Category: Links

Why “above the fold” in web design is complete bullshit, and why it still matters

“Users don’t scroll for fun. They scroll for a purpose.”

Back in the early days of the web, designing a web page meant putting the most important things “above the fold.” Back then, that meant the first 500-600 pixels. Today, we have screens that show twice that amount on a cell phone, three-times that on small laptops, and even more on desktops. The “fold” is complete bullshit now, as the screen sizes have increased and vary widely by device.

But above the fold design still matters. You’ve probably heard the term “content is king.” It’s the truth that the very best web design can’t escape. If you have great content, and you lead off with it above the fold while giving people a REASON to scroll, people WILL scroll.

Take a quick look at The Fold Manifesto: Why the Page Fold Still Matters.

5 web design myths debunked

Following-up on my earlier post today, here are 5 web design myths that simply aren’t true.

“You can’t have too much choice” is a phrase that all of us are familiar with, but in the context of design, is it true? Bluntly put, no it’s not. In fact, it couldn’t be further from the truth.

I had said that “above the fold” was complete bullshit, and number 2 in this article explains why quite nicely. Too many choices is another area where designers struggle with client requests, along with white space.

This article is a great read, with lots of informative links.

The psychology behind color

Color Wheel
Color has an incredible ability to tell stories and infer emotions, which is why so many film auteurs—not to mention designers and marketers—have spent time trying to understand its hidden power. But are there any universal rules when it comes to using color?

Adobe discontinues Photoshop Touch

Adobe is getting to be a bit like Google in the way they introduce and subsequently kill new products. Photoshop Touch for iOS and Android will cease to receive any support as of May 28th, and is the latest of a handful of mobile apps Adobe killed off after a short life. Of all their mobile attempts, Photoshop Touch was probably the most useful.

The good news is Adobe is planning on releasing a new app to replace Photoshop Touch codenamed Project Rigel later this year.

Moving stylized text from Word to InDesign

Creative Pro writer, Jamie McKee, shares the ins-and-outs of getting stylized text from MS Word to Adobe InDesign without a lot of fuss.*

We all get MS Word files from a client for placement in a brochure, booklet, newsletter, or magazine. We end up having to reformat the text by hand more often than not. But there is a better way, which Jamie goes into.

MS Word to InDesign conversion

*That being said, I find Jamie’s solution to be more trouble than it’s worth by an order of magnitude. The problems with his methods are:
A) you have to go through the trouble of setting up the style sheets in word, being careful to name them the same as the ones you’re using in InDesign.
B) you have to do that for every Word file, because…
C) your client isn’t going to bother using your stupid Word file anyway

Now don’t get me wrong, his solution will work if you have a technically savvy client, or you work in an in-house design shop such as a magazine, etc. But the real-world realities are that it’s rare that you’ll find a client that will not make a mess out of this otherwise simple process.

But take a look at the article, because it’s quite informative. Even if your client refuses to use your perfectly stylized Word file, it’ll show you how to at least take some of the work out of the manual stylizing process.