A few days ago I was doing some research for a client and came across an article called, “Just Keep Scrolling! How To Design Lengthy, Lengthy Pages“. There are portions of this article that are a bit technical and geared toward designers and developers, but you don’t have to be a professional to get something out of the post. Here are the high points of the article that can be beneficial to anyone in marketing (or anyone with a website, really).
Why should you be paying attention to the long scrolling page trend?
This type of site design is a growing trend because it lets users look at content without the interruption of having to go from page to page. Anything that can be done to improve UX (user experience) is extremely important, because having a website with good UX is a key part of your brand.
Also, pages with a long scrolling design work very well on mobile, which is very important now that more than half of all web browsing is done using mobile devices.
Key Takeaways & Big Ideas of the Article
- When to use this design
- If your site has lots of content, or the content that you have is trying to tell a story.
- 10 steps to implement this design and promote a good UX.
- Encourage users to scroll
- Keep nav options present
- Make sure back button works properly
- Change URL based on scroll position
- Consider jump-to options
- Provide visual feedback when loading new content
- Don’t hijack scrolling
- Optimize page-loading time
- Consider how much resources your page consumes
- Consider user behavior on the page
- Special considerations & benefits for using on e-commerce sites
- This format lets users scroll through results or products without interruption.
- Parallax effect for long scrolling
- What is it the parallax effect? The article describes it as when the “background image moves more slowly than the content in the foreground, creating the illusion of depth and immersion. This effect makes imagery feel less flat and more three-dimensional.”
MINDSCAPE 2 Cents
Long scrolling designs are great if you have the volume of content on your site to support one. If your website has more minimal content, it might be better to consider another format.
