How to handle "infinite" web pages?

Question

Once upon a time, life was simple: All web pages had finite length and if they didn't fit into the current windows/view size, you'd simply scroll down until you reached the bottom of the page.

But I recently noticed that there is a new trend in the web design world: Bottomless web pages.

Probably the most familiar examples of sites utilizing such pages are Facebook and Twitter: You scroll to the "bottom", only to trigger some refresh that adds content to the page, so the "old bottom" is no longer a bottom and, instead, there is a new "bottom".

In an Android WebView, I need to be able capture all the content currently available on that "page", but I am not sure how to approach this:

Simulate user's scroll down via View.scrollBy(int x, int y), pageDown() or window.scrollTo()?

Or is there an API method that does this automatically for me?

Or am I approaching this completely wrong and I shouldn't attempt to get to the "real bottom" in one capture (if possible at all)?

EDIT: It seems that tagging this question javascript communicated the opposite message. I am interested in capturing (then processing) such bottomless pages on Android's WebView, using Java.

Answer 1

Edit: disregard this answer, I misunderstood the question. Leaving the answer in case others misunderstand the question as well.

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You could use the jqPageFlow jQuery plugin, or base yourself on its documentation.

Infinite scroll is another great option.

Answer 2

This jQuery plugin does just that: http://www.webresourcesdepot.com/load-content-while-scrolling-with-jquery/

Another, with jQuery an PHP: http://www.9lessons.info/2009/07/load-data-while-scroll-with-jquery-php.html

Answer 3

Regardless what language do you use, the solution is quite simple. You just catch the bechavior of user (by capturing current y and comparing it to max y od the page), then You have to add some new information to you content, by async connection. That is all. Don't know very well Java so I can only give a hint, but the idea is the same in all technologies/languages.