# Web articles that ''take up'' more than one page **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 16, 2005, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-articles-that-take-up-more-than-one-page/312843 "2005-07-16T23:22:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dignan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-articles-that-take-up-more-than-one-page/312843/1 "2005-07-16T23:22:32Z")
_The New York Times_ has done this for as long as I can remember, and recently ESPN has taken up the irritating practice of requiring you to click “continue with article” or something similar to get you to load up another page to finish reading the article. Is this just another way for the site to get more ad revenue, giving it another opportunity to bother me with pop-ups or those obnoxious graphics that avoid pop-ups and have a hard to find “close” button? Is there some other purpose or is that it? Is there something in particular that has increased this type of thing? ---
**Author:** ![coldie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f9b8f/32.png) [@coldie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coldie)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-articles-that-take-up-more-than-one-page/312843/2 "2005-07-16T23:34:53Z")
Lets u c more advertising. ---
**Author:** ![Tyrrell\_McAllister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tyrrell_mcallister/32/16772_2.png) [@Tyrrell\_McAllister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tyrrell_McAllister)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-articles-that-take-up-more-than-one-page/312843/3 "2005-07-17T00:20:16Z")
Just as an FYI, and you may have already noticed this, but at [NYTimes.com](http://NYTimes.com) the articles that take more than one page have a “Single Page” link in their upper right-hand corner. Click this and you’ll get the article all on one page. There doesn’t seem to be a way to set some kind of personal preference to make articles load in single-page format automatically, though. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-articles-that-take-up-more-than-one-page/312843/4 "2005-07-17T00:39:44Z")
Some long articles can be unwieldy to read on one page. For example, the lead article in tomorrow’s New York Times Sunday Magazine continues for twelve pages. If you lose your place while reading the article on one page, it might take a while to find it again, while it would probably be simpler to get back to the correct one of the twelve pages. Also, a long article on a single page will take a long time to load for users with slow connections. So while continuing an article onto additional pages may allow the website to show more ads, there are some practical reasons as well for doing so. ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-articles-that-take-up-more-than-one-page/312843/5 "2005-07-17T01:01:30Z")
It also allows the site to see how many people just like to read the first few paragraphs, and how many go on to read the whole thing. Gives them a guide to what their audience is looking for. ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-articles-that-take-up-more-than-one-page/312843/6 "2005-07-17T01:31:39Z")
> [@Tyrrell McAllister](#): > > There doesn’t seem to be a way to set some kind of personal preference to make articles load in single-page format automatically, though. If you’re using Firefox, there’s a Grease Monkey extension for this. If none of this makes sense to you, you don’t know what you’re missing 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Netbrian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71e660/32.png) [@Netbrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Netbrian)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-articles-that-take-up-more-than-one-page/312843/7 "2005-07-17T03:59:39Z")
I’ll note that often (though not always, sadly), if you find and click on the link to a printable version of the article, you’ll be sent to a version of it all on one page, and largely ad free. I frequently read articles on sites that split them up in this fashion. ---
**Author:** ![Dignan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-articles-that-take-up-more-than-one-page/312843/8 "2005-07-17T18:32:58Z")
Thanks, I never noticed the single page view on NYT, but knew of it on ESPN. It’s good to hear that it does have some purpose other than bothering me with additional pop-ups. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-articles-that-take-up-more-than-one-page/312843/9 "2005-07-17T18:50:33Z")
if pop-up ads are a problem, you should try Firefox. I see almost none since I switched to it. The few that got through were Macromedia Flash-based, and these I now avoid with the Flashblock extension. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-articles-that-take-up-more-than-one-page/312843/10 "2005-07-18T17:22:44Z")
> [@Dewey Finn](#): > > if pop-up ads are a problem, you should try Firefox. I see almost none since I switched to it. The few that got through were Macromedia Flash-based, and these I now avoid with the Flashblock extension. What exactly does Flashblock do? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-articles-that-take-up-more-than-one-page/312843/11 "2005-07-18T17:44:09Z")
It blocks all Flash programs. Instead you just see a play icon, which plays the Flash program if you click on it (say if it’s something you explicitly want to see). A lot of banner ads are Flash programs now, so the websites I view are much less busy since I started using it. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-articles-that-take-up-more-than-one-page/312843/12 "2005-07-18T17:49:00Z")
> [@Dewey Finn](#): > > It blocks all Flash programs. Instead you just see a play icon, which plays the Flash program if you click on it (say if it’s something you explicitly want to see). A lot of banner ads are Flash programs now, so the websites I view are much less busy since I started using it. Ahh. I should try that. I’ve tried just not installing flash but there’s like one circumstance in a hundred where I really do need it.