Rolling my eyes at Goal.com's Scrolling System

Why have a Scrolling System ? 

The point of a scrolling system is to allow the user to effectively move through a passage of content that could not be displayed all in one go. It enables the saving of space and is commonly used for a passage of text. 

The point of a Scrolling System?

The beauty and effectiveness of a scrolling system is that users should be able to scroll at there own will. This meant they should not have to scroll at a standard speed but in essence they should be able to scroll fast or slow depending on the users. 

Giving this variety is key to users as all users are different. Some may want to scroll slowly as they might not know where the information they are seeking is. However other users might want to scroll fast as they might know that the information they seek is towards the end. 

These are things I would naturally think about when having a scrolling system. However its become apparent that some people do not even put that much consideration into it.

Goal.com Scrolling System

 

Goal.com (a football website) publish news reports associated with football. They give their users the chance to comment on the articles and generate a conversation amongst themselves. They hinder users use of the system by having a scrolling system that does not allow users to go through the comments efficiently and effectively. 

Example of Scrolling System (goal.com)

Scrolling System: The way it works is that users have to move the cursor over the up and down triangles that are in grey. When the cursor is on one of them it turns red and the comments on the left begin to move. 

The Neat Bit: The automatic behavior. All you have to do is move the cursor to one of the arrows and the text will automatically scroll. This is clever, smart and looks good. There is also the added bonus of the text moving steadily and efficiently.

The Problem: Users have no control over it. They can not speed up the scrolling they can not move to the bottom, top or middle instantly. If there is like 200 comments and they want to show someone there comment which is near the bottom. It would take them forever to get to it. They would have to leave the cursor on the arrow and wait. 

The Solution: Its simple, you just add a "bar" that shows you how far down the list you are. It can also be used to quickly scroll through manually. This will give users a different approach to scroll. The automatic behavior can still be kept for the arrows. Therefore users would have multiple ways of scrolling through the comments. 

Sometimes its just best to do the simple things, rather than be flashy and creative. To have a look at their system go to http://goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=641300