Post by Vitaly Friedman

📜 The Fold Exists, But It Doesn’t Matter (https://lnkd.in/d2uK2rrD), a good reminder by Christopher Butler that much of the user’s attention is spent below the fold, people do know how to scroll, and good interaction design is all about managing attention. Length is not the problem — lack of rhythm is. ✅ Good interaction design is all about managing attention. ✅ Scrolling is an inattentive act, often to assess the page. ✅ Users start scrolling immediately, even before page fully loads. ✅ Scanning is partial attention; reading is focused attention. ✅ Very fast scrolling suggests a lack of attention. ✅ Very slow scrolling suggests scanning or reading. ✅ Effective design persuades users to scroll slowly. ✅ Users almost always scan and process while scrolling. ✅ User’s attention (time spent looking at the screen) erodes quickly. ✅ Arrange your visual elements like text in an outline. ✅ Scanning is vertical, immersion is horizontal. ✅ Scanning is easier if we arrange details along a single axis. ✅ Redundancy isn’t necessarily bad: repeat important details. As Christoph suggests, your screen can be as “long” as it needs to be. The length on it own isn’t really a problem. However, if there are no clearly defined clusters of related information, users will abandon both short and long pages alike. There, packing all critical information “above the fold” won’t help. The question is not “will they scroll?” It’s rather “will they scroll slowly enough to process the information they see”. Give users enough incentive to scroll, and they will. Define and repeat arrangements for content, establish rhythm and make it intentional. A screen without it will lose user’s attention as it is being scanned. One with controlled rhythm will not only retain attention, it will deepen it. We don’t really know how much of what we make will appear on the screens of everyone who will look at it. However, we do know that people will scroll. Further reading: Using the Y-Axis to Maintain Focus and Attention, by Christopher Butler https://lnkd.in/ebCnbjNb Designing for (Realistic) Attention https://lnkd.in/ekYvfBGn Scanning is Vertical; Immersion Is Horizontal https://lnkd.in/er9XaefM How to Adapt Long-Page Designs for Better Scanning https://lnkd.in/eq9S-_Nr A huge, huge round of applause for Christopher Butler for writing this series with thought-provoking examples and techniques! 👏🏼👏🏽👏🏾 #ux #design