Long Scrolling

In 2012 scrolling websites were a relatively nascent trend. It has grown a lot since then. Partly because scrolling is easy enough to execute, and partly it's because designers are thinking about mobile and tablet devices, and about how to design with the swipe in mind.

We’ve become comfortable with scrolling through a website to read and find information, and now with websites using more design techniques such as increased white space and responsive Web design, long scrolling sites are starting to appear again.

Several years ago, it was common to have long scrolling sites that where slammed with content. Well, now we are seeing long scrolling websites but the content is more organized and in a much easier format to digest.

Take for instance Macaw’s website (above). Its site organizes content well, and in turn they have a long scrolling site. It doesn’t seem boring because the layout changes up throughout, and for most users, they don’t realize how far they are actually scrolling.

Parallax scrolling, horizontal scrolling, column-based scrolling and infinite scrolling are all things that we'll probably see more of in 2014 and beyond. There are a few things to be wary of though, particularly around infinite scrolling.