A kindly blogger told me this morning that WordPress has – at last! – given us a button that will allow us to turn off the infinite scrolling, which so many of us (including me) had complained about in the last few days.
Quickly, in your Dashboard, go to Settings, go to the Reading submenu, and about halfway down the page, you will find
“To infinity and beyond: […] Scroll Infinitely”
Quick-quick – un-click the box before they change their mind again!
Yahoo!
I also saw that Theme Wrangler matiasventura had updated the forum post Infinite scroll added to two themes in WP.com:
An update on infinite scroll:
Thanks for your feedback and patience, everybody. If you’re using footer widgets to display content in your blog, you can now disable infinite scrolling by visiting your Reading settings, in your dashboard. We’re still working on improving the reading experience with infinite scroll, including how well it integrates with your themes and customizations.
Happiness Engineer designsimply explained it more clearly on Disable Infinite Scroll with Custom CSS:
Infinite Scroll is now an option when footer widgets are present. You can find the option under Settings → Reading when two conditions are met:
1. You are using a theme that supports infinite scroll
2. You have added footer widgets
So this applies to all of us who are currently using Twenty Ten and Twenty Eleven as our enabled themes. But it also seems to suggest that we can only turn infinite scroll off, if we actually have added footer widgets. As I have footer widgets, it’s working for me. How about you?
There also been some interesting back-and-forth on Infinite Scroll: Do we get an opt out and will this apply to other themes. For instance, thesacredpath cautioned:
All they did was fix the footer widget issue. That is all. When this rolls out to the other themes here that do not have footer widget areas, you will not have the choice to turn it off. That is only an option on themes that have footer widget areas with footer widgets installed.
As WordPress seems hell-bent on implementing infinite scrolling on almost all our themes, this is cause for concern. It suggests that, if your theme does not have footer widgets, and WordPress decides to implement infinite scrolling, then you won’t have the option to turn that off.
Oy… I foresee another battle looming in the Forums when that happens!
However, in the meantime, will you all please join me in singing at the tops of our collectively-heard voices?
Zip-pe-di-doo-dah, zip-pe-di-yey!
My-o-my what a wonderful day!Thank you, WordPress!
Grains of Sand 
Thanks for going in to bat for us, Reggie, and for keeping us up to date with the case.
Aw, you’re most welcome, Richard. I know you’re using the Pilcrow theme – do you have the possibility of using footer widgets?
This is great news! I heard about it from another blogger and posted here: http://holographicmeatloaf.com/2012/02/14/war-is-over-if-you-want-it/
Thanks!
I am pleased too, Dave.
Well done! clap-clap. 🙂
Thank you, Giiid, I am taking a bow…. 😀
This is such helpful info! Thanks!
You’re welcome, Suzanne. Glad you find it helpful. 🙂 I saw on your blog (http://awindowintothewoods.com/) that you use Modularity Lite as a theme to highlight your fabulous photographs!
That’s so amazing that WordPress listened to you.
Giggle… I don’t think I’m powerful enough to make any impact on WordPress strategy!
From what I could gather from the discussions on the Forum, I think that a LOT of people – both bloggers and theme writers – were very unhappy with what had happened and how the decision had been implemented unilaterally, without consultation and without at least giving the option of disabling the feature. But WordPress still seems determined to roll out the feature to the other themes regardless, it’s just a matter of time…
I too, think, it’s good that WordPress listens to you – and all the others on the Forum. As for myself I actually like the infinite scrolling, but I think it shouldn’t be imposed on us. It should be a free choice, and thus I find the struggle to make WordPress change things important. I salute you all.
Taking a bow, Munchow. 😀
Reggie, the template I use doesn’t have the infinite option but it does allow me to control the maximum number of posts that can appear on a page. Who knew!? Until I read your post, I didn’t even know I could adjust those settings. Thank you 🙂
Hello Amy – I’m so pleased you found out something about your settings then! 🙂
The Daily Dot reported on this debacle too:
http://www.dailydot.com/news/wordpress-feature-angers-infinite-scrolling/
Whoah, I’m late here, sorry! Yes, this is good news, and actually even though you need to have something in the footer, that can be a text box with a few dots or something ‘invisible’. (There are bits of HTML that can be put in that just input a space.)
Interesting. I was playing around with my blog just the other day and saw this option and turned off infinite scrolling. I had footer widgets, so it worked. I had no idea it was a new feature, but thought I had just missed it when I was initially setting my page up. The scrolling was just too much, I thought. I actually would rather people have to navigate around to read posts…and it’s more page views that way. 🙂
The scrolling really was toooo much for me too, I really did not like it.
Did I stop to mention that I am glad that WordPress listened to your pleas? What a joy! Glad you’re happy…and you know I am thinking about you so much, my friend!
Aw, dear Kathy, thank you. 🙂
Just noticed your message about ads on your page. Great idea! I had no idea ads were popping up on my pages until my friends started asking me about them. I may post a similar disclaimer on my site too, if you don’t mind.
Absolutely, Paprika, I think that we should all post such a disclaimer… precisely because we have no idea what services or products are being advertised on our blogs! Not a happy thought, is it?
Ugh, too late, I went into my reading pane and no check box available. Between February and now, they turned it off 😦
I know I can turn it off by using codes within my widgets or some type of CSS, but I’m tecnically challenged.
Oh dear, Cravingthis, I am sorry to hear that you don’t have a checkbox – but I see that you have the Twenty Eleven theme, not the Twenty Ten theme. Perhaps they kept it for Twenty Ten, but turned it off for Twenty Eleven? I also don’t know my way around CSS; so far, it hasn’t been so necessary to learn how to use it.
Hi Reggie – I found a workaround for it! Yes you’re right, I had twenty ten and changed to twenty eleven theme yesterday, but still no check box. I learned that if I inserted a blank text box into my footer widget, the “check box” magically appears! WOW!!
I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one who doesn’t understand CSS, like you, I’ve managed so far without it, but one day, I will attempt to learn about it!
Yes! Well done on figuring out that work-around! It’s quite a strange thing to do, isn’t it? I am glad it worked out for you. Yeh, I keep thinking *I should* learn how to use CSS, but I find the information on the internet so overwhelming and confusing that I don’t even know where to start. Good luck!
Thanks Reggie, I’m new to blogging (2 weeks). CSS and HTML causes me to hyperventilate!!
Happy Blogging!
Oh! In that case, even more WELL DONE! Take it easy – and remember that the WordPress Forum is very useful when you need help (although it’s best to search first before you post a question, in case that problem had already been dealt with in a previous posting :-)).
Thanks, it’s quite an accomplishment, lots of fun and yes, tons of reading. Good advice as well, I always do a google search to try and find the answer before posting as well 🙂
And there it is in the very next post!!! Should have read ahead first. 🙂
Well, I’m not sure that WordPress has really *discontinued* infinite scrolling – at the time, they sounded quite eager to roll it out to all themes, and only to give the option of *not* having it to themes with a footer. Luckily, the 2010 Theme still has the option – though only, as far as I can recall – *if* or *as long as* you actually have widgets in the footer. So if you *don’t* have widgets there, you automatically get infinite scrolling. At least, that’s how I understood it at the time.