Somewhere around the dawn of Internetdom, a study said that users don’t scroll. Ever since then, we’ve been cramming everything we’ve got into the first screen, “above the fold” (a term borrowed from newspapers).
Enlightenment from these dark ages has been slow. Over the last few years, new beliefs have emerged to eclipse the flat-earth thinking.
- Users can learn to scroll
- Encourage scrolling by flowing content beyond the fold
- Reward scrolling with a good footer
Milissa Tarquini summarizes the Above-the-Fold Myth, referencing research from as far back as 1997 that says, “don’t worry–let them scroll.”
Comparison of Web Design Viewpoints
Jared Spool suggests using the cut-off look to encourage users to scroll. By not designing to squeeze above the fold, we engage the user to scroll further.
Mind The Bottom
Tarquini’s also points to ClickTale’s research on scrolling, which shows that 22% of people scroll all the way to the bottom. Considering that a good number of people probably find something click-worthy before they reach the end, that’s a high number of people scrolling way to the bottom.
What do we give them? Derek Powazek says to Embrace Your Bottom:
“In this business, a user that actually reads all the way to the bottom of a page is like gold. They’re your best, most engaged, happiest users. You know, because they haven’t clicked away. They did the best possible thing they could do, and now they’re at the bottom of the page. And how do you reward them?
With a copyright statement. Maybe, if they’re lucky, some bland footer navigation.”
Justin Kistner has some good footer examples. Do you have any?
Great point about embracing layouts that drop below the fold. It’s limiting to think that way. Thanks for the link!
Thanks!
I assume you mean that it’s limiting to think about squeezing everything above the fold. 😉