Unfolding the Fold
"Above the fold" is a graphic design concept that refers to the location of an important news story or a visually appealing photograph on the upper half of the front page of a newspaper. Most papers are delivered and displayed to customers folded up, meaning that only the top half of the front page is visible. Thus, an item that is "above the fold" may be one that the editors feel will entice people to buy the paper. This expression has migrated across to the world of web design, often now called above the scroll. It is a concept in web design referring to location of an item near the top of a web page, which can thus be viewed in a browser without scrolling. However it is now thought that on websites "the fold" is a myth.
Unfolding the Fold is a post on the
ClickTale blog that provides some hard stats about the fold and scrolling in general.
Click here to read about unfolding the fold.