When trying to make an impression in this day and age of short attention spans, you have to get creative. Web designers can make great use of the parallax scrolling effect to accomplish this. By implementing smooth parallax scrolling, you can provide your site visitors with a more engaging and interactive experience.
This article will discuss parallax scrolling, offer advice on creating effective parallax effects in design, and showcase a wonderful assortment of parallax website landing pages.
What is parallax scrolling?
Web designers use a computer graphics technique called parallax scrolling to give the illusion of depth on a website. Web designers often use layers of content or backgrounds that scroll at different rates to trick the eye as users navigate a page. The use of parallax scrolling is not novel. Super Mario Bros. used parallax graphics to give the player a sense of depth in the early 1980s.
In recent years, parallax scrolling has become increasingly popular in the field of web design. Because scrolling is less effort than clicking, a well-designed parallax effect encourages readers to keep on scrolling to absorb more content.
How do I make a parallax website design?
Designers can implement parallax effects in a few distinct ways. The first option is to start from scratch using only CSS. You can achieve the same effect by using a container element and setting its background to an appropriate image. To make the actual parallax effect, use the “background-attachment: fixed” CSS property. Visit W3Schools to see a real-world example in action.
The use of website creation tools to implement parallax scrolling is yet another option. The parallax effect can be easily made with website builders like Wix, Elementor, or Squarespace.
Why should I use parallax graphics?
Designers should experiment with parallax graphics for two main reasons:
It helps tell a story
Stories are made for parallax visuals. We want to communicate with our visitors and tell them a compelling story about our product, service, or brand when we design websites, so good communication is essential to the design process. We can give our site visitors a one-of-a-kind experience by utilising parallax scrolling. If you want to tell your customer the entire story about your product or brand on just one page, you can do that.
It helps to improve user engagement
Using parallax graphics is a great way to keep people interested in what you’re showing them. One of the aims to be mindful of in web design is lowering the percentage of visitors who immediately leave your website. Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who leave your website after viewing only one page. Any steps you can take to decrease your bounce rate will help your search engine rankings. User engagement is increased because of the dynamic experience provided by a well-designed parallax page.
How can I incorporate scrolling parallax navigation into my website?
After explaining what parallax web design is and how to implement parallax effects on a website, I’d like to offer some advice on how to make parallax web design a useful part of the modern web user’s experience. It’s important to note that, as a complex effect, parallax scrolling can present a number of challenges to any designer or product team attempting to implement it. The cause may be general confusion about the intended operation of the feature, or it may be more specific issues such as poor timing for an animated effect. The good news is that, with the help of a dedicated team effort between designers and developers, these issues can be avoided altogether.
1. Measure loading time
In parallax web design, speed of page load is essential. Parallax scrolling is a resource-intensive effect because it typically makes use of both cascading style sheets and Java script to achieve its effects. The result could be a longer delay in loading time for the browser. Page speed is a major factor in user experience, and a slow page load time can negatively impact your search engine rankings and visitor numbers. As a result, be sure to double-check your site’s performance whenever you implement a parallax effect.
Please read Front-End Performance Checklist 2021 by Vitaly Friedman if you want to learn more about front-end performance. The article provides numerous useful methods for tracking performance.
2. Use parallax scrolling sparingly
Remember that parallax is not just a fancy effect. It’s important to implement this strategy in a way that benefits your site visitors just like any other method you employ.
If you want to avoid some common mistakes, here are some things to keep in mind about parallax:
- You can’t just throw any old content at a screen and expect it to look good with parallax effects. Parallax is most effective on brief web pages like landing pages and single-page sites. Therefore, parallax may not be the best option when designing an online shopping experience.
- For best results, your parallax graphics should be geared toward newcomers. Knowing who you’re targeting and how they’ll use your website is crucial. Parallax scrolling isn’t the best option if you want repeat visitors to your site. Even if your design is stunning at first glance, repeat visitors will find the animation effects boring, and some may even find them annoying if they take too long to load.
3. Design predictable scrolling
Web users expect certain behaviours when scrolling because it is such a natural and familiar action. You risk alienating your audience if your website goes against the grain of user expectation and requires them to act differently.
In order to create effective parallax scrolling, designers should stay away from scroll hijacking, a practise in which a website dictates the rate at which users should view its content. By deciding for the user how they should interact with your site’s content, you “hijack” scrolling.
4. Try to minimize the parallax effects on mobile
Mobile devices aren’t ideal for using parallax effects. Parallax web design can be optimised for mobile viewports, but it still doesn’t do very well in practise. This is why it’s preferable to disable or significantly reduce parallax scrolling for mobile users.
5. Consider accessibility
Some major accessibility problems that can arise from parallax scrolling are:
- This is because it is more likely for two colours to blend together into one that is difficult to distinguish when the background of a web page shifts in a way that is not tied to the text. If you want your text to be easily readable and your colours to contrast properly, you should always put your design through a series of tests.
- Individuals prone to motion sickness may have a negative user experience (UX) as a result of parallax. If you care about providing a positive user experience for all of your site’s visitors, you should give them the option to disable any animations.
Where can I find examples of awesome parallax websites?
The following showcases 10 excellent parallax website designs that can motivate your own team. Each website is artistically crafted and has a captivating narrative:
1. Firewatch
Up at the top of Firewatch’s homepage, parallax effects are used to realistically convey the concept of depth. You might start to think you’re getting more in-depth as you scroll down. This site is great because it does not “hijack” scroll, allowing visitors to move through the page at their own pace.
2. Every Last Drop
Every Last Drop is a perfect example of the adage “Show, don’t tell.” The website doesn’t stress the significance of water use, but rather displays the amount of water we use on a daily basis. Information about your water usage is interspersed with everyday scenes as you scroll down.
3. The Boat
If you look through our collection of parallax website designs, The Boat stands out as one of the most impressive examples of visual storytelling. Those who visit this site are taken on an exciting virtual adventure. There are six parts to the story, and the parallax effect helps you get into it. To further immerse you in this visual narrative, the illustrations are matched with the text and audio.
4. BeerCamp
Designers at BeerCamp crafted a 3D look for the site using parallax graphics. The zoom effect on this website draws the user’s attention to a single point. The site’s five sections, or “pages,” are actually layers of content that reveal themselves as you scroll down. This parallax effect, when combined with eye-catching colours and striking typography, leaves a lasting impression on site visitors.
5. Marcin Dmoch
Art director Marcin Dmoch went with the parallax effect for his online resume. About, Work, and Contacts are the website’s main navigational pillars. All of these parts are linked together by parallax, and the user can “pin” and “unpin” them as they scroll.
6. Anton & Irene
Anton & Irene’s website is a model of how to successfully combine form and function. Two human silhouettes can be seen at the site. Miniatures disappear as you scroll down, making room for more content.
7. Long Shot Features
Common to the preceding examples is the use of vertical scroll to achieve the desired parallax effect. However, Long Shot Features takes a totally different tack by employing a parallax scrolling layout in the horizontal plane. As the user scrolls from left to right, a beautiful, animated transition from one page to the next is revealed.
8. Porschevolution
In a single page, Porschevolution traces the history of Porsche’s aesthetic choices back to the year 1875. Visitors will be able to see Porsche’s design evolution over time and the company’s vision for the future of Porsche design. Smooth parallax page sliding allows for easy page navigation.
9. Feed Music
The goal of the parallax design used on Feed Music’s site is to create a fully immersive digital experience. Images and accompanying context are presented on separate screens. As the user scrolls down the page, new information blocks and the appropriate visual image appear, all thanks to the use of parallax in the design.
10. Melanie Daveid
The website of Melanie Daveid is another instance of a single-page site that successfully combines aesthetics and practicality. Melanie’s biography, portfolio, and contact details can be found in the following tabs as you scroll down the page. At the bottom of the page, there is a pleasing visual effect waiting for you.
Engage visitors with parallax scrolling effects
Parallax scrolling provides a novel opportunity for web designers to add depth to their designs, which in turn keeps visitors interested. If you want your website to stand out from the crowd and leave a lasting impression on your visitors, consider a parallax design.
