I'm talking about the ones that are pinned to the bottom right and scroll along with you.<p>I use a low mouse sensitivity so they're useful for getting back to the top.<p>Do you find them annoying, useful, don't care? What about on mobile - I find that they just get in the way there.
"Back to top" buttons are a system-in-system effect (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner-platform_effect" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner-platform_effect</a>) and clearly an anti-pattern. Scrolling should be handled by the browser and if a user agent (for instance with a small screen) thinks it is neccessary to give help for scrolling, it should do so, customizable for the user. This is not the task of a website.
I've always wondered about these. I don't care on desktop, because high velocity scrolling on a MacBook is easy. On mobile, the iOS pattern to tap the top of the screen is my go-to, I find these buttons to waste valuable screen real estate.
No, don't like them (or anything fixed on screen like that), don't use them. (I use a desktop computer only) They're possibly worse (because not removable) than windows that pop up saying Subscribe? Cookies? etc which all always get a big NO from me.
Depends on the page design and target user. For lengthy, multi-section pages, a "Back to Top" can be helpful, but it'd be better if there was a fixed Table of Contents with links to the sections of the page. Otherwise, I always have the Home/End buttons.<p>On mobile, page should be designed such that the button is easy to reach, visible and not blocked by or blocking the text. For a button placed on the bottom right of the page, the body content should be set up so there's a little extra padding on the right. This way, there's a clear visual separation between the text and the button.
I just always use the "CMD-Up" shortcut on Mac so the "Back to top" buttons feel like visual clutter once you've learned the keyboard shortcut.
Annoying, yes. If I'm on desktop and I want to get back to the top, I'll flick my scroll wheel or hit the Home button. On mobile I'll just flick the screen.
I just don't care about them. They don't harm anything, I just never really need a link to go back to the top of the page, so I barely notice their existence.
I use back to top heavily on 4chan for very long threads.<p>However, I would prefer the site just be minimally designed, so one fast flick of the screen returns to top.
If you accidentally click on that button while you are amid reading or something....it can be a great frustration as it will land you to the top. So, sometimes I too find "back to top buttons" frustrating.