Web Design Best Practices: To Scroll, or to not Scroll?

When it comes to web development and design, it should come to no surprise that the elements used to build a website are constantly evolving. According to 99designs.com

“2017 saw many advancements, including the mobile usage finally overtaking desktop browsing. This means 2018 is going to have to fully utilize mobile functionality in ways we’ve never seen before while desktops must continue to evolve to stay relevant.”

As web developers we must build a clean, concise and fully responsive website, with the full intent knowing that majority of viewers will be looking at them through the lens of their smartphone, rather than their desktops. With this mobile-first approach, many websites today are utilizing fewer webpages on their website and are opting for longer pages with more content on them, allowing for an endless scroll of information. This brings up a common question for business owners and developers: should I have my viewers continue to scroll, or not to scroll? Though there are advantages and disadvantages to this question, we decided to compile the best practices for why you should have your viewers continue to scroll. It’s time for out with the old, and in with the new!

Scrolling helps with overall design

It is been said that “long-form content and the scrolling feature is more relevant than ever,” and helps with “simplifying the differences.” But there are best practices to take into account, which involve “creating focus points, breaking up your content, constructing quality and engaging content and formatting your navigation to accomplish scrolling.”

The encouragement of interaction between viewers and your website

On your homepage, you may add new features and elements like animations, and/or various sections to break apart text and images. As a perspective customer or viewer scrolls through your homepage, it invites a personal interaction between the viewer and your website – inviting them to keep scrolling for more. With this feature, it also allows you to be creative – think outside the box – and can tell an interesting story, especially with animation or parallax scrolling flowing nicely throughout the page.

Fewer clicks = happy viewers

While viewers are looking at your website, most of the time they are trying to gather as much information about your business as quickly as possible. The fewer the clicks “can result in quicker interactions.”

Allows the user to spend more time on your site

As technology progresses, we as tech-users are habitually used to scrolling down a page. For instance, with social media, such as Instagram or Facebook, we are constantly scrolling down to view more information. And embarrassingly, we can easily find a handful of millennials that have spent several hours scrolling. That being said, if you have the continuous scroll available on your website, then a viewer is more likely to spend more time on your website than you think.

References 

Designmodo.com: https://designmodo.com/scrolling-web-design/
Usabilitygeek.com: https://usabilitygeek.com/how-scrolling-can-make-or-break-your-user-experience/

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