"Above the fold" is newspaper talk for the part of the front page that appears in the window of a sidewalk newspaper stand. Newspaper designers have long paid enormous attention to this space because it is their main device for attracting the attention of passersby. The Web version of this space is the part of the home page that appears on users' screens upon arrival at your Web site. Take a recent issue of a broadsheet newspaper — preferably one without a Web presence — and transfer the headlines and leads from its front page to the imaginary news Web site home page provided below. What headlines will you put where? In what ways do they need to be altered? How about those leads? Will they still work in their new space? Or will they need to be altered, too? Even the dynamics of selecting a photo can change. What did you discover?

Exercise 8-4: Imaginary Home Page (61.0K)