The idea of the fold on a digital page no longer exists as a concept. Coming from the days of print and influenced by broadsheet newspaper production, it was about ensuring that the lead story was visible; to gain interest when each publication was laid out next to each other. It was also about how readers scanned the masthead and the headline to ensure that it captured the reader.
Way back, the idea of the fold came from the universal view that browsers only came in one or two sizes. There are now more physical screens in the world that there are people. Each of us switches between these daily; often while trying to achieve different tasks.
The proliferation of screens and device types now means that sizes no longer singular or absolutely quantifiable in any given context. Let it go! Get out of this mindset as it holds back from accomplishing a user-centred design. However much we’d like to think that our site is better laid out than another, we do not compare different screens side-by-side as in newspapers.
Now screens are too now changing shape. Aspect ratio and proportion of the visible screen is also a consideration or challenge for design. Instead focus on priorities, because despite the myth, users do actually scroll!
Frazer Cooper 