Above the Fold - Why the Fold is Irrelavant

Even though it has been recognized within the web industry itself for some time that the fold is not relevant any more nor definable as a single point on websites, Its still not uncommon to receive requests to stuff as much content as possible above the fold.

Even though it has been recognized within the web industry itself for some time that the fold is not relevant any more nor definable as a single point on websites, Its still not uncommon to receive requests to stuff as much content as possible above the fold.

The fold is a term that dates back to newspapers where the most important content neededd to be on the front page above the fold of the paper to so that people could see it and want to buy the paper. On the web this refers to content that is viewable without scrolling. In the past it may have been possible to keep content above the fold when most people were viewing content on similar sized monitors. However, this is no longer possible as the number of different devices used to view web sites multiplies and they all have different screensizes how does one fit content above the fold on all devices.

More importantly, as of last year more people are accessing the internet via a mobile device (re: phone or tablet) than desktop. With a small screen phones and tablets have even less real estate above the fold. Fortunately it is no longer necessary to worry about if people know how to scroll, they do scroll.