Just wanted to comment that at Vimeo we had this same problem, but approached it in a slightly different way.
When you first scroll down on the logged in homepage (feed) you get to the footer. It is only after you click "Load more videos" that we begin infinite scrolling.
I think this makes it less intrusive since the user is initiating that they want to see more (rather than clicking on a link in the footer for example).
There's a trivial technical solution to the auto infinite scroll + page footer problem. Just reveal the footer fixed to the bottom of the viewport when the user scrolls. See Forrst's posts feed: http://forrst.com/posts
It's a bit on the noisy side, but resolves usability issues. The other simple solution is Vimeo's approach (only load more content on request, eg a 'more' button), but for most content feeds that's an unnecessary demand for user attention on the UI instead of the content given the other design options available.
Infinite scroll has more usability issues than the hidden footer, many not solved as easily. Quick partial list:
- the scrollbar loses its utility as a progress bar.
- return the user to their scroll position if they followed a link from it before hitting the browser Back button
- finding the appropriate moments to preload additional results so the user isn't waiting for content in a way that doesn't send the scrollbar into unexpected calisthenics
Please don't ever do fixed headers or footers. They drive me crazy. It's like being back in the web of the 90's where frames were all the rage.
With the exception of true, complete web "apps", web pages should be documents that I can scroll without hassle and not have content possibly obscured by a bad implementation.
I don't like the solution on the page you linked. Try using it in Firefox with "zoom text only" enabled and do CTRL++ several times. The footer occupies half of the screen right now. Luckily there's Firebug / Aardvark to get rid of it.
When you first scroll down on the logged in homepage (feed) you get to the footer. It is only after you click "Load more videos" that we begin infinite scrolling.
I think this makes it less intrusive since the user is initiating that they want to see more (rather than clicking on a link in the footer for example).
See: http://cl.ly/image/1d3L3H3c0P2q
On top of that we use html5 push state to make sure that the current url is updated as you scroll up and down the page with infinite scroll.
I'm not saying this solution is perfect, but it has seemed to work fine for us.