Web design trends continue to come and go, though a few seem to stick around long enough where they go beyond being used for just a year or two. One of those seems to be parallax scrolling that continues to be utilized on websites for one reason: It looks
good.
Great question! The concept of parallax scrolling came from vintage video games actually. The kind of video games that were side-scrolling and were 2D. The parallax effect came from the illusion of the various layers in the background of the video game moving at different speeds. The background moved slower than the foreground. To see 100 examples of side scrolling websites utilizing the parallax effect, click here.
Despite its popularity, you have a few technical aspects to think about, particularly in the scrolling effect. With scrolling creating the art of discovery in many users, there might be a challenge when using parallax scrolling while conveying a vast amount of information.
Utilizing the technique of parallax scrolling is already going to help you be able to show your audience a vast amount of information without having to crowd it all in one screen shot. You also have the visual flair associated with conveying the information in a compelling way. Giving strong visuals with textual information is going to inspire people to action, and that's especially important if the info on your site is overly technical.
One of the variations on parallax scrolling is infinite scrolling that allows information to appear as you scroll down. Some websites have trouble with this, though, because users may not realize they have to keep scrolling down in order to see more info. It poses a bit of a dilemma for those using parallax scrolling and the art of letting people discover things on their own as opposed to telling them you have more things to read below.
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You can sometimes work around this by giving subtle hints that more information is down the page. Perhaps using an arrow or a "More" indicator can guide a person to keep scrolling without giving away the surprise of what they might see. Many sites, though, want to keep it a mystery as to what users will see as they scroll. The danger in that is they'll assume the scrolling ends somewhere, and they'll possibly miss something you want them to see.
This also works with the popular variation of horizontal scrolling. You get the same 3D effect in this variation, though it allows wide landscape graphics by scrolling to the left or right. You may need to give the same subtle hints to keep scrolling over or someone might miss the interactive animation or textual information describing something essential about your company.
Here at EnvisionIT Solutions, we can help incorporate intelligent parallax scrolling onto your business site. Plus, when you contact us, we'll tell you about our IT support side that you can also incorporate to help keep your site and computer systems running optimally. Along with expert knowledge on inbound marketing, we can give you everything you need to run and grow a successful business.
