For businesses managing extensive online stores with thousands of products, efficient navigation and bulk editing capabilities are not just conveniences – they are necessities for maintaining productivity. Previously, many platforms offered a straightforward and intuitive method for traversing search results or product listings: numbered pagination. This seemingly simple feature allowed users to quickly jump to specific pages within a set of results, proving particularly useful when dealing with a large number of items spread across multiple pages.
Imagine searching for a specific range of products requiring a uniform update. With numbered pagination, a user could execute a search, see the resulting items spread across numerous pages (perhaps 50 items per page), and then systematically work through these pages. The process was often to bulk edit the items on page one, save the changes, re-run the search (as search criteria sometimes didn't persist), and then directly navigate to page two to continue the process. This method provided a clear sense of progress; the page number served as a bookmark, indicating exactly where the user was in their workflow. For tasks spanning dozens, even hundreds, of pages, this direct navigation was a significant time-saver.
However, the removal of these page numbers has introduced a considerable hurdle. Instead of simply clicking on "page 10" to resume editing, users are now forced to tediously click through each preceding page using only "next" or "previous" arrows. For someone who might have been on page 35 of a 50-page list, this necessitates an arduous and time-consuming process of clicking 34 times just to get back to their previous point. This not only disrupts the flow of work but also makes it incredibly difficult to remember one's place, increasing the risk of errors and duplicated effort.
The impact is particularly acute for users who relied on the combination of search functionality and page-by-page bulk editing to manage their large inventories. Without direct page navigation, the task of updating hundreds or thousands of products becomes exponentially more time-consuming. What once took a few hours can now stretch into days, significantly impacting operational efficiency.
The reinstatement of numbered pagination would be a welcome and crucial improvement for users managing substantial product catalogs. It would restore a level of efficiency and control that has been lost, directly addressing a pain point that adds unnecessary complexity and time to routine management tasks. For those dealing with the realities of thousands of products, the return of page numbers isn't just a minor UI tweak – it's a fundamental requirement for effective workflow.
