Down and Down We Go to the Rabbit Hole of Scrolling

When it comes to web design, the seemingly never ending trends will always come up with new, “razzle-dazzle” things all rolled into one website. Well, we are all competing against the world, and in the business world, it is either go all-in, or not at all. Most business owners, following up with the trends, now realise the importance of having a website for their business. Now, “realising” alone is not enough. Just like the phrase “go all-in”, once someone has decided to have a website, they should pay attention to all the details that the website has got, especially the web design.

Now in the modern era, people in the business world are tripping to look for “the absolute” but “fresh and brand new” design for their website, hoping that their website could entice the visitors so that they could stay longer. One of the trends that have become the “it” stuff even until now is called scrolling. Back then we used to see “above the fold” when we didn’t have to go down to see all the content of a website, but now we scroll down and see more content below in a different way. Some people don’t know the real reason why scrolling became the trend, well, let us tell you why: Chartbeat, a content intelligence platform for publishers, analysed data from 2 billion visits, and found that 66% of user attention is spent below the fold. Now, don’t go into a serious case of sticker shock yet, because there’s more! It is also discovered that moving the call-to-action underneath the fold contributed to considerably higher conversion rates. Wow.

Well, since then, parallax scroll websites have been the “it”, providing User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) designers with some thrilling opportunities to absorb into story-telling, produce powerful visuals, and create a more interactive experience. With that in mind, in this article, we are going to elaborate more about scrolling in a web design; the long and the short of it.

Creativity made in visual

There’s more visual flexibility in parallax website design. Instead of focusing on block style information architecture, you can create refreshing and engaging visuals, such as animations or beautiful photography, that act as a continuum, that can excellently inspire users to scroll further down the page.

Story-telling opportunities          

If you want to tell a story with your product or service, long-scrolling serves its purpose well to a narrative and encourages meaningful interaction from users.

Simple interface for smart device users

Mobiles and tablets have evolved the way we engage in websites. It’s now more about scrolling, swiping and tapping, but less about clicking. Long-scrolling websites remove the barrier of complex navigation, providing a responsive, user-friendly experience for mobile users.

Direct messaging

Parallax website design is a great solution for us the not-so-time-efficient website browsers, as it makes businesses convey their message and vision evolved into one dynamic web design page.

Easier for users to realise their goal

Scrolling is so easy that it’s become an natural action, whereas clicking through to another page needs thought and motivation. A single page website enables users to find their purpose on the website quicker and without so much hassle.

With that in mind, now let’s go on to another section; the weaknesses.

You need to be search engine savvy

One of the biggest problems that parallax websites face is that they are not SEO friendly. Why? When you limit the number of pages on your website, Google has fewer pages to index and that can negatively impact your position on the search engine results page (SERP).

Slow loading time

50% of website users immediately leave the page if it hasn’t loaded in 3–5 seconds. Therefore, the higher the resolution imagery and animations you include on your website, the longer it takes to load the page.

Awkward navigation

With scrolling, users can’t hit the “back” button; therefore, they must scroll back up the page which can be frustrating for users who want to refer back to a certain element. An easy way to tackle this problem is to include top navigation and have each element anchored to a category or section.

That’s all you need to know about scrolling in web design. It is important for you to understand the first things about it because later if you need a web designer, you will already know what you need for your website and that won’t slow down the process when you consult to a web designer. If you haven’t found the right web designer yet, you can consult to us now.