Home > Blog > A Guide to Foldable Web Design

A Guide to Foldable Web Design

Author: Tom Cottrill | Date Posted: Aug 19, 2021

No matter how much you may want to ignore it, foldable web design is coming. If you’re scratching your head and asking, “what is foldable web design?” You’ve come to the right place. While there is no catch-all definition for this new class of technology, most fit into one of two categories:

1. Foldables –These are devices that quite literally fold in half.
2. Dual Screens – These are separate screens that can be used to create one larger screen.

Does your marketing agency need to care about this new type of web design? Maybe. According to Smashing Magazine, should the technology take off in a big way, web design could be looking at its biggest shakeup in well over a decade.

What Web Developers Need to Know About Foldable Design

Whether you’re a web developer or an agency, there are a few things you should know about foldable web design.

1. New Software Requirements – New software and coding are required to accommodate a foldable web design. Fold area functionality becomes an issue because you don’t want anything falling on the fold or being printed across it. Depending on the size of the screen, it can change the aspect ratio, size, and resolution of the content.
2. New Possibilities – While the execution for foldable design is much more complex than traditional web design, it does offer unique opportunities to expand content because of more surface space. It also opens up the possibility of more beneficial multi-tasking by utilizing multi-window modes.
3. New Challenges- With new possibilities come new challenges. With the ability to resize and create new aspect ratios, your design must be much more versatile. And versatile design means more testing. As a developer, you must test the site and app to see how it reacts to configuration changes, multi-window mode, and multi-resume, as well as layout.

Ultimately, foldable web design is about more than just adding an extra screen for content. It’s about enjoying more flexibility through the use of multiple screens and multi-tasking functionality. So, as a designer, it’s your job to make sure no matter how you go about designing for foldable devices, you are aware that your design will be displayed in a variety of ways and on a large number of device types.

What’s our opinion on foldable web design? We love the idea of new and innovative technology and like getting our hands dirty with a good challenge. But for now, we probably won’t be the first ones diving headfirst into this new area of web design until we see it become a little more widely adopted.

About Ignitro Studios

Since 2013, Ignitro Studios has been working to blend marketing and technology in support of agencies and other marketers. By understanding both sides of web development, we have a unique perspective and advantage within the industry. We provide design, development, project management, QA, and strategy, driving the bus so our clients don’t have to. We will work with our clients to get results while also empowering them to do their job better. Learn more about Ignitro Studios.