Comments on: Blasting the Myth of the Fold http://boxesandarrows.com/blasting-the-myth-of-the-fold/ Boxes and Arrows is devoted to the practice, innovation, and discussion of design; including graphic design, interaction design, information architecture and the design of business. Wed, 15 May 2013 11:41:04 +0000 hourly 1 By: laurenceveale http://boxesandarrows.com/blasting-the-myth-of-the-fold/#comment-6745 laurenceveale Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://boxesandarrows.com/blasting-the-myth-of-the-fold/#comment-6745 Really like the article. In user testing, we still see some issues with visual cues that indicate the end of the page (like a horizontal line or too much white space).

On your question, “where is the fold”, there’s a new niche analytics application called FoldSpy (foldspy.com) which is worth looking into. They measure the exact fold size rather than screen resolution so you can see what percentage of your visitors can see what and use that to determine where you should be placing important content.

Lar

]]> By: avanderkrogt http://boxesandarrows.com/blasting-the-myth-of-the-fold/#comment-6746 avanderkrogt Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://boxesandarrows.com/blasting-the-myth-of-the-fold/#comment-6746 Very useful and elaborate article. I referenced to it from my latest blogpost (see http://www.almarvanderkrogt.nl/blog/archives/2007/07/plain_view_embr.html).

]]> By: phoomp http://boxesandarrows.com/blasting-the-myth-of-the-fold/#comment-6747 phoomp Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://boxesandarrows.com/blasting-the-myth-of-the-fold/#comment-6747 Very interesting research, but it would seem to me that it applies more to sites where users have already bought into the product (AOL, news/news aggregator sites, a favorite blog, etc). If users are still evaluating the product (a news site they are looking at for the first time or a site for a company they are consider purchasing something from), they may not be convinced to scroll down if the content above the fold isn’t useful to them.

I don’t think the issue is so much that users don’t know how to scroll anymore than readers not knowing how to flip over a newspaper. The issue is using the content above the fold to *convince* them to buy into and *flip* that newspaper.

]]> By: twistedpixel http://boxesandarrows.com/blasting-the-myth-of-the-fold/#comment-6748 twistedpixel Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://boxesandarrows.com/blasting-the-myth-of-the-fold/#comment-6748 This article is both inspiring and reassuring. The hardest part of web design and user interface design has been convincing people (clients, product owners) that users will flow through content if the design is compelling; just like someone working their way through a newspaper or analyzing a great painting or sculpture. Design is meant to stimulate and guide the user to the desired end result. The fold has always been considered a brick wall to many designers and this insightful study of how the users are really investigating the web helps to tear down the wall. I do hope everyone prints this out and mysteriously places it on the desk of any client or product owner :)

Great article.

]]> By: milissa http://boxesandarrows.com/blasting-the-myth-of-the-fold/#comment-6749 milissa Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://boxesandarrows.com/blasting-the-myth-of-the-fold/#comment-6749 Chris – you’ve got it right. The content is the key. If it’s good, users will follow it – and I think they will follow it even if they haven’t been to the site before. The design of the page is important of course, and great design can support that great content. But if the content isn’t good, well, then I certainly hope users aren’t scrolling to see more of it… ;)

]]> By: tbeidelvianowcom http://boxesandarrows.com/blasting-the-myth-of-the-fold/#comment-6750 tbeidelvianowcom Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://boxesandarrows.com/blasting-the-myth-of-the-fold/#comment-6750 This kind of information is priceless. Concepts and theory are great, but this kind of solid data helps in the real world that we spend most of our time dealing with.

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.)

]]> By: bcassidy http://boxesandarrows.com/blasting-the-myth-of-the-fold/#comment-6751 bcassidy Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://boxesandarrows.com/blasting-the-myth-of-the-fold/#comment-6751 I wouldn’t say that the fold is necessarily a “myth”. It is a real barrier albeit one that has been paved over to more of a speed bump because users have become accustomed over the years to using one of the more simple inherent functions of a browser, the scroll bar. Also, we, as in the UI designers, have no one to blame but ourselves for reinforcing the fold. If we have been responsible designers we are probably doing wireframes to scale (or close to scale) and our Visio templates are set to letter or legal in landscape orientation so that we can (and out clients can) print out our deliverables on regular paper. Our designs then tend to conform to this. We need to break away from this constraint.

As you suggest, keeping functionality away from the fold and to use visual cues to suggest that there is something worthwhile to scroll to, is the key. Again, as responsible designers, we can and should influence all of the folks that depend upon our deliverables – the business owners, visual designers and developers – to remember that the fold is real but not to be afraid of it.

Now, how about the right hand fold? Meaning, scrolling from left to right. Now that is a reality. Is that the next barrier to true freedom?

]]> By: vera http://boxesandarrows.com/blasting-the-myth-of-the-fold/#comment-6752 vera Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://boxesandarrows.com/blasting-the-myth-of-the-fold/#comment-6752 This aspect fascinates me as I observe my husband (boomer) and other non-tech casual users’ behavior. Every one of them, including those I introduced to using the web personally, grasped the scroll down function easily, almost intuitively, and use it regularly regardless of whether they are already involved in the content. Yet each of them backs right out from a visual overload without thinking to seek lower. When asked, they’ll say it didn’t occur to them at the time. It appears to me that the ‘too much’ above the fold has far more of an impact than the ‘what’.

]]> By: ayyash http://boxesandarrows.com/blasting-the-myth-of-the-fold/#comment-6753 ayyash Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://boxesandarrows.com/blasting-the-myth-of-the-fold/#comment-6753 Hi, this is all very valuable, I have been trying to convince my clients that people DO SCROLL, but I never had the figures and numbers, thanks a load for the effort….

One more thing to add, I have realized through out my experience with web interfaces, that I scroll down more often becuase of the Mouse Wheel, it is becoming much more convenient to scroll as soon as the page starts loading even before the content is totally ready, just to see if the page is active and there are things to see down there, then I switch away to some other window, and later come back with all determination to dance the page up and down before I settle on a point… I swear, sometimes, if the page does not scroll down, I get disappointed! or worse, feel the browser hanged, or the connection lost! :)
PS. someone mentioned scrolling left-to-right, I believe if we can break the text into columns of adequate width, and invent a mouse wheel that goes right ways, it is possible!

]]> By: sueq http://boxesandarrows.com/blasting-the-myth-of-the-fold/#comment-6754 sueq Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://boxesandarrows.com/blasting-the-myth-of-the-fold/#comment-6754 Howdy from down under! One of my kiwi colleagues forwarded me your article this morning! Congrats on your international reputation : )
Great article. I am still conditioned from my AOL days to be compulsive about keeping things “above the fold”. But it is slowly fading away–leaving me much more space and freedom for designing!
Hope all is well at AOL.

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