The problem we’ve been having with the fold is that clients seem to see referencing of the fold as us saying “Cram every possible piece of content above this line or your users won’t see it.” This has become problematic during the wireframing and design process because we end up spending an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out ways to arrange and rearrange content in order to fit it in a space only 600 pixels high. Frustrating? You bet!

At the same time, we still want to express the fact that the most important content should come first, and this is usually always what the client wants as well. How, then, do we strike a balance between effectively laying out the page without being constrained by that line that we often can't cross?

Here’s what we know:

Users scroll. They’ve been scrolling for a while now. Google search results, product listings on eBay, blogs, news sites, photo galleries – we all scroll through them. Clicktale did an interesting study on user scrolling that has recently been brought to light again by the Boxes and Arrows article.

Screen resolutions are growing. A quick glance at some recent statistics, both globally and for sites that we maintain, shows that about 50% of the population is viewing the web on a resolution of 1024x768. Another 25% (give or take) is viewing the web at resolutions of either 1280x1024 or 1280x800 (Hi laptops!). There is still a good chunk that we can’t forget, though, looking at us on 800x600 resolutions (roughly 15%). The rest of the percentage of resolutions are scattered amongst non-traditional and undetermined resolutions.

I’ll admit, as an information architect I’m having trouble reaching that happy medium between communicating to our clients the pros and cons of both sides. If statistics are showing that screens are getting bigger and people are more willing to scroll, then why do we even need to worry about the fold? On the other hand, clients want their message to be heard with as little effort as possible. I understand the argument that the page should be designed in a way that the content suggests there is more beneath it (e.g., having the fold fall in the middle of pictures and other so they appear to be cut off), but I'm not convinced that's enough. For wireframing and design purposes, we’ve decided to more subtly indicate the estimated area of the fold line and stress to the client that there are many variables that play into this.

I’m very interested to hear other people’s comments on this subject. Do we forget about the fold altogether? Or, do we just communicate the implications more subtly and strategically? Let me know what you think!