A tried and tested* truism of web Interface design has historically been to design ‘above the fold’. That is, ensure the main elements of your message were visible on the homepage/landing page when it first loads; not requiring vertical scrolling by the user.

*(does this phrase still resonate when test results change in a matter of months on the web? Test early, repair, test again. Repeat periodically.)

Unsurprisingly, somewhere along the line web habits diverged — with content and a medium as formless as the web’osphere, this isn’t really a mindblowing revelation. Now there is some dissonance.

As this article by Milissa Tarquini touched upon, it boils down to content. As per Nielsen NetRatings’ latest metric on the average internet user’s attention span (aka how the human mind has resorted to the shifty habits of over-caffeinated goldfishes), if you can engage your user in 7.2 seconds with a punchy combination of aesthetic/message/video/dancing-baby, then, they will scroll. But, in 7.2 secs, that probably means you must present this argument above the fold.

Moral of the story as always: Content is King.

Secondary moral: Always measure. The counterpoint from Clicktale that fold still matters - see point 3. )

An emerging Godfather of web forms, Luke W, with a theory on achieving higher completion rates with your website’s Contact Form. A plausible idea that a free flowing (and less boring) sign up form could result in a 25% to 40% increase in completion rate.

While other enhancements might have contributed to this particular spike, the idea is worth a shot if compatible with the nature of your website. (Fun works for certain content and industries, but perhaps not for your average web banking portal or CIA recruiting site).

More details here.

PS. Another admirably easy ’sign up’ worth checking out is the robotic-ally efficient blog platform: Posterous.