sorry, I hadn't thought of that! I'll take care of it!

you made my day!

Ahahah, really happy

Did I hear a moan after pausing around 200m ?

You're not mad

Can you add an option to switch to feet? :)

Most people scroll using their thumbs. Your touchscreen must be quite large

As large as possible ;)

Why not Fahrenheits while at it?

At some point the webpage says something like "You are deeper than the Mariana Trench" and also make a few jokes with other comparisons. I expect USA people to prefer to avoid SI units.

If the site where showing temperatures °C and °F option would be even more important. I can translate from feet and miles ($feets/3 and miles*1.5) and get a good estimation, but I can't translate from °F to °C in my head and know if I must use a hoodie or not.

But there is no end