A practical checklist for above-the-fold content

We end up explaining this on discovery calls often enough that it deserved writing down. Run through this the next time above-the-fold content comes up.

The measurable part of design is whether people can find what they came for and act on it without hesitating. The version that survives contact with a real deadline is the simple one.

The checklist

• Visitors decide in seconds whether to keep scrolling
• Say what you do before you say how special you are
• The fold is a range, not a line, so do not cram
• Someone is named as the owner
• There is a date to review it again

What it costs to ignore

Visitors decide in seconds whether to keep scrolling. The cost of getting this wrong is rarely visible on the day it happens. Assume whoever inherits this will have half your context and none of your patience.

What this looks like day to day

Consistency is the quiet half of design work: it rarely gets complimented, and its absence is noticed immediately. Three things worth confirming about above-the-fold content before you move on:

• Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
• Visitors decide in seconds whether to keep scrolling — and you know whether that is true here
• There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped

Pick the one that would hurt most if it failed, and start there.