The following post is from Kathy Marks, Managing Partner of TMA+Peritus.

Day 23. Is the term Above the Fold familiar to you? In yesteryear, Above the Fold was a newspaper term that referenced an advertisers preference to have their display ad appear above the fold of their local newspaper. Today, Above the Fold refers to the content on a website that you can see on your computer screen without scrolling. Although the Above the Fold myth has been questioned over the past eight years, we still get asked today about whether or not it’s a good idea to put content below the fold. The definitive answer is yes, it is okay since all usability tests prove that website users today will scroll to view content.

Hoa Loranger, a usability expert and Director at Nielsen Norman Group, recently published an article discussing the following three myths:

Myth #1: Users don’t scroll long pages: Users do scroll when the content is relevant, organized properly, and formatted for ease of scanning. In fact, people prefer scrolling the page for content over pagination when the topics within that page answer the right questions. The standard scroll wheel on a mouse, arrow keys, and track pads have made scrolling much easier than acquiring click targets.

Myth #2: Customers don’t read information at the bottom of the page: Our eyetracking research show that while users spend 80% of their attention on information above the page fold, they allocate 20% of it to content below the fold. Reluctance to scroll is a behavior of the past. While you should still be mindful of people’s limited attention span on websites and prioritize content wisely, you shouldn’t fear long formats. People will see the bottom if you give them good reason to go there.

Myth #3: People avoid pages with a lot of content: People have the ability to handle vast amounts of information, when presented properly. In Writing for the Web courses, we emphasize the requirement for writing well, and more importantly, writing for web-based reading. Reading and scanning patterns are different between web-based and print-based content. While online users typically scan for information, it does not mean they want less information. Websites should not be information light. The same information needs to be written, structured, and presented differently.

Rest assured, knowing that people will scroll your website as long as you provide them with well written, relevant content that is targeted to the needs of your website audiences.