Do users scroll down the pages of our websites, or do they not? That is definitely a good question to be asked. Nielsen still rules, with his 80-20 theory: 80% of users’ attention is focused on the first 20% of the page. Though, some websites choose huge vertical layouts and parallax scrolling. Without going as far as The World’s Longest Website (which is quite extreme), some websites use parallax very well. Personnaly, I love Smokey Bones website. Why not scroll, afterall… The UX in me just advises to help users while scrolling down. And here are a few ideas I gathered for not letting users down… the page unattended.

 1. Fixed navigation and anchors

This is why Smokey Bones works so well, in my opinion (well, except the design and animated gif effects). The website itself is made for a vertical scrolling, with the main menu being anchors in the one and only page. The navigation is unique and easy to catch, because it still obeys usual best practices for navigation.

2. Distraction / suggestion on scroll

Some websites, including Lucie Pinzano‘s (e-Business specialist, with a special mention for her website) smartly suggest related or important contents after a few screens of scrolling down. No need to wait for the far-far-away related contents, usually at the very botoom of the page. Good idea.

3. Cheerful information

They are Information Architects, and they definitely do things the right way. I like their very simple and to-the-point website, and I love the idea of light indications about how far the user still needs to scroll to the bottom. Neat.

4. Back to top arrows

And finally, the basics: dispalying a back-to-top arrow as soon as the user starts scrolling down, like on Doctissimo forum.

I assume there are lots of other nice ways to accompany the users down a webpage. And there are probably even more still to find out. Before the next navigation revolution, let’s just keep these 4 ideas on mind, and try to always offer similar scrolling toolkits.