No. 5: What Should be Above the Screen Fold?

One of the issues that seems to raise its head in more user testing projects than not, is the question of what information should be presented above the screen fold? That is, the part of a web page that can be seen without scrolling.

In a recent article from looking at Scrolling and Scrollbars, Jakob Nielsen make some good points about how poorly designed scrollbars can frustrate uses, create accessibility challenges, and cause people to miss information.

One of the recommendations he makes is:

“Display all important information above the fold. Users often decide whether to stay or leave based on what they can see without scrolling.”

Observations from our user testing would certainly suggest that this is true. All critical content and navigation options should be above the fold; all major choices should be visible without scrolling. This is simply because many users do not bother scrolling down to see the rest of the page.

Having said this, designers should not be afraid of vertical scrolling - the important this to consider is to set the expectation of the value to be gained by scrolling. This can be achieved by providing visual and contextual cues above the fold, and applying a certain level of consistency throughout the website.

Basically people will scroll if they perceive that it may be worth it, and will continue to scroll on other pages as long as the value is maintained.

In many contexts vertical scrolling is far preferable to clicking, as it can often mean faster and easier navigation.

The other very important consideration is that the location of the screen fold depends upon such things as the size of the browser window the user chooses, the resolution setting of the monitor on which the page is displayed, and other information that page designers usually have little way of knowing with any certainty.