When I was building Jottings, one of the smallest—yet surprisingly important—decisions was how many jots to show per page. Sounds trivial, right? But that one number affects everything: how fast your site loads, how long visitors scroll, and whether people actually find what they're looking for.
Let me walk you through the thinking behind pagination and how to configure it for your specific needs.
Why Pagination Matters
If you've ever visited a blog or archive with hundreds of posts, you know the feeling. You're scrolling, scrolling, scrolling—and the page gets sluggish. Your browser struggles. Mobile users give up. That's why pagination exists. It's not about limitation; it's about breathing room.
With Jottings, you get to decide that breathing room. The default is 50 jots per page, which I landed on after testing with different content types. But your microblog might be different.
The Performance-Content Tradeoff
Here's the fundamental tension: more jots per page means fewer clicks to see more content, but it also means heavier pages and slower load times.
More jots per page (75+):
- Fewer pages to navigate through
- More content visible at a glance
- Visitors see more of your work immediately
- Trade-off: Slower initial page load, more scrolling, higher data usage on mobile
Fewer jots per page (25-35):
- Lightning-fast page loads
- Content feels less overwhelming
- Better for mobile visitors with slow connections
- Trade-off: More clicking between pages, visitors might not see as much content
The sweet spot depends on three things: your content type, your audience's device type, and your personal preference.
What Works for Different Content Types
Text-heavy microblog? Go lower. My recommendation: 30-40 jots per page.
If you're writing longer jots with substantial text, rendering 50+ of them creates a massive DOM tree. The page becomes heavy. Visitors on older devices or slower connections will notice the lag. Plus, when someone visits your site, they're probably here to read thoughtfully, not speed-scroll through everything. Fewer items create a better rhythm.
Photo-focused site? You can handle more. Try 50-75 jots per page.
Images load lazy by default in browsers now, so adding more photo jots doesn't hit performance as hard. More photos per page also creates a better visual flow. Pagination might even feel jarring if you're running a photography portfolio.
Mixed content (photos + links + text)? Stick with the default: 50 jots per page.
This balances both worlds. The page isn't too light that it feels sparse, but it's not so heavy that it struggles. Think of 50 as the practical middle ground that works for most people.
Link aggregation or quick updates? Go higher. Try 75-100 jots per page.
Short links and quick thoughts are lightweight. Each one takes minimal vertical space. Visitors will appreciate seeing more curated links at once without pagination friction. You can safely push this number higher.
How to Set It
In your Jottings dashboard, head to Site Settings → Display Settings → Jots Per Page. Enter your preferred number. That's it.
The setting applies to:
- Your home page (and subsequent pagination pages like
/page/2.html) - Your tag pages (each tag respects the same jots per page setting)
- Your feeds (RSS and JSON feeds aren't affected by this setting—they have separate limits)
Changes take effect on your next site build. No need to manually rebuild; your site will regenerate when you update settings.
Pro Tip: Think Mobile First
Here's something I think about: most of my site visitors are on mobile. A phone screen is tiny. Pagination that feels comfortable on desktop (20 items visible before scrolling) feels fine. But on mobile, the same page might require 5-10 seconds of scrolling to get through all the content.
If you're unsure what to choose, start with 40 jots per page. It's conservative enough that mobile visitors won't feel overwhelmed, but generous enough that desktop visitors can see meaningful content without clicking pagination links.
Then actually visit your site on your phone. Scroll through a couple pages. Does it feel natural? Or are you frantically clicking "Next"? Adjust accordingly.
The Pagination Math
A small calculation to help you think about this:
- 50 jots/page = 10 pages for 500 jots (standard blog archive)
- 30 jots/page = 17 pages for 500 jots (more pages, lighter per-page load)
- 75 jots/page = 7 pages for 500 jots (fewer pages, heavier load)
If you have hundreds or thousands of jots, pagination becomes crucial. Visitors shouldn't be paginating through 50 pages to find something old. Use your site's tagging system liberally—it helps people navigate by topic instead of by date.
What I Recommend
Start with 50 jots per page. It's the default for a reason. It works for most people.
Monitor your site's actual performance after a week or two. Check your analytics. Are mobile visitors bouncing quickly? That might signal slow page loads. Are visitors clicking pagination frequently? That might mean they want more content per page.
Then adjust. You can change this setting anytime without penalty. There's no "right" answer—only what works best for your audience and content.
One More Thing
Remember: pagination is just one piece of the puzzle. Tags, archives, and search are equally important for discoverability. Don't optimize pagination in isolation. Think about how visitors naturally explore your site. Then fine-tune pagination to support that journey.
If you're just starting out with Jottings, don't overthink this setting. Pick a number, publish, and see how it feels. You can always adjust later. That's the beauty of owning your microblog—you're in complete control.
Happy publishing.
If you haven't set up pagination for your Jottings site yet, log in to your dashboard and give it a try. Your visitors will appreciate the thoughtful page design.