Fewest scroll
One answer fits on one screen, and things sit side by side before they stack.
What it means
One page answers one question, and the answer is visible without scrolling. Width comes before height: content sits beside other content until the row is full, and only then does a new row or section start.
The test
Open the artefact at laptop size and check that the answer shows without scrolling. Then look at every row, group and section and ask whether it could sit beside another one. Each one that could is a break. Rows are counted at 1180 x 757 as the measuring page sets out, and a queue or register passes when 15 full rows fit, the reviewer’s audit threshold (comparison, line 615).
Levers by surface
| Surface | What counts as scroll here |
|---|---|
| Screen | A new detail group or section, or a card line or row that could have gone to the right of the title. Fields sit side by side, up to six per row and three columns per group. Lists, cards and dashboard grids show at most six fields besides the title. |
| Everything above the ask. The ask goes in the first line. | |
| Form | A field on its own row that belongs beside its neighbour. |
| Document | Paragraphs before the answer. The answer goes first. |
Research
The reviewer’s second rule reads: “As few scroll as possible (meaning, don’t create more rows, and sections, but minimize them)”. Two findings on an ordering system apply it to cards. One card had “a NEW ROW (new SECTION) making that card taller, simply to put this text”, when there was room to the right of the title. Another card stacked three lines on the left “and nothing on the right (this increases scroll, by making the card bigger”.
The Microsoft Writing Style Guide asks writers to lead with what is most important and to be brief. Intuit’s Writing small page asks for short text, what customers need first, and progressive disclosure.