Departika, a graphic and web design studio

The Industry

How Many Users Scroll?

While width of Web sites has for the most part stayed the same for quite some time (optimized for 800 x 600, or 1024 x 768 resolutions, and now liquid/fluid layouts that allow for aesthetically pleasing viewing in both or even higher resolutions) there seems to be a trend for longer websites that display more information “below the fold” or outside of the viewing window.

A client recently asked me about a design comp I was presenting whether the users would know to scroll, and could I try and get more of the content in the window. My answer was yes the users will know how to scroll, and I didn’t think it was necessary that all of the information be in the viewable window. I’m mostly pulling from my own experience with the way I use the Web so I will try and expound with some examples and hopefully some viable references to back me up.

According to Jakob Nielson—Screen Resolution and Page Layout July 31, 2006 article, all key information should be visible above the fold in a 1024 x 768 and critical information within the viewing window set at 800 x 600 screen resolution. However, “key information,” “critical information,” and lower priority content can be interpreted differently for different people. Many of my Web clients say all of their information is key, or at least at some point in the conversations they are trying to put emphasis on things that aren’t as important as other things.

One element of good usable Web design is defined by a hierarchy of elements. Higher priority content needs the “above the fold” real estate, and lower priority content can afford the less prominent space. In the planning phases of a site architecture its important to define the goals of the site, and the conclusion of those goals should define what things should always be in a prime location.

In many information driven Web sites it’s difficult to avoid the infamous scroll. If you try and keep everything in a nice little box that’s designed for a 1024 x 768 screen resolution, what happens if you have an article that is too long for that box? You have a couple of options. Add links at the bottom of a truncated article that takes the user to a continued reading such as “next page,” or add a scroll bar within the box.

I know as a savvy Web user I’m not a huge fan of scroll bars inside of the viewing window. For one, they usually don’t work with my scroll wheel on my mouse, and many times I find myself trying to figure out how to work a poorly designed custom scroll bar that some designer thought was neat. I’m also a little claustrophobic, when it comes to those boxed in sites, and generally speaking, I don’t usually stay on a site that has multiple scrolling windows within the viewable window. It just seems amateur.

Again, according to Jakob Nielson, User’s generally don’t like to scroll, and his new book discusses this in detail, with statistics on user scrolling patterns. However, more and more users are becoming accustomed to scrolling and a scrollable Web site provides a much larger canvas to interact with—Providing better opportunities for use of more white space. better Typography, and overall usability.

So my vote is a scrolling site (barring the horizontal scroll, because there is a lot of information on how much of a usability nightmare that is). With the rise of smaller devices, scrolling has become a major way of getting to important information (I scroll my phone contacts every time I need to call someone). Some users may not like it, or may say they don’t like it because they are used to saying that, but many users do like it. Is it a matter of liking or not liking it, or is it something that just must be? If they are in fact scrolling, I think they will learn to like it, and they have to if they want to keep up with the ways we are interacting with the Web.