Above the Fold

"Above the fold" is the portion of a web page a visitor sees before scrolling — the term comes from newspapers, where the most important story sat above the physical fold. On the web it is the first screen, and it is where you win or lose most visitors, who decide in seconds whether the page is relevant.

Put the essentials above the fold: a clear value proposition, confirmation the page matches what the visitor searched for (message match), and an obvious primary action. Because the fold varies by device, design for the smallest common viewport and make sure the mobile above-the-fold experience carries the message. Avoid burying the point under giant hero images or slow-loading banners.

Senior practitioners balance the above-the-fold instinct against evidence: the "everything important must be above the fold" dogma is often wrong — engaged visitors do scroll, and cramming everything up top can hurt. They use scroll and attention data to decide what truly earns that space, ensure the fold answers "am I in the right place?" instantly, and treat it as the message-match checkpoint rather than a place to stuff every CTA.