Here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester, we are Manchester’s leading web design professionals. We work with a variety of companies across Manchester, and the North West, including those in Blackburn and Chorley, to provide high quality web design solutions. As a result, we have produced this guide to everything you should know about the benefits of sideways scrolling in web design.
What is sideways scrolling in web design?
Sideways scrolling or horizontal scrolling is a type of web design that replaces the vertical downward scroll with a horizontal scrolling action instead. This means that the website content flows across the page rather than down the page but why should you consider using sideways scrolling as part of your web design?
What are the advantages of sideways scrolling in web design?
There are a number of advantages and benefits to using sideways scrolling in your web design. However this needs to be considered fully and applied in the right way to be effective for all companies. You can find out more about the considerations of this design here. But what are the advantages of this website choice? Well there are several, including:
- Showing smaller pieces of content at once- instead of using one long vertical page of content that can be overwhelming to your website users and potential customers and clients, you could consider using sideways scrolling. This shows only one screen of content at a time and can limit the amount of information your website users are given at once. This can make your content easier to read and understand improving the user experience.
- Dividing content appropriately- for standard vertical scrolling websites it can be difficult to appropriately divide your content. You can use different background colours, and text boxes, as well as stunning typography for headings, but some content might not feel relevant for the rest of the page, and might not have enough detail to warrant a whole page to itself. Horizontal scrolling gets rid of this classic debate and can help ensure that your content is separated into effective sections.
- Intuitive design- with mobile website users becoming more prevalent then traditional desktop users it might be about time for web design to change and embrace this, especially in terms of functionality. Users on a mobile device are used to swiping side to side to see more content, rather than scrolling down the page. This means that for your website, horizontal or sideways scrolling can be an intuitive design choice that your website users and potential customers and clients will really respond to. And with desktop and laptop mouses now able to mimic swiping you will not be alienating your other audience members.
- Directing users’ attention- effective web design is all about directing the attention of the website user, or the potential customer or client, to the key design elements. These often include call to action buttons and forms as well as important pieces of text or visual information. With sideways scrolling web design, you will find it easier to direct the attention of your website users and guide their focus to where you want it to be.
For more information or for professional web design support, get in touch with the team today, here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester.