No Scroll

Worse than having to scroll horizontally on a site, is when someone designs a fixed-width design, and then sets the window to "no scroll". Believe it or not, I have seen this problem on a MAJOR nationwide chain store's site!

Designers sometimes use "no scroll" to eliminate the scrollbars on the side of the window, or more often, on the side of a frame. They do so thinking only that it will remove the scrollbars, not realizing that it removes the ability to even scroll at all! And designers often use larger than average screens to design on, so when someone with a smaller screen views the site, they cannot even access the parts that they cannot see!

You need to understand that I'd not even mention this here, except for the fact that I've run into it more than once, and each time it was on sites that were for major retailers! You'd not think that this would be a problem with anyone but a rank amateur who just learned a new command, but it has been!

The first time I ran into this, it was an inconvenience. The site had frames, and the bottom frame had information which ran off the right side. I could not scroll over to see it.

The second time, it was on a site without frames, and I could not see or access the right sidebar, where there was information that I wanted - it was referred to in the text, but I could not get at it! I finally slid the window over so it was off the screen on the left, and then widened the window until I could see it. This type of problem has happened more than once.

The third time, the site was again built in frames. It had a frame for the navigation on the left - the major navigation for the site. And that frame was set to No Scroll. The options for the site ran down and off the screen. The catalog links ran below the visible area. I could tell that the items I wanted were probably there, based on the way the site was organized, but I could not even access the links for them because the designer had stopped me. I could not use the trick of sliding the window because it was a vertical listing.

There is never a time when the "no scroll" tag is needed. The only thing it does is remove the flexibility from your site for it to be viewed on a variety of screen sizes. If you don't like the scrollbars, then don't use frames, or make your site design so that they won't normally show, or so that it accommodates them without interference. It's not like scrollbars on the average page are going to be a problem, they only interfere with content when a site is in frames, and there are very few instances where frames are justifiable.

No Scroll is not a neat little trick to pretty up your site. It is a rude and short-sighted option, which can completely disable your site for people with smaller monitors.

Written by Laura Wheeler