Below the fold is a graphics term that referred to content that did not make it to the top of the front page of the newspaper. In theory, these were the headlines and articles that made people buy the whole newspaper. On the web, below the fold refers to the content that is not in the first browser window view of a web page before the visitor scrolls down. A holdover from old media (newspaper) to new media (web) is that your most important information needs to be above the fold and in your visitors face.
But user testing is showing this to not be the case.
CX Partners has an interesting article that anecdotally shows that through user testing, the great majority of users expect web pages to scroll. Through user testing, eye tracking with heat maps and even comparing current trends in web design, the authors suggest that having content below the fold is expected and even postulate that putting less above the fold encourages visitors to scroll and view more of your content.
Read the full article and share your comments below.
