The Fold

A theoretical horizontal line, below which the content of a web page is not visible without scrolling

This term is borrowed from the literal horizontal fold in the centre of broadsheet newspapers. In that medium, headlines and other eye-catching content are often placed above the fold line, to be visible when the newspaper is folded in half for display.

On the web, the ‘above the fold’ area is seen as the page first loads, before the user has scrolled down the page. Due to the many varied display sizes used to browse the web today, the exact position of the fold will differ between devices.

The importance of the concept of the fold on the web, and how content is arranged relative to it, is still debated.