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Posts Tagged: web

Occasionally we get people wanting us to work in Flash. While we are able to do the work, we discourage our clients from using it in most situations.

Flash is bad for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

While Google is working on listing Flash-based websites in their engine, it is still somewhat “iffy”. Further, the reality is that many of the best techniques used for SEO simply cannot work with a flash site.

Flash is usually bad for User Interface (UI)

While it can be cool, Flash usually deviates from the best User Interface principles, in favor of what the designer wants. This is never good.

Flash is not supported by most mobile platforms

Most experts predict that mobile platforms will occupy a significant portion of the internet browsing in the near future. Currently, Flash is not supported on many of those mobile devices, including the iPhone and Blackberry. Basically, developing a site in Flash ensures that you are not thinking for the future.

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I realized with the launch of the new Flying Chimp website that it was a little odd to write about Above the Fold, Upgrading Gracefully and prioritized content, when so much of the new design is not above the fold. While it may seem a little inconsistent, it actually makes a lot of sense upon further review.

Example: The New Home Page

On the new home page, at 1024 x 768, the last thing you see (before a scroll) is the “Learn More” link in the first paragraph (or there about). While there is a lot more to see on the homepage, there is no doubt about the branding of the website, or about what we do. If a person chooses not to scroll, they know enough to make an informed decision if they are in the right place or not. But, we also gave encouragement to someone to scroll.

We broke the portfolio element on the fold to inspire someone to want to scroll. Upon scrolling they can learn there is much more to the site, BUT that information is not critical to the navigating of the site. The Twitter feed? Eh. Latest Blog entry? Eh. Really, the key is the branding, the brief information about what we do, and a visual to show what we do.

Could we have reduced the branding and increased the portfolio component? Sure. I thought long and hard about that. This was a deviation from our normal “style”, but overall I am quite pleased with this direction.

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Upgrading gracefully is a term I created (I think I am the first) to describe the idea of allowing future websites to view as effectively in the future as they do for the standards of today.

Above the Fold: What is it?

Above the fold is a term originally used in the newspaper industry to indicate that important information should appear in the top half of the paper. The reason was that most papers are delivered and displayed to customers folded up, meaning that only the top half of the front page is visible.

This term has been extended and used in web design to refer the portions of a webpage that can be visible without scrolling.

But is it legit?

In the early stages of the web, if you were not above the fold, you were nothing. That may be a bit harsh, but the overwhelming consensus was that users did not like to scroll, did not want to scroll, and in many cases, would not scroll, so if you were not living above the fold, you were doing something very wrong.

But this is today, and the web has matured a bit beyond its infancy and users are *slightly* more sophisticated then they were before. So there is less consensus with regard to the validity of above the fold today.

There is some quality evidence supporting the concept that above the fold is no longer important (or, much less important). Here are two excellent blog articles that weigh in their opinions (with documented statistics): http://blog.clicktale.com/?p=19 and http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/blasting-the-myth-of

What now?

The evidence certainly suggests that scrolling isn’t as evil as we once thought, but does that mean we should abandon the concept of above the fold? Of course not.

As Ms. Tarquini suggested, “The most basic rule of thumb is that for every site the user should be able to understand what your site is about by the information presented to them above the fold. If they have to scroll to even discover what the site is, its success is unlikely.”

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