How long is too long for a web page layout?  In his 2007 post “The Fold is an Unnecessary Design Limitation” here on the ThreeMinds blog, Rod MacQuarrie pointed out that using the “above the fold” design principle inherited from the print world isn’t always a best practice, and not always applicable to how online content is read by users.  Trying to get all content “above the fold” doesn’t acknowledge how users recognize and interact with their browsers’ scrollbars.
That post was one of the most viewed in the history of this blog, and generated a heated discussion among readers who argued the pros and cons of designing sites to accommodate long-form content and the predilection for users to scroll significantly if given the right cues.
While the debate continues almost two years later, at least one brand — Japanese retailer UNIQLO — has embraced the long-form layout with a vengeance, creatively using a “sandbox” content design to fills a 28,200 pixel long page.
In their “From Tokyo to Paris” page, UNIQLO has placed blocks of content in a flowing grid that runs the entire page length.  Scrolling down (and down) reveals a visually dynamic stream of clothing designs and story modules covering their Cannes t-shirt design contest, a recent Paris store opening and global news and comments on the brand from their team and the public. A pixel ruler on the right margin provides a navigation cue and reinforces the page height. Cleverly, only the content near the browser’s page position is loaded, preventing a crushing page load. 
As one of our creatives said, he went all the way to the bottom of the page to see what was there, claiming “It’s just proof what you can do. There should be no boundaries.” Organic creative Matthew Tait, another UNIQLO fan, also pointed out last year’s “Unlimited Web Page” by Orange UK, which continues to grow in length as long as the page is open in the browser window.
So, do the UNIQLO and Orange pages indicate a trend in hyper-long page length?  Not really – it’s more appropriate to look at it as another experimental user experience designed by a brand that most people will encounter digitally long before they ever visit a store (There’s only one store in the US, in NYC).  UNIQLO’s site is full of other exploration-rewarding experiments, such as their Grid and Calendar.  This type of experience is a core part of their brand.
However, Joe Leech’s “The Myth of the Fold” post does provide several examples of long-form pages on more commonly-used e-commerce and content sites like the BBC, Amazon and the New York Times, emphasizing that user exploration “below the fold” is usually a result of thoughtful content and visual design.  He recommends against in-page scroll bars (as seen with a frameset) because users will usually check to see if a browser window scrollbar appears when the page loads.  
Are long-form pages becoming a trend or even the norm?  That remains to be seen, but I will offer two points for why we might be moving in that direction.
1. The most popular blog, video sharing and social networking sites now feature content and user commentary in a long “feed” that requires longer or vertically expandable pages.
On Facebook, for example, the stream of status notes from friends really pushes users to click the “Older Posts” button on the bottom of the page — I’m sure that button is hit *a lot*, and that the average expanded page length for most user sessions is much longer than what’s visible “above the fold”.
2. The touch interfaces that first appeared on mobile devices are now becoming more common on laptops and desktops.
Gesture-based scrolling through long-form content is very easy and intuitive, and as touch interfaces become commonplace in the future, the gesture-based “long scroll” could become a more standard part of user experience design.
We welcome (another) good discussion on this topic, so please post here after checking out our 2007 post, Joe Leech’s more recent one, and of course UNIQLO’s great site and design experiments.
Jay Bain