Improving Web Design: A Look The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Scrolling

Times have changed. Nowadays, 81% of shoppers will research products online at an average of three online stores before making a purchase. As a result, having a website is crucial to succeeding in today's market. Your website's layout and design is a representation of your company. Your web design needs to be suitable for not only PCs and laptops, but also mobile phones. Previously, web designs capable of scrolling were not considered to be particularly attractive because consumers were not likely to scroll through a long page of text. However, as mobile phones and tablets become more and more popular, scrolling has become a more accepted feature. Take a look at its advantages and disadvantages.

The Ease of Scrolling within Web Designs

The rising popularity of incorporating the scrolling feature into web design is largely due to the fact that 90% of young adults between the ages of 19 and 34 believe that touch screens will become a standard service industry medium in the future. An overwhelming majority would consider touch screen technology to be convenient. With the rise of touch screen technology, the benefits of scrolling include:

  • higher levels of interaction, as web users are constantly being stimulated with new information by simply scrolling down the page. This is particularly true for web designs that have incorporated parallax scrolling.
  • a quicker user interface. Scrolling with a touch screen medium produces quicker results than having to go through the entire navigation menu. Scrolling provides the information needed without having to press on numerous buttons.
  • shorter access times. By scrolling down the page, all information can be accessed a lot quicker than if different information was linked to a separate page.
  • designs that are more responsive. As users are accessing websites using various devices, designing separate pages compatible with each device or web browser will become increasingly difficult. Scrolling can help easily simplify differences.

The Complications to Be Aware Of

Although the future looks promising for websites with scrolling features incorporated into their web design, there are some disadvantages that you should be aware of. They include:

  • the lack of footers. If you opt to have an infinite-scrolling design, your users will not have further navigation at the bottom of the page. This can make your website more difficult to navigate through.
  • reduced site speed. Although information can be easily accessed, the site speed may be reduced since the scrolling feature may require more complex programming.
  • SEO drawbacks. Some web developers claim that scrolling may have a negative impact on SEO ratings at this current moment.

Conclusion

If you're unsure as to whether scrolling would be suitable for your web design, speak to experienced web designers regarding what type of design or structure may be best for your site. The web designers and developers will take into consideration the type of programming language that your website design relies on, the structure of the web design, the amount of information on the site and the type of market you are looking to break into.

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