Reddit Thread Scroller

✋ What is it?

This is a solution found in the Reddit mobile apps. Reddit threads are usually a long chain of comments and sub comments that extend for several screen folds. Reddit provides a scroller button that allows users to move from one parent comment to the next one.

🤲 How does this interaction or solution work?

Reddit is one of the most popular and engaging websites on the internet. All Reddit posts have a comment section where users can express their opinions and discuss the topic relevant to each post.

Users can post starter comments or reply to other comments. There's no limit for the number of replies, nor the nesting of replies.

The conversational nature of Reddit usually create threads of parent comments that extend for several screen folds, which means that if users want to move to the next parent comment, they need to scroll through a lot of replies and nested replies.

Since not all the users are necessarily interested in the conversation threads that form under a parent comment, Reddit provides a nice scroller button that allows users to move from one parent comment to the next one without the need to swipe scroll several times.

In iOS, the position where the scroller floats can be changed by long pressing and dragging the scroller. This functionality allows users to re-position the scroller to an area that feels comfortable to their scrolling and touch interaction solutions.

🙌 How does this interaction or solution work?

Navigability and Customization

Reddit can be described as the largest forum on the internet. Conversation is perhaps the most important element of Reddit's experience. Given the massive amount of content and comments that get posted to Reddit, any element that improves the experience of moving through content greatly impacts the quality of the platform.

In this case, by providing a thread scroller that allows mobile users to navigate through the massive number of comments, Reddit creates a mobile experience that favors navigability and transitions through the app.

In the iOS implementation, the ability to reposition the scroller helps users to customize the scrolling experience to their particular needs which also improves the overall experience of the app.