Thread by @pearsonified

Regarding website design…

By virtue of the medium itself, every website has a top-down flow.

But on bigger screens, designers often default to a horizontal presentation style.

The problem?

The process of scanning horizontals is a pattern break—it interrupts the top-down flow

This pattern interruption can actually be a good thing.

Savvy designers can use horizontals to focus attention on very important elements.

But if horizontals are used copiously, they no longer represent a pattern break—

They just destroy the natural flow and scannability.

When you embrace the vertical flow of a document, you favor that which comes naturally to a visitor:

• Left-side visual anchor promotes top-down flow

• Eyes dart out horizontally away from the anchor

Serving dense information along horizontals destroys this mechanism.

You: Compulsion to fill available horizontal real estate with information density

Visitors: Compulsion to scan a page vertically with nearly zero effort

These two compulsions repel one another.

None of your visitors want to work to “find” what they are looking for.

By embracing verticals, you can become the puppetmaster for visitor behavior on your site because people will naturally "go with the flow."

And once you understand how horizontals affect attention, you can begin to use them to your benefit.

In math problems, adding a dimension massively increases complexity.

Your website is no different!

Vertical flow = 1D

Vertical + Horizontal = 2D

Horizontals seem innocuous; in reality, they greatly increase the complexity of your design.

Bottom line:

• Websites have a natural top-down flow

• Horizontals are pattern interrupts that should be deployed for specific purposes, not just some harebrained aesthetic ideal

• Horizontals are costly and require specific treatments and adaptations