Not too many years ago a trend started in the web design landscape; the parallax scrolling web design. This is commonly referred to as the scrolling website. Where business pages were previously accessed using clickable tabs, the new trend offers users to read through entire websites by scrolling down to the bottom. Parallax offers a completely fresh user experience. So fresh that first-time viewers might not be quite sure how to navigate the page. But when they figure it out, they’re in for a treat. The design does have its pros and cons, which are as follows:
Pros of Parallax Scrolling:
#1 Parallax design allows you to engage site visitors and increase visitor engagement in ways other design tools have yet been able to do. In a parallax scrolling study at Purdue University, participants rated the scroll design site superior for a “fun” experience in comparison to a traditional design website.
#2 The parallax web design service offers a seamless experience where the properties are presented in an attractive way. These sites often look ‘cooler’, and have the ability to offer interactive features such as animation and moving graphics that can make using the site more interesting.
#3 The parallax website is excellent in terms of visual graphics and effects. The parallax web design service is a way to instantly wow your visitors. If you have a visual brand, the marketing team recommends this design to have a bigger impact on user experience.
#4 Research has shown that using the scrolling site can direct visitors to spend more time on your website; simply scrolling down to the point is how they will find the target content. This can keep the visitors engaged and result in them taking interest in other areas of your website they might have missed otherwise.
#5 Other plus points include the fact that the movement of design tool allows companies to create visually innovative storylines. Companies can direct the course of a site visitor’s attention via parallax, with moving graphics naturally catching the eye. The unique design increases overall site traffic and total time site visitors spend on the site.
Cons of Parallax Scrolling:
#1 Initially many parallax site users don’t find the long scroll very intuitive or user friendly. Numerous image layers and animation cause slow load time. Slow load times can create frustrating mobile viewing experiences, so parallax generally is not recommended for mobile sites.
#2 Because parallax scrolling is heavy in terms of animation, it can take a longer amount of time for pages load. This will result in a decrease of a browser’s performance, and probably the user quitting usage.
#2 The website should be easy to use and easy to navigate, and this can be difficult if parallax scrolling is not used correctly. Using the effect on a content-heavy site can require too much scrolling which can frustrate the user and make reading difficult.
#3 If your website uses parallax scrolling, it is important to know that it will not look the same on a mobile device as it does on a PC. This is not a huge problem, but the designer must know how to translate the effect from a PC to a mobile device correctly to avoid large compatibility problems.
With parallax web design, you can provide the best user experience to keep the audience engaged and impressed.