In the world of web usability, the focus always used to be on minimising clicks by organising content into a logical, sequential order which would allow users to click through to find the information they need quickly and easily. Having information and content ‘below the fold’ (that is, stuff that you’d need to scroll down to see or find) was seen as sacrilege. Recent studies show that might have changed, though.
A study by Chartbeat found that more than two thirds of attention spent on web pages is spent ‘below the fold’. This result was in contrast to many other studies, so HugeInc.com set up a study of their own, in which they tested four versions of a design: one of a control image with no visual cues for scrolling, one with a scroll arrow cue, one with a shorter image meaning users had to scroll to see it all and one with an animated image showing a moving element which would lead users to scroll down.
The results were that almost every single participant scrolled, no matter whether or not they were enticed to do so. In the version with no scroll arrow or incentive, 91% of respondents still scrolled, scrolled immediately and reached the bottom of the page. That’s only 1% fewer than the number of people who scrolled immediately and reached the bottom when an arrow invited them to do so, which is the same as the number for the short image and significantly more than the animated image, which had the worst results.
The simple conclusion is that people will almost always scroll, no matter what. This is very encouraging for designers as it means that, should the results prove true across the board, worrying about information falling ‘below the fold’ is something that doesn’t need to cross a designer’s mind too much, allowing the focus to be put on making the information and content as relevant and useful as possible, knowing that almost all visitors will scroll down to find it and read it anyway.
It’s worth pointing out that opinions on the matter are still divided, but the results certainly make for very interesting reading all the same.
