Above the fold: Is it a Myth?
July 30, 2007
Many people (mainly marketing people) are familiar with the phrase “Above the fold”. For those of you who aren’t familiar with what “Above the fold” means, it refers to keeping a clear marketing message in a place where people see it when they first open an email from your company or go to your website. As Milissa Tarquini states in her definition of “Above the Fold’…
In web design, the term “fold” means the line beyond which a user must scroll to see more contents of a page (if it exists) after the page displays within their browser. It is also referred to as a “scroll-line.”
Source: Boxes and Arrows
You can tie analytics into this by using stats to see the percentage of what visitors have a certain screen resolution and tailor it to the majority of your viewers. Getting back to the concept of “Above the Fold”, many people (marketers) either believe in it or do not. Both camps, on this thought, have their reasons
Myth 1 – Users won’t Scroll
Many people in the “users will never scroll” world believe that people by and large will not scroll into an email or web page because…
- It’s just too much work
- People are dumb
- The mouse scroll button doesn’t work (okay that’s a joke but still)
… Whether you are nodding your head in agreement or shaking it in disbelief it is something that factors into whether or not you think “Above the Fold” will work. The best way to think of page layout in terms of design starts from concepts of print design. Recently I heard someone describe laying out the main page of a web page and seeing a main web page like a magazine cover. It is the best analogy I’ve heard in a while because the main page of a website ties the whole site together, setting the tone for the rest of the site.
Myth 2 – I have to cram all the important things “Above the Fold”
Do you want to see a bad web page design or email newsletter? Follow this myth if you would like to. You can drive yourself crazy trying to fit in everything you think is important “Above the Fold”. If you have a clear message above the fold this is usually recommended because it is a simple and clear way to communicate to your audience. When you cram 5 messages above the fold it has a way of making whatever you want customers, viewers or your audience in general confused and leave them running away.
Have you ever been to a restaurant that served 50 main course items? Cramming the top of your email or website with 5 messages. When you are faced with more choices you tend to also become more indecisive. So try to remember the simple adage of K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid)
How can I see how people are my site at different resolutions?
Obviously testing resolutions and seeing what of your campaign and marketing efforts is “above the fold” means that you need to view it in different resolutions. A simple way to do this is by adding the following JavaScript code into the Firefox Browser then go to “Organize Bookmarks”, “New Bookmark” and in the “Location Field” and give the bookmark a name of course and type…
Javascript:resizeTo(browser width, browser height);
Do you believe this is a myth or reality? Why not test it out in your online marketing efforts today and decide for yourself.
Web Intelligence at UBC: Where Analytics meets Intelligence
July 26, 2007
With so many schools offering various courses in Web Design, New Media Design, Web Development and a wide range of similar courses it is always interesting to see a school that takes a different approach towards teaching and what they teach.
A few weeks ago I talked about UBC Award of Achievement in Web Analytics program (which I am currently enrolled in) and recently I was back on UBC’s site and browsing through various course offerings and found that UBC is gearing up to offer a “Ceritifcate of Web Intelligence”.
The details are still a bit undetermined at this point but I’ve got my name on a waiting list to find out more about this program as it launches in 2008. The way the certificate works at this point is that once you’ve completed the Award of Achievement in Web Analytics you can apply these credits to the Certificate of Web Intelligence. The program being offered is joint venture between UBC and UC Irvine Extension. If you are looking to gain a background in Web Intelligence then this is definitely a course of interest.
New Things Going On At PureWebAnalytics
July 23, 2007
Lately I’ve been redesigning a site for my business, PureWebAnalytics, and I am just getting ready to launch the site in the next month (or thereabouts). I find that whenever I redesign a site for myself I need to meet clear objectives like “What do I want people reading or viewing this site to do?” “Where do I want the people visiting my site to go?” “Are the pages clear and concise?” and about a million other questions other than “Will the site work properly in Internet Explorer?” 
I’ve asked a few of my clients for their Testimonials or “Kudos” as I like to call them to gauge the experience that future clients can expect from working with PureWebAnalytics. Thanks for providing that Eric and Steve (You know who you are ;)).
I always stress the overall goal of a site or a landing page when I think about designing it. For PureWebAnalytics, the goal remains two-fold. The first goal is portraying the face of the business and Two, a source of free information for general visitors and enthusiasts to PureWebAnalytics. Feel free to have a look at the website as it currently looks (It’ll be changing in the next month even more so).
Luc
Editing Web Pages For Internet Explorer
July 19, 2007
If you’ve been around web design any time in the last six months to a year then I am sure that you know of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and XHTML (Extensible Hyper Text Markup Language) most people who are into web design probably use Mozilla’s FireFox because it’s more of a web friendly browser with more add-ons for the web designers and developers out there but unfortunately not all people use FireFox and will simply try to view your site in good ole’ Internet Explorer. If you are pretty new to web design or the web in general then you may be thinking “you mean not all web pages look the same regardless of the browser?” to which the answer is “No!” For those of you more experienced web designers and developers, I apologize for that 
There are a number of tools to help you debug issues with Internet Explorer around. I’ve written about CSSVista a few months ago, an application that allows you to see a split view of your webpage in FireFox and Internet Explorer. I’ve found another neat little add-on that FireFox developers have created in their quest to make a browser that is perfect for any user whether you’re a web designer or novice user.
IE Tab Add-on
This interesting add-on allows you to embed IE (Internet Explorer) Tabs into Firefox for testing and debugging purposes. I personally prefer checking my design and development issues in CSSVista because it’s simple and straightforward but to each their own I suppose.
Luc
Firefox Lover
What is Successful Email Marketing Delivery?
July 9, 2007
Last week I wrote about ThinData’s white paper on their Marketer’s Guide to Successful Email Delivery. Carrying on with the topic of email marketing one common question comes up “How do you define a successful Email Delivery?” After all, once you send an email out how do you know if it has reached its recipient? A number of factors play into how an email is delivered or not delivered that include…
- Can the Email Sender be authenticated?
- Has the Email Sender been blacklisted?
- What is the Email Sender’s Reputation?
- What is the Configuration of the Email Sender’s Servers?
- Are recipients of your email marketing clicking the “Mark as Spam” button?
These questions speak more to the creditability of the email sender (marketer) than anything else and it is designed to ensure that customers are not being spammed. The best way to ensure that you are not spamming your customers is to use a third-party ESP (Email Service Provider) because they are up-to-date on all the latest changes from ISPs (Internet Service Providers) and will help keep you from getting blacklisted.
Luc
