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James SmallwoodThere is an astonishing amount of disbelief that the users of web pages have learned to scroll and that they do so regularly. Holding on to this disbelief – this myth that users won’t scroll to see anything below the fold – is doing everyone a great
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Where IS the fold?
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not all visitors running a resolution of 1024×768 will have a fold that appears in the same spot. In the ClickTale study, the three highest fold locations were 570, 590 and 600 pixels
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John Payne"It is clear that where a given item falls in relation to the fold is becoming less important. Users are scrolling to see what they want, and finding it. The key is the content – if it is compelling, users will follow where it leads."
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the user should be able to understand what your site is about by the information presented to them above the fold
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use visual cues
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compelling content
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The content is the key. If it’s good, users will follow it
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too much’ above the fold has far more of an impact than the ‘what’.
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anything that determines site behavior (changing language, text size, adjusting volume, etc.) should be above the fold
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page title, breadcrumbs
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global navigation, search, sitemap
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business-critical links (contact info, key landing pages
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the content above the fold has to convince the user that the page has value for the current information need.
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Readers will scroll if they find useful and relevant content in the portion of the page that is first revealed to them
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but they MAY not if you haven’t prepared a suitably intuitive path for them.
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all navigation and truly important information should appear on entr
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what information is really important to users and what is secondary
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page areas near the top of the page get about 17 times more exposure than the areas near the bottom of the page, according to a research report by ClickTale
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everything important or newsworthy, or any call to action, needs to be above the page fold.”
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The most common use of the term “fold” is perhaps used in reference to newspaper layout. Because of the physical dimensions of the printed page of a broadsheet newspaper, it is folded. The first page of a newspaper is where the “big” stories of the issue are because it is the best possible placement. Readers have to flip the paper over (or unfold it) to see what else is in the issue, therefore there is a chance that someone will miss it. In web design, the term “fold” means the line beyond which a user must scroll to see more contents of a page (if it exists) after the page displays within their browser. It is also referred to as a “scroll-line.”
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It is clear that where a given item falls in relation to the fold is becoming less important. Users are scrolling to see what they want, and finding it. The key is the content – if it is compelling, users will follow where it leads.
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The most basic rule of thumb is that for every site the user should be able to understand what your site is about by the information presented to them above the fold. If they have to scroll to even discover what the site is, its success is unlikely.
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Functionality that is essential to business strategy should remain (or at least begin) above the fold. For example, if your business success is dependent on users finding a particular thing (movie theaters, for example) then the widget to allow that action should certainly be above the fold.
Screen height and folds matter for applications, especially rapid-fire applications where users input variables and change the display of information. The input and output should be in very close proximity. Getting stock quotes is an example: a user may want to get four or five quotes in sequence, so it is imperative that the input field and the basic quote information display remain above the fold for each symbol entered. Imagine the frustration at having to scroll to find the input field for each quote you wanted.
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It’s a sad, sad thing, but the single highest concentration of fold location (at around 600 pixels) for users accounted for less than 10% of the distribution. This pixel-height corresponds with a screen resolution of 1024×768. Browser applications take away varying amounts of vertical real estate for their interfaces (toolbars, address fields, etc). Each browser has a slightly different size, so not all visitors running a resolution of 1024×768 will have a fold that appears in the same spot. In the ClickTale study, the three highest fold locations were 570, 590 and 600 pixels—apparently from different browsers running on 1024×768 screens.
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But the overall distribution of fold locations for the entire study was so varied that even these three sizes together only account for less than 26% of visits. What does all this mean? If you pick one pixel location on which to base the location of the fold when designing your screens, the best-case scenario is that you’ll get the fold line exactly right for only 10% of your visitors.
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Stop worrying about the fold. Don’t throw your best practices out the window, but stop cramming stuff above a certain pixel point. You’re not helping anyone. Open up your designs and give your users some visual breathing room. If your content is compelling enough your users will read it to the end.
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The biggest lesson to be learned here is that if you use visual cues (such as cut-off images and text) and compelling content, users will scroll to see all of it. The next great frontier in web page design has to be bottom of the page. You’ve done your job and the user scrolled all the way to the bottom of the page because they were so engaged with your content. Now what? Is a footer really all we can offer them? If we know we’ve got them there, why not give them something to do next? Something contextual, a natural next step in your site, or something with which to interact (such as a poll) would be welcome and, most importantly, used.
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1 Jared Spool UIE Brain Sparks, August 2, 2006:Utilizing the Cut-off Look to Encourage Users To Scroll
2 Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox, December 1, 1997: Changes in Web Usability Since 1994
3 ClickTale’s Research Blog, December 23, 2006: Unfolding the Fold
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Check out Apple’s latest Web design – they have dropped a section/site map at the bottom of each page. This kind of information has typically been at the top of the page, usually buried in dropdown or flyout menus. I suspect that it is working well in this spot. (I would be surprised if the breadcrumb is very well understood down there, though. To me, that still belongs at the top of the page. Just instinct – would be nice to know.)
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Do create designs that scale well horizontally too
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What we’ve discovered during user testing over the years is that anything that determines site behavior (changing language, text size, adjusting volume, etc.) should be above the fold. Any “you are here” information (page title, breadcrumbs, etc) should be above the fold, as well as any feature used to initiate the visitor’s journey (global navigation, search, sitemap) although these should probably also be repeated in the footer. And as you point out (also in the third-to-last subsection), business-critical links (contact info, key landing pages, etc.) are best placed above the fold.
On the other hand, surveys and polls tend to do much better at the bottom of a page, particularly if they deal directly with page content (in other words, people need to read the page before they can comment on it). And convenience features that refer directly to page content (print this page, tip a friend) generally do better at the bottom of the page, although visitors seem to like redundant links at both the top and bottom of the page even if they only use the ones at the bottom.
Your very last paragraph about the bottom of the page being “the next frontier” is perhaps the most valuable advice of all; when people are through reading, give them a logical place to continue their journey. Like a magician forcing a card on an unsuspecting audience member, good websites discreetly create linear flows through their site. Visitors choose to follow your contextual lead, even though they have the option to move about freely.
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The one thing I would add is that if you design a long webpage, make damn sure you don’t have a strip of white space where all the content seems to end, and it also happens to be at a place where statistically the bottom of the browser window happens to be for a given monitor size. This can fool users into thinking there is nothing more below this point and they may not scroll further.
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Users will scroll if they feel that something relevant is there. So if you have a list of items (like a full listing of articles on a blog, or a list of products), that overflows the fold you (as a designer) usually have nothing to worry about. Worst cases are the boxed layouts, that are trying to have a decorative graphics around each block, especially when a vertical spacing between boxes is on the fold line.
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Ivari HormThere is an astonishing amount of disbelief that the users of web pages have learned to scroll and that they do so regularly. Holding on to this disbelief – this myth that users won’t scroll to see anything below the fold – is doing everyone a great disservice, most of all our users.
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08 Dec 09
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05 Nov 09
Antonio VolponIn the ClickTale study, the three highest fold locations were 570, 590 and 600 pixels—apparently from different browsers running on 1024×768 screens
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29 Oct 09
Tim WalkerThe title here is slightly misleading, I feel. I don't believe the article is saying that the print/Web design concept of "above the fold" is outright wrong; more likely, the message is best summarised by this quote: "The most basic rule of thumb is that
usability webdesign design ui web layout article research abovethefold
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Alex HorstmannWe are all well aware that web design is not an easy task. There are many variables to consider, some of them technical, some of them human. The technical considerations of designing for the web can (and do) change quite regularly, but the human variables
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Tobias Lee"There is an astonishing amount of disbelief that the users of web pages have learned to scroll and that they do so regularly. Holding on to this disbelief – this myth that users won’t scroll to see anything below the fold – is doing everyone a great diss
design reference web interface usability article IA layout fold
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lizmassey68Article about IA and web design from Boxes and Arrows, a monthly e-zine on information architecture for the Web.
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Frederik Van Zande
We are all well aware that web design is not an easy task. There are many variables to consider, some of them technical, some of them human. The technical considerations of designing for the web can (and do) change quite regularly, but the human variables change at a slower rate. Sometimes the human variables change at such a slow rate that we have a hard time believing that it happens. -
11 Jan 09
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06 Oct 08
elliot harrison robertsBlasting the Myth of the Fold
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23 Aug 08
Maggie Wolfe RileyThe idea that some people put forth that users don't scroll has always struck me as patently ridiculous! This is a good article - obviously, you need to put your most important content - the stuff that tells readers what the site is about or good for, above the fold. Personally, I would *much* rather scroll than go to another page! Hello - that's what cntrl+F is for! (or in my case, apple+F). Guess what - we've all learned to scroll! Duh!
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Stop worrying about the fold. Don’t throw your best practices out the window, but stop cramming stuff above a certain pixel point. You’re not helping anyone. Open up your designs and give your users some visual breathing room. If your content is compelling enough your users will read it to the end.
-
The biggest lesson to be learned here is that if you use visual cues (such as cut-off images and text) and compelling content, users will scroll to see all of it. The next great frontier in web page design has to be bottom of the page. You’ve done your job and the user scrolled all the way to the bottom of the page because they were so engaged with your content. Now what? Is a footer really all we can offer them? If we know we’ve got them there, why not give them something to do next? Something contextual, a natural next step in your site, or something with which to interact (such as a poll) would be welcome and, most importantly, used.
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Ethan GardnerWe are all well aware that web design is not an easy task. There are many variables to consider, some of them technical, some of them human. The technical considerations of designing for the web can (and do) change quite regularly, but the human variables
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