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Parallax Website Design: Creating a Parallax Scrolling Effect [2024]
In the sea of millions of eCommerce brands, your brand needs to stand out.
So, how do you do it?
Well, there are several ways — but your “website design” is one of the most significant ones. And parallax scrolling is one of those web design techniques that can help you stand apart from the crowd.
In this blog post, we’ll share insights on parallax website design, its pros and cons, and detailed guides on how to create a parallax scrolling effect in Shopify using different methods.
What is Parallax Website Design?
Parallax website design or scrolling effect is a web design technique where a webpage is designed with different layers — background and foreground — that move at different speeds to create a sense of 3D experience for website visitors.
So basically, when you scroll a webpage with a parallax design, the foreground layer moves faster than the background layer or image — and it creates a sense of 3D motion in the visual appearance.
How Does Parallax Scrolling Work?
If you’re a 90s kid, you might remember those good old days when the parallax design technique was used in computer graphics, especially video games.
In those graphical visuals, faster-moving foreground graphics (e.g., a car) were used in front of slowly moving background graphics (e.g., buildings or trees), and this entire design would create an “illusion of depth” even in 2D scenes.
Wikipedia has given a great example of how parallax scrolling scenes were created back in those days:
Also, when we look at moving objects, the ones that are close to us appear to move much faster than the objects that are farther away. The same concept of perception is used in the parallax scrolling effect.
The background layer of a long vertical or horizontal image is either kept static or moves relatively slowly. The foreground layer of text or image(s) moves at a much faster pace. As a result, the website design creates an immersive visual experience.
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Should You Use the Parallax Website Design?
First off — using parallax scrolling on your website depends on your brand’s style and personality. But it’s not just about visual appeal. You must consider multiple aspects involved concerning this design technique.
Let’s briefly understand all the pros and cons of parallax website design:
Advantages of Using a Parallax Website Design
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Encourages longer engagement:
When parallax website design is combined with great content, it can make your website visitors explore your content for a long time. Thus, it increases the time spent by the user on your website.
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Enhances visual appeal:
Creating a parallax website design can give your Shopify store a 3D-like immersive experience and make it visually appealing design.
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Helps with better storytelling:
Storytelling plays a crucial role in eCommerce to build engagement and loyalty for your brand. Parallax website design lets you tell your stories in more creative and attractive ways.
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Builds a higher perception of your brand:
Your website represents your brand’s personality and credibility. So, your website design is a key factor in building the reputation of your brand. Parallax website design can give your website a premium look and feel.
Disadvantages of Using a Parallax Website Design
Be mindful when using the parallax scrolling design. While the goal may be to enhance the user experience and engagement, it may also backfire if not done rightly or if it’s overdone than needed.
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Accessibility issues
Some users with visual impairments may struggle to properly understand the content displayed through the parallax scrolling effect. Also, users who have vestibular disorders may experience dizziness due to the busy movements of the design elements.
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Potential impact on SEO
While there are different opinions about the impact of parallax design on SEO, it may cause a negative impact on SEO due to higher page load speed. Also, it might create an issue for search engine crawlers if the content elements are not properly accessible.
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Confusion caused by complexity
Although the purpose of creating a parallax design is to keep the users engaged, if the design has too many elements, it might create confusion for the users. Thus, a poorly designed parallax website may negatively impact the user experience too.
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How to Create Parallax Scrolling Effect in Shopify
There are different solutions for creating a parallax scrolling effect. So, we’ll be sharing multiple guides on how to create a parallax website design for your Shopify store.
Solution #1: Use GemPages to Create Parallax Website Design
Using GemPages could be a great idea in two scenarios:
- Let’s say you’ve already installed and customized the theme on your store — and you don’t want to change your current theme just to get the parallax scrolling feature.
- You’re just starting a new Shopify store and you’d like to take advantage of a suite of store design features along with a parallax scrolling effect.
GemPages is one of Shopify's most loved page builder apps, with 4,434 reviews and an excellent 4.8 out of 5 stars rating.
GemPages lets you design your store with its easy-to-use visual editor, AI-powered layouts, and library of professionally designed templates too.
Step 1: Install the GemPages App
If you don’t already have the GemPages app installed on your store, go to the app in the Shopify App Store with the given link, and click the Install button to proceed further.
Review the access permissions and click on the Install button again. The app will be installed within a couple of seconds.
Once the installation is completed, you’ll land on the GemPages dashboard inside the Shopify admin. You'll see a notification at the top to enable GemPages in your theme.
Click on the "Turn on Shopify Editor" button. Then, you'll be redirected to the Shopify editor, with the button automatically turned on in the App embeds section. Just click the Save button to complete the action.
Now, GemPages is ready to build your store pages the way you want.
Step 2: Start Designing Your Parallax Website
You can design your store pages from scratch or use templates available in the GemPages library. To do so, click on the “Create new page” tab and choose the version. We’ll go with the latest one — Version 7.
Now, you’ll see the option to “Start from scratch” as well as different templates based on the types of store pages.
You can choose the relevant template if you’d like to speed up your design process or create a new one — whichever you prefer. For example, we’ve taken the “Gem Blender” template.
Now, enter "parallax" in the Search bar above the Sections and Elements tabs in the left sidebar and you’ll see the different parallax media/design elements. Simply drag and drop the design element(s) as you need and customize your page.
And that’s it!
You can create a stunning store page with a parallax design in a short time and publish it whenever you’re ready.
Step 3 [Optional]: Create a Parallax Scrolling Theme Section
There are two different ways you can incorporate a parallax design style into your website using GemPages:
- Directly drag and drop a parallax design element to your page — when designing with the GemPages editor.
(We already discussed this one in the step #2.)
2.Create parallax theme sections (with different styles) — this could be helpful if you’d like to use Shopify’s native editor.
Note: You don’t necessarily need to create the theme section(s) if you’d like to design your store pages with GemPages. However, if you’d like to use the Shopify editor, creating theme sections can help you easily reuse the parallax section wherever and whenever needed.
To create a parallax theme section, click on the second tab — “Create Theme Sections”.
Give your theme section a specific name so that you can quickly identify the exact parallax section in your Shopify theme editor. This could be helpful if you’re planning to create multiple parallax theme sections.
Now, follow the similar steps as we’ve seen in step #2: Enter "parallax" in the Search bar above the Sections and Elements tabs in the left sidebar and you’ll see the different media/design elements.
Drag and drop the parallax design element(s) from there and start building your parallax theme section. Once you’ve created the theme section, click the “Publish Theme Section” button.
Now, go to the Shopify theme editor. Click on any of the “Add section” buttons in the left sidebar, and you’ll be able to see the newly created parallax section along with other standard theme sections.
And now you’re done with this step as well.
You have set up a parallax theme section that you can use, reuse, or redesign whenever you want. Customize the entire page and preview it to see how it looks.
Once everything looks good to go, you can publish the page.
GemPages Pricing Plans:
GemPages makes it easy for you to start designing your first page with its free plan — no credit card required. So, there’s no reason to not give it a try.
Solution #2: Create a Parallax Website Design Using a Theme
Shopify Theme Store has a library of 200+ themes. If you want the scrolling effect to be the key component of your design strategy, you may consider installing a parallax Shopify theme.
Step 1: Finalize Your Theme for Parallax Design
Out of all the Shopify themes, here are a couple of paid themes that we recommend as they support parallax website design.
Let’s go through the details of each one:
Shopify Parallax Theme #1 — Parallax
Parallax is one of the widely used themes by Shopify merchants and has an impressive ratio of positive ratings as well.
Out of 244 reviews, 96% of the reviews are positive.
The one-time price of the theme is US $240.
Key Features of the Parallax theme:
- Various design options and flexibility:
The theme comes with full-size parallax images, slideshows, and videos. You can even create a parallax design for testimonials and featured promotions.
- Conversion-focused checkout:
Helps optimize conversions with promotional banners and sticky dropdowns. Also, features such as a slide-out cart and quick shop can entice customers to complete the checkout.
- Multiple design templates:
The theme comes with four different templates named — Aspen, Madrid, Vienna, and Los Angeles.
Shopify Parallax Theme #2 — Shark
Shark is a relatively new theme; however, it looks quite promising. As of writing this article, it has just two reviews and both of them are positive.
The one-time price of the theme is US $210.
Key Features of the Shark Theme:
- Modern design style: The theme templates are beautifully designed to give your store a modern look.
- Great customer support: Shopify merchants using this theme have given positive feedback about the excellent support they received from the Shark support team.
- Two design templates:
The theme comes with two different templates named — Bright and Decor.
Step 2: Install Your Shopify Theme
Once you’ve reviewed both Shopify themes, install it in your store to experience it inside the Shopify editor.
For testing and demo purposes, all Shopify themes are completely free to use. You need to pay only if/when you publish the paid theme.
So, you can play around with both themes and review how they would appear on your store with your branding and design elements. Of course, this will be a time-consuming activity.
But remember — ideally, you’re going to purchase a theme only once and then use it at least for a few years. So, why not invest some time to test and preview them, right?
Step 3: Customize Your Theme
Based on your testing and preview, finalize one theme and start customizing it.
Identify the areas or sections on your website where the parallax scrolling effect truly makes sense. Remember — you don’t want to overdo it.
Since you’re installing a new theme, even if you had a previously customized theme, you’ll need to redesign your store entirely.
Learn more: Shopify Theme Customization: A Complete Guide for Beginners
Once you’ve customized and built your online store, preview how the changes will appear before publishing the theme on your live store.
And that’s it on this method!
Now, let’s move forward to the next one:
Solution #3: Create a Scrolling Website Design with Custom Coding
This method requires you to edit the code of your existing theme template. Thus, you (or someone in your team) must have coding knowledge and experience.
You can even search on the internet for readily available code snippets for parallax scrolling effects. For example, you can try CodePen to search code snippets.
Also, you can find digital products like parallax media to embed code snippets in your Shopify theme. This video explains how to use this product.
Solution #4: Hire a Shopify Partner or Expert to Create a Parallax Scrolling Effect
If you don’t have coding experience or don’t have time to do it yourself, you can look for a professional who can help you do it.
There are multiple platforms where you can look for eCommerce experts who can help you design your Shopify store based on your unique needs.
For example, you can hire a Shopify Partner or expert from the following platforms:
CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) professionals can help you with design and development services that will not only enhance the design of your website but also optimize the conversion rate.
The Shopify Partner Directory is a database of Shopify Partners who can help you with various services including store design, custom development, troubleshooting, and more.
- Freelancing platforms like Fiverr & Upwork
Fiverr and Upwork are among the most popular platforms in the world to hire freelance talent. You can search for web designers and developers and work with the one that suits your budget and requirements.
- Individual freelancers or agencies on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is also a great platform to hire professional web designers and developers. However, you may have to work a bit more on finding a suitable professional as compared to the other platforms we just discussed.
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Parallax Scrolling Examples
Here are some of the examples of parallax scrolling websites:
Savage Fitness Accessories
Savage Fitness Accessories was founded by Daniel Chiodo after he solved the problem of frequent breakage of skipping ropes at his gym through custom ropes.
Now, the brand is led by him along with his wife and co-founder — and they’ve expanded its product range into various training gear and fitness clothing items.
The brand uses the Shark theme to create a parallax scrolling design on its homepage as well as product pages.
Delassus Group
Delassus Group is a Moroccan brand that produces snacking fruits including tomatoes, grapes, avocados, as well as flowers.
The brand’s website uses parallax scrolling in a unique style and creates a mesmerizing browsing experience.
Naked Faire
Naked Faire is a brand offering jewelry products that are handcrafted by New York-based artists.
The brand has added parallax design elements on its homepage with neat, clean, and minimalistic design style. The brand uses the Parallax theme.
Empath Designs
Empath Designs is a brand founded by Germaine who's a “Digital Artist and Reiki Master”. Germaine aims to inspire people toward personal growth and transformation.
The brand offers a variety of products including wall art, apparel, meditation kits, home & living items, and more. This Shopify store uses the Parallax theme to create a parallax scrolling experience on its homepage as well as the About page.
Final Thoughts on Parallax Website Design
When running an eCommerce business, you just need to get used to bringing upgrades and changes in your website design at regular intervals.
Customers are attracted by novelty and unique design. However, you need to be mindful of the right usage of the parallax design. Also, consider how long you’d like to keep it on your website.
The best way to know if it’s right for your store, in the long run, is to measure and analyze your store’s data, performance, and your website visitors’ interactions with the site.
Measure, observe, analyze — and take the needed actions accordingly.
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FAQs on Parallax Website Design
What is parallax on a website?
Parallax is a website design technique in which multiple layers are used, that move at different speeds, to create a sense of depth and faux-3D effect. This parallax effect gives an immersive browsing experience when visitors scroll the webpage.
What are the disadvantages of a parallax website?
Although parallax website design is considered beneficial to building engagement with website visitors, it may have the following disadvantages, especially if not done right: 1. Accessibility issue for visually impaired users. 2. Negative impact on the SEO of your site. 3. Confusion for users due to busy design when it’s overdone.
Is parallax good for SEO?
Parallax is considered one of the factors that may negatively impact your site’s SEO. While you can use it to enhance the visual appearance of a certain section of your website, you should be mindful of its potential risk for your site’s SEO.
Why is parallax good?
Parallax could be a good design element from certain aspects. For example, the parallax design style enhances the storytelling on your web pages and immerses the users in your story. Also, with aesthetically pleasing website design, you can build a high perception of your brand.
Can you create a parallax website on Shopify?
Yes, you can. There are multiple ways to create a parallax design on your Shopify store: 1. Create a parallax theme section using GemPages. 2. Install a theme like Parallax or Shark that supports parallax design. 3. Custom code your theme on your own or with the help of a developer.
