Grumpy old git's observation on the latest fad for 'parallax' scrolling sites.

[pauland]

The BBC link above does some things to mitigate the chance people don't understand scrolling.

On the top of the page there is a series of numbers for each section. Clicking a number causes the page to scroll to the appropriate point. You can see that scrolling is involved on the page.

On the first section there's a down arrow to hint there's more below (though some people might not see it).

Secondly the parallax effect emphasises the scrolling requirement for the page.

I think people will get the idea easily enough.

[Egg Bramhill]

Hi Paul, thanks for the link. That is exactly what I don't like. It distracts from the content whilst adding nothing but eye-candy. The only part that I could call useful is the map routes, but even here, due to the parallax scrolling they are often in reverse, starting from the end and finishing at the begining!

I thought it may work better on a touch device so I tried the site on my iPad. But no, it doesn't impress there either, very blocky type of updates.

Horses for Courses. Not for me. Still reminds me of multi animated gif sites of the 90's. It's done because it can be done!

[Seabatt]

I would have to agree with most of you. It seems that in today's strange new world...the designs seem to be nothing but a super large image, with un-necessary scrolling needed to actually view any relevant information. It just shows me that if you force a "fad" on people,they will take it as the must have thing. A current client of mine insists on having a large graphic,filling the entire browser window. AND...If I may say...I hate wordpress. The templates all seem to be following the same "fad". Super large images, scrolling...no "in your face" navigation, and easy to find/use content. But hey, Im old school.

[restless]

I get pretty peed off with this latest fad for the so called 'parallax' scrolling sites. Almost all new sites use this technique. I don't see it adding to the site content anymore than the animated gif sites of the 90's.

I can understand a simple roll-over button changing images. This indicates a visitor interaction. I can also accept the one off tada button if it's a 'Call to Action' but not everywhere on the website.

So what's advantageous to having images scroll at different speeds than the page content? Fun to create, but what does it add to a website?

Anyone wish to comment?

I have been wondering the exact same thing. Just annoys this grumpy old man.

Oh... wait... I'm not a 75 year old man... I am a man... in a 75 year old body. Ed

[DanFelix]

I would have to agree with most of you. It seems that in today's strange new world...the designs seem to be nothing but a super large image, with un-necessary scrolling needed to actually view any relevant information. It just shows me that if you force a "fad" on people,they will take it as the must have thing. A current client of mine insists on having a large graphic,filling the entire browser window. AND...If I may say...I hate wordpress. The templates all seem to be following the same "fad". Super large images, scrolling...no "in your face" navigation, and easy to find/use content. But hey, Im old school.

Sorry for the delayed reply. I agree. I remember the same fad in the '90s with drop shadows and animation. The support for the use of parallax is that the majority of first-time viewers are not premeditated seekers, but instead curious/accidental onlookers. For that group the site provides an initial positive (read entertaining) experience. Unfortunately, a visceral experience usually works better than an intellectual experience - in the beginning. I also agree about WordPress. Four years ago I converted a half-dozen sites to WordPress, with two being commercial using WooCommerce. Yikes. The sites are, by design, a cobbling of the WordPress code plus a theme plus multiple plug-ins. Even more so for WooCommerce. I found myself spending most of my time just updating all manner of stuff and I was constantly frustrated by the design constraints. With the advent of the latest Xara, I have shifted them all back. As Kramer in Seinfeld would say, "And I'm loving it." There has been no material restraints placed upon any of the sites as a result of the shift. Automattic owns WordPress and they bought WooCommerce in spring 2015.

Dan