35+ Horizontal Websites for Your Design Inspiration
Published June 22nd, 2009 in GalleriesWebsites that use horizontal scrolling in addition to, or instead of, vertical scrolling are becoming more popular. While this trend isn’t a good idea in every situation, the sites showcased here may give you some ideas or inspiration for using this approach in one of your own projects.
Resources/Tutorials:
Useful Tips to Design Horizontal Website Layout – Woork
How to Create a Horizontally Scrolling Site – CSS Tricks
What’s Your Opinion of Horizontal Websites?
Do you like of dislike websites with horizontal scrolling? Personally, I don’t really like horizontal scrolling as a visitor, but I do like the fact that many of these sites show some creativity in layout.
For more design inspiration, please see:
56 Responses to “35+ Horizontal Websites for Your Design Inspiration”
Some of these designs are really nice. However, I think it creates some usability issues having a horizontal layout. Most users are not accustomed to scrolling sideways and also it makes the document much more difficult to scan.
From a design/development standpoint as well, you would have to set height on every container forcing you to make sure that each bit of text fit adequately in its container.
Lastly When Resizing the text, you also create a vertical scroll, so users who prefer larger text then the designer decided that they should have will have to scroll both vertical and horizontally. tisk tisk.
Lots of inspiring designs
I fancy the Paolo Boccardi Photography site, as my wife does photography.
thanks for featuring the site I designed (Candice Holloway) – there are a great collection of inspiring designs. I think horizontal sites work well if they are used to showcase products/designs/photography but if it’s a text driven site then this is probably not the route to go.
Portland,
I agree on the usability issue. That’s why I’m not that big on the horizontal style.
Originalspirit,
That’s a good point that I didn’t mention. It is much easier to scroll through photos horizontally than it would be to deal with text.
Loads more horizontal layouts here:
http://siteinspire.net/showcase/category/style/horizontal_layout
And also, http://www.rebeccaruthphotography.com/blog/
you missed one
http://www.modularpeople.com
Its pretty cool.
They are a record label.
it’s a pitty most of them can’t be scrolled with the mousewheel..what about our usability standards
i must say though.. there are some awesome sites on this page.. don’t mean to be all grumpy ^_^
Joax,
You’re not being grumpy, usability is a real concern.
Wonderful information
Distinct group of sites, thank you very much!
Hi, what a great list – one of my favourite horizontal sites is http://www.sensehub.org.uk. Useabillity is always an issue but each site on it’s own merits, what is it’s purpose, target audience etc
I have to agree with most of the posts about the usability issue. I have seen lots of photographers websites where it seems to work well. Can’t see most people getting used to the idea of scrolling sideways rather than up/down.
Thanks for the Feature!
@Portland,
Those are valid, definitely, but in some markets and with some audiences the impact a design like this has will outweigh the usability that has been given up. It’s definitely not a style that should sweep the web, but does have a place somewhere.
As with all rule-breaking designs, you need to be careful and intentional in your execution. Make sure the benefits are really worth breaking the rules in the first place.
This is a great list for inspirations, but I have to agree with Portland Web Design on the usability issues. We’ve tried a few horizontal designs, and they never make it past initial markup because of text resize issues.
It’s still great to see these designs get profiled.
Great collection & thanks for featuring my site – looks like I’m in good company here
Always flattered.
jhoysi,
Well said.
what a great list, really awoseme
I agree with the others who cite usability issues with horizontal websites… However, I think this technique can be pulled off (and done well, looking at these examples). The fact that these sites are different than 99% of the other sites out there makes them stand out. Having a memorable site is quite a feat…
wow….thats a great collection of nicely designed websites. thaks for sharing
-rick
waoo great designs
Me and my wife photographers, thanks to you this wonderful collection:)of nicely designed websites.
these are all really great. definitely agree on the text issues. i’d like to create a scrolling sideways photo blog dedicated to my recent work.
anyone know of template sites, or designers that can help me??
thank you
Absolutely beautiful collection. One of the best I came across during the last month!
I chose a horizontal site for my portfolio site: http://www.funktiondesign.ca as it was a chance to try something different and push my design boundaries, something I wouldn’t be able to do on a clients site. It is always good to see experimentation and UN-normal work being done as it opens up discussion and promotes change. thanks!
Wow these are all unique and show that horizontal scrolling is not dead!
I really flike horizontal websites, I think they are very well suited to artist portfolios and
CV s.
I redesigned mine horizontal;
http;//www.imarscreative.com
and an other one : a resume for a pipeline inspector
htttp://julianbridle.free.fr
have a look
Hey great examples thanks! Personally I think these kind of sites only fit to artistic sites, design agencies,etc. As a user I don’t expect this so for design or art related sites that a pro. I would not recommend this technique for more conventional businesses. However. there are some really nice examples here!
Robbert,
I tend to agree with you. It can work for sites that have room to take a risk or be a little bit more unconventional.
I personally prefer horizontal design because it can give the idea of the website to its visitors at a glance at first sight.
From my long experience in domain appraisal and website design business, i have discovered that most of the visitors do not like to scroll website unless they find the first look informative or useful to them.
its a cool resource of horizontal designs. useful to me and might be for others.
really cool designs.
Horizontal scrolling is a great option for displaying portfolio & photos.
We have chosen this kind of display for out photo galleries at http://www.soteropoli.com and visitors tend to like better.
I like Wall Swaps. The bulletin board look different but still organized.
Wow.. But how about the accessibility aspect ?
all of us just like to scroll down the web page with mouse scroll isn’t it?
I’m really very useful to follow a long time see this as a blog here Thank you for your valuable information.
Thanks so much for featuring my site.
My horizontal website: http://www.elastika.org
Thank you
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