What’s Above the Fold? Ask Google

By Lisa Agustin

google-browser-size

Fresh from Google Labs: Google Browser Size, a nifty visualization tool for checking how much of a web page sits “above the fold,” i.e., what’s visible in Google without scrolling. Just type in any URL to see how the site looks. Color contours show different window sizes and the percentage of users that have this size or larger. (Presumably these percentages are based on Google’s own statistics.) For instance, in the example above, the “donate now” button falls within the 80% contour, meaning that 20% of users cannot see this button when they first visit the page. If getting donations is a priority of the site, the web design team now knows they ought to position the button higher on the page.

The tool works as an overlay, allowing you to interact normally with the page you’re examining. Thus you can easily review other pages on the site as well. This is great for sites that are about to be redesigned, or ones that you’re just curious about. I was also happy to discover that this tool also works for designs that are still in development–I was able to view a .png on a project site, which gave me instant feedback on what will be visible on page load. Nice work, Google.