Should You Have a Scrolling Website?

The world of web design is ever-changing. Devices and browsers that we use to surf the web continually evolve and so do the ways we interact with them, which has left some confusion surrounding user experience. Our clients frequently come to us with questions about scrolling websites and best practices in web design – do scrolling websites make for bad UX? We think not!

­­­Why Does Scrolling Get a Bad Rap?

The idea that short-scroll format is best practice seems to stem from print. Newspapers have always aimed to grab the reader’s attention with their most important content located “above the fold”, on the front page. When translated to web design in the early- to mid- nineties, this formatting initially made sense due to scrolling limitations; web page users at this time would have to click the scroll bar on the right side of the page and drag it down or continuously click tiny arrows to view what wasn’t “above the fold”. This obviously made for a horrible user experience.

The Role of Scroll Today

The top of a web page is still the most valuable space because that’s where important attention-grabbing content is found. However, we no longer have scrolling limitations on our devices and browsers. While pagination, grids, and slideshows have their place, studies have found that scrolling is even more natural than clicking through to separate pages or screens; it’s become nearly instinctual and the standard for how we interact with devices and web pages.

Take Control with Scroll

Long-scroll website formats enable more interactive web pages with unprecedented means of engaging the user and introducing calls to action. Since we can’t really determine a user’s browser size or how they interact with websites, our emphasis shouldn’t just be on a single headline. Rather, we can utilize scroll with quality content to tell a compelling story throughout the page.

If you give your audience a reason to scroll, they will. As a digital media agency, CMA specializes in web services, branding services and more. Our web design team knows how to implement scrolling to help you create the best user experience and get the most from your web design. Contact us to learn more – we make you look good.