I remember many client meetings where it was requested, or should I say, demanded that everything on the homepage be “above the fold”. The fold is an imaginary line that represents what you see on your monitor without having to scroll down. The term “above the fold” actually came from the days of printed newspapers that were folded in half and stacked at newsstands or in racks… and, of course, the most important images and headlines were put in full view “above the fold” to entice you to buy the paper and read the rest. That term made its way into the digital world and for some time has really meant “what I can see on my monitor without scrolling”.
The problem with this thinking is that the “fold” will never be the same from one browsing device to another. What one person sees “above the fold” on a 24″ desktop monitor might literally be double of what is viewed on your laptop, tablet or phone.
Another issues with “above the fold” thinking is when you cram everything that you think is important at the top of the page, it becomes so cluttered that now nothing has a chance to stand out as important. While I think it still makes sense to want an enticing “hero” image to be at the top of your homepage, we should remember today’s web users are accustomed to scrolling/swiping down to attain more information. The internet is 22 years old and whole generations have grown up with the user experience of scrolling for information. In today’s website design it’s really not about how much content you can squeeze above the fold, but rather how can we entice and motivate a visitor to scroll… to read the rest of the newspaper if you will.
In fact, there has been quite a trend in website design to engage customers with one page vertical scrolling websites… leading the visitor down the sales path, and literally down the screen with engaging stories and visuals. This allows for more engaging marketing websites, and less clutter “above the fold”.