Parallax scrolling website designs are becoming increasingly popular and so more WordPress and Genesis theme designers are releasing them in order to cater to this extra demand.
What is parallax scrolling?
Parallax scrolling websites generally have a full width layout with a long scrolling homepage in which the background moves at a slower rate to the foreground.
This creates a 3D effect as you scroll down the website homepage, giving a nice and subtle element of depth and perspective.
Parallax scrolling is a method used in increasing numbers of WordPress sites and websites generally. The background images of a web page move more slowly than the foreground images, creating the illusion of depth on a two-dimensional site.
Parallax scrolling is one of the most widely used design techniques in web design right now, but also something you probably don’t even realize you have already experienced.
Parallax websites have a number of benefits for WordPress users, but also some downsides…
Advantages
- They can be easy to implement using quality WordPress themes, such as the Genesis Framework in combination with a quality
child theme which is both parallax-scrolling and Gutenberg-ready - Done well, a parallax homepage can help present an effective overview of the website as a whole using teasing summaries and snippets with clear CTAs (calls to action) often in the form of buttons
- They look cool, which leads to better visitor engagement
- Immerses visitors into a more engaging experience exploring your website
- Can help your homepage drive more action to CTAs or forms
- Offers natural movement, user control and interactivity to otherwise static, inanimate images
- Can lead to longer visitor time on the website
- Overall website traffic can increase as a result
Disadvantages
- Can look gimmicky – does it necessarily add any value to a site
- When done poorly, will negatively affect SEO
- Heavier coding is required for the effect, which can slow down page loading times. Using suitably web friendly images and a good caching plugin helps to minimise this problem.
- Some people just don’t like long-scrolling pages. Presenting too much of the site’s content just on the homepage is overkill
You can learn how to build a WordPress website on our basic course, then learn how to apply and configure your site with the Altitude theme on our Advanced WordPress course.