Web Design - Fold
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- zarkonite
http://www.boxesandarrows.com/vi…
I've been going back and forth with a co-worker about the merits of laying out content above and below the fold.
I believe it's important to keep it clean and not cram a web page but that the purpose of any page should be apparent above the 650px mark... where do you guys stand on this issue? how does it affect the way you design your pages?
- airey0
my opinion is:
sell your main message above the fold and then carry on the message below. people are ok with scrollbars, they've been around a while now.cheers, me.
- airey0
in fact the only people i've ever really had this discussion with are 'web experts' + 'usability experts' etc. clients and the general public broadly speaking don't actually think that hard about it and just scroll.
- zarkonite0
yeah I don't bring up the fold with clients unless it's to my advantage =) It mostly comes up when we talk about ad placement with clients for me.
- UKV0
hahah. fold? on who's browser? its different on every machine, and it welcomes a lowest common denominator mindset that often leads to a series of well intended compromises. Every interactive effort is different, and will likely have a unique UX req set that should inform decisions about where and how ideas are conveyed, and not the other way around.
- zarkonite0
UKV. True, the UX requirements inform the design. But why would keeping the fold in mind invite a lowest common denominator mindset? Just because you know your target audience is going to be in a certain range doesn't mean you have to dilute your ideas... This kind of information should be handed to the art director/designer before they start pushing pixels around, no?
- Milan0
hahaha, whenever someone mentions the fold on websites, i seriously wanna slap them around
- Jugarelly0
"There is no bloody fold"
-Jevad
- airey0
"i am the fold"
- me
- UKV0
I guess what I meant by that is that its a slippery slope to embrace "rules" that we make up instead of thinking from a clean slate. We make boundaries for the work and then try to fill in the template marquee area. We think in grid and system fonts instead of doing whatever is right for the strengthening our most relevant ideas with the perception changing power of a unique design that is daring enough to lead a user (vs passively reacting). We are also guilty of pretending that users know the "fold" exists and that they don't know how to scroll or maybe its just too much work (heaven forbid we ask them to interact... gasp!). Sadly, the act of assuming the worst of a user and then spoon feeding them information is often the most damming component of a user's experience.
Ultimately I would argue that what is relevant is far more important than what is limiting. Constraints are not a healthy starting point, ideas without predetermined outcomes are.
- lambsy0
every time a dezigner mentions the fold an asshole earns his wings
- designbot0
I was just thinking about this very topic...well specifically web standards. I think 99% of these standards are shit. There a of course general guidelines to web design, but trying to design around most of them is a terrible idea. Screw the fold. It's called putting the most pertinent info towards the top of the page...common sense!
I just got done designing a few pages of a site from wire frames that completely restricted what I could do because some high level "web experts" thought this is what needed to go on the page. As I sit back and look at it, I'm really disappointed. When too many people get together (or even one person) and think too hard about designing a web site, the end result is a convoluted mess. Once again the bureaucracy here at my work has squashed what could have been something awesome.
//end rant
- it's called "design by committee" and it never works.bulletfactory
- zarkonite0
Designbot:
an advantage of being a designer is that you are often thought of as an artsy idiot, you know the type that can't even program a microwave... so hey, maybe sometimes you just ignore the fucking wire frame cuz you're just too dumb to understand it ("ooohh, is that what that meant?") and you show them something better. When they ask you how you did it, just say you have talent.Just make sure it's better, or you'll get fired =)
- haha...I hear ya. I think good design eliminates the need for lots of other peoples jobs :)designbot
- ukit0
Test the site at the screen resolution(s) of the users you are targeting.
if it looks good, good. If it looks like shit, then rethink maybe.
I think that's all you need to know;)
- Rodimus790
I suppose it depends on your audience and content. Working on news sites, there's an overabundance of content and advertising, so the fold becomes fairly important. After witnessing my fair share of usability studies, you'd be surprised how seldom average people actually scroll.
- Rodimus790
In some cases, you can use the fold to your advantage, if a client wants to clutter a page with advertising/fluff/etc.. If a user's sought content would lie below the fold if a client's crap pushed it there, it's pretty easy to convince them to stress what should go where, and hopefully, to simplify things.
- erikjonsson0
i think i have anti-talent in ux
- UKV0
@designbot: Before I crowned myself benevolent dictator of creativity, I went out of my way to collaborate with the IA types, and get them to be less prescriptive. Most are when quite drunk. I did the best when I simply asked them to assign content priority, and not think about how it fits together. It worked some of the time. In other times, I'd have to stay late and do another execution that I thought was stronger.
Those are poor workarounds however until you earn a coveted spot that in shop or brand that values the power of design.