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Comment by Tyrannosaurs | Hacker News Reader

I don't want to tell Jason how to do his job, hell, he knows more about this stuff than I do but I'm really not liking it.

Too much scrolling (which I thought was established as bad in Web Design 101 though I'd love to hear otherwise as 37signals have ignored this for a while), and the lower sections manage to feel crowded despite having white space in abundance (possibly due to using fonts as large as 18.5 pts for paragraphs of text), the font sizes seem to be almost at random section by section.

It's nice that it doesn't look like every other website but beyond slight originality it doesn't do it for me.

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People actually scroll a lot more nowadays. More over, people rather scroll then click through to view content. Nielsen had a nice little alert a while ago: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9712a.html

It's nice that they see it, but shouldn't it also be grabbing their attention? From the page you linked to:

> (Update 2010: Eyetracking shows that people allocate much less attention to information below the fold.)

Very true. Content that appears above the fold will always have the highest visual priority. That said, there is a myth in web design that the second content hangs below the fold, users will ignore it. This is false, and I thought it necessary point it out.

37 signals' page encapsulates this well: the important stuff is front and center (their products) and other good information is stacked hierarchically below it.

I was thinking there ought to be testimonials above the fold. I think there might have been with there old design.

I didn't notice until now, but there aren't any customer testimonials about their SaaS products. There are only a couple about their books.

This seems like a bold move. Maybe they're onto something. Perhaps most people are tired of seeing testimonials, and that relying entirely on organic word-of-mouth is a better strategy.

There is some research that indicates using less content above the fold entices users to scroll. http://sixrevisions.com/usabilityaccessibility/10-usability-... (was also on hn, but I can't find the link)

Beyond that, it looks clean and simple, but I think they overlooked the perception that a lot of users not keen on design will perceive the site as low budget.

It depends on how compelling the content is; if a user is really engrossed, they'll be happy to scroll down pages of content. If they're not, keeping everything above the fold won't be enough.

Naturally there are limits to how much a person will scroll no matter how compelling the content. With 37signals, they probably feel their copy is engaging enough and the design offers enough varying contrast as a person scrolls down that having someone scroll that far isn't an issue.

All of their product pages feel busy and crowded to me and they still do with the redesign. Maybe it works for them, but to me it's a bit overwhelming.

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