Ebits.ie

Posts Tagged ‘website design’

The fold is a term you may often hear when it comes to designing websites. The fold is the first page or screen that a visitor sees when they visit your site. It is deemed to be prime “virtual real estate” or VRE. What this means is that the important information should be contained in this area, or above the fold.

The actual term I believe goes back to newspapers. When you look at a folded newspaper the most important information is above the fold, that is the headline. You need to use the same principal on your website. Some people will not scroll down to the next screen. Therefore if the important information is not above the fold they might not get to read it.

The problem some people run into is that they have a big flashy banner or a large area at the top of the page with their company logo or name. On some computer screens this make take up a large percentage of the fold, thus loosing a lot of the important information on the page.

Always view your site on a number of computers to see how the computer affects the site – some sites look different when viewed on an apple. Think about those using mobile devices will they be able to see the important information?

Important information would be your headline for your product or service, and some teaser text to pull the people in to continue to read. Remember that newspapers use the inverted pyramid style. Lots of general information to pull people in at the top of the article or page, and then more details as they read on. The important thing is to get people interested.  It is important to note that visitors or at your site for 2 reasons. One for information and two to see what’s in it for them (WIIFM).  Give your readers what they want and they may give you what you want