This sounds like a really premature optimization to me. Let the DB do it's job unless you have an explain trace showing it's slow for your workload. Trying to do things like sequence columns adds complexity, when this is often handled by the engine.
I empirically know this was an issue back then. I also agree it's something a DB engine should handle, and I do hope that databases do a better job today.
So instead of calling out "premature optimization", maybe instead come with a practical example of a DB engine that properly handles this?
The top-level comment is asking for good ways to paginate. OFFSET works on localhost and with hundreds of rows. My solution is one that works in production once OFFSET fails you. For me, it was day 2.
You don't need to heapsort the entire dataset before you offset to a page, and there are engines capable of doing this.