| The Importance of Scroll Bars for Websites | | | | back to the top again. The idea is to not make |
| Considering how important scroll bars are for | | | | anything inaccessible to people who don't want to |
| adequate site navigation, it is amazing how often they | | | | scroll. |
| are overlooked! For potential clients or customers to | | | | Never Have Left to Right Scrolling on Your Site! |
| be able to navigate through your information, scrolling | | | | There really is nothing worse than wanting to view |
| has to be top of the priority list. | | | | web pages who have left to right scrolling! If you can't |
| If you Have Scrolling, Will Anyone Use It? | | | | understand why that would be bad, take a moment to |
| You may have heard some people state how much | | | | think about this: Every time a reader reaches the end |
| they hate scrolling, but the users who are more than | | | | of a sentence they need to scroll further right, then |
| happy with the concept never complain. More users | | | | back to the left and then further right... and so on and |
| scroll on each page they visit, and to them it is just | | | | so forth! It is a very frustrating experience, especially |
| second nature. Younger web surfers with shorter | | | | when the content seems good but is so painful to get |
| attention spans and older users who have difficulty | | | | through. |
| with coordination are commonly the ones who dislike | | | | Don't Use Flash For Scroll Bars |
| scrolling. Sometimes those who are new to using | | | | Never think you can do better scroll bars using Flash, |
| computers and the internet may complain for a while, | | | | because they won't be standard and will be difficult for |
| but they soon forget about it as they realize how | | | | all users. Of course some of them look cool but |
| simple it is with practice. The best recommendation | | | | visitors are more often repelled by them than not. |
| would be to set your web site layout out in such a | | | | Other issues with self-made scroll bars is that many |
| way that people can either choose to scroll for further | | | | internet users take time to see it for what it is as they |
| info or have basic usability without scrolling at all. | | | | are so accustomed to the standard ones. If their |
| The Revolution of the Mouse Wheel | | | | mouse wheel won't scroll through, which is also |
| More people like to scroll as the internet becomes part | | | | common, they will give up and exit the site. Whether |
| of their daily lives, and the mouse wheel has played a | | | | the standard scroll bar matches your sites color |
| big part in the shift. Where scrolling once required users | | | | schemes is not the point, and users will appreciate the |
| to adjust the pointer onto the small arrow and click | | | | fact that they can find it straight away if scrolling or |
| hundreds of times, they now only need to flick a wheel | | | | use their mouse wheel if they prefer. If someone |
| in the middle of the mouse to move through a page or | | | | views your website to find they need to spend extra |
| more at a time. This means more web site visitors are | | | | time learning to navigate around, they will choose to |
| willing to scroll through any number of pages, but you | | | | exit and find another one that is set up how they |
| should still consider the small number who won't scroll | | | | expect it to be, with standard scroll bars. |
| at all when creating your site design. | | | | New Pages Take Time - Scroll Bars Are Fast |
| Eliminating Scrolling Entirely is a Bad Idea | | | | Pagination is a bad alternative to scroll bars because |
| The best strategy is to have all the important and | | | | there are many factors that impact the experience for |
| necessary links and information in clear view and | | | | each site and visitor. Depending on the individuals |
| available to everyone without having to scroll, | | | | screen size and resolution, even with pagination they |
| regardless of their monitor size or resolution. To be | | | | will still need to scroll. Forcing users to select the next |
| sensitive to all users, take the worst case scenario into | | | | button at the end of each screen is bad web site |
| account and you will never disappoint anyone. An | | | | design in anyone's opinion. Any user who hates |
| example could be on pages with large articles: The | | | | scrolling will tell you that waiting for pages to reload is |
| majority of people who want to scroll can do so with | | | | definitely worse. Your web site stats will show how |
| ease, and for others you have links to each page of | | | | many people are abandoning your articles mid way |
| the article, and at the bottom of each page, links to go | | | | because it takes too long to get to the end. |