Quote Originally Posted by Abikadabra View Post
Yesterday I attended a lecture given by a well known web designer.
Who was it?

I think a lot of what was said is quite relevant - the move to mobile platforms is changing interactions greatly, though the vast majority of people aren't there yet.

I think the "Above the fold" advice is premature - I suspect it's related more to the notion that page interactions are changing - if you have a tablet you will be used to flicking to a new page or section and drilling down to get more detailed information. The tablet browsing experience is quite differrent to that of the desktop and I expect that browsing experience to migrate. Windows 8 will push that kind of interface. Touch interfaces require large controls not fiddly interfaces requiring precision.

I think the "above the fold" advice is going to be relevant always, though the fold in question may be differrent to what it is today ( for example, tablet web pages just need a flick to move to new content, that is far easier than scrolling with a mouse, so it's easier to access secondary content, but still the content we see initially ("above the fold") is always going to be the primary initial focus.

Things are changing fast.

There is an excellent intro to web design in the beautifully produced book, also entitled "Above the fold" by Brian Miller.