To scroll or not to scroll

Six Revisions dot com has provided us with a fine selection of web usability insights in its post, 10 Usability Tips Based on Research Studies. However, the conclusion they offer on the question of user scrolling behavior seems doubtful.

Web design wisdom, generally attributed to Jakob Nielsen, is that web site visitors frequently do not scroll down a page that is longer than screen height. Best practice, therefore, dictates the most important items on a page be located at the top, "above the fold." This has the power of common sense behind it, to place important items where they can be seen whether a visitor scrolls or not.

However, Six Revisions' usability tips advise, "Don't Worry About" vertical scrolling. This is based upon user testing that shows the percentage of people who scroll, as expressed in the following graph, which I have borrowed.



Strictly speaking, the test and the graph show the percentage of users who scrolled down at least 90% of pages that ranged from 500 pixels in height to about 10,000 pixels. From glancing at the graph, it looks to me that overall only about 25% to 30% of the users that were tested scrolled down that far.

Rather than "don't worry" about vertical scrolling, I interpret these test results to confirm the common wisdom that most people do not scroll to the bottom of a long web page. Placing the most important items at the top of the page is still good advice, along with advice not to ignore the bottom of the page.