You’ve probably heard the term used at a least a few times before: Above the Fold. It is very important—on the web, and otherwise too—but what exactly does it mean for your website? And most importantly, how can you be compliant with the guideline? Today, we’ll aim to answer these questions while providing some additional important information regarding designing above the fold.
What Is Above the Fold?
Simple. It’s the practice of putting your very best content—whether it be headlines, images, videos, or anything else—at the top of the page. The point of the matter is you want your visitors to see this content and have their attention captured right away. If they have to scroll down to figure out what your web page is going to be about and to find out what’s in it for them, the chances are pretty good that you’re going to lose their attention before they do so. They’ll essentially become another statistic under the “bounce” column (not a good thing).
The concept of above the fold actually comes from traditional print media—going back to the early days of commercial newspapers, the idea was that the most important stuff had to be on the front page to attract readers (and get people to purchase the paper). This is why most front page newspaper stories are typically lead-ins that continue in detail deeper with the folds of the newspaper—the concept is to put the “teasers” first and then draw readers in.
And you guessed right…the exact same concept still holds absolutely true with web media today. Try to follow the example of traditional media that has been paving the way for hundreds of years in this attention grasping technique. It works!
Web Specific Techniques To Try
Further, there are some great new above the fold techniques that web technology has discovered and enabled. For example:
· Rotating images at the top of a page are quite popular to attract visitors’ attention.
· Rather essential lately, homepages across the web are using a rotating feature box, front, top, and center, to attract attention and lead visitors deeper into the depths of the site.
· Many home pages keep textual content to a minimum.
· The above the fold philosophy is most likely influencing the horizontal top navigation menu trend that most sites follow today.
· Sometimes, when it comes to “above the fold,” less is more. Specifically, keeping textual content light and airy with lots of whitespace. This captures visitor attention.
So, why not try some of these techniques? Sites across the web are using them to great success—just look at some of the most popular sites on the web for proof. And if you need help or additional ideas when it comes to using the above the fold philosophy, please don’t hesitate to contact us here at WSpider—we look forward to helping you optimize your website’s visitor experience!
