The “Above the Fold” Myth

This subject has a rich heritage dating back to the old newspaper days where big stories were placed on the top half of the page above where the paper gets folded. The school of thought was, people would read this first.  Once they started reading, they would maybe advance in to the newspaper to read the full story.  If they didn’t go past the first page, it didn’t matter because all the important stuff was above the fold. This school of thought carried over to Websites for some bizarre reason and in to the 21st century (even more bizarre).