The ‘experiment’ proposed was that a cat is placed inside a sealed steel box with a radioactive source, a Geiger counter and a flask of hydrocyanic acid. If the Geiger counter detects radiation, it will cause a small hammer to shatter the flask and the cat will die else the cat lives, purrs, meows and does other cat things.

All fairly straight-forward so far. However, the Copenhagen interpretation would allow for a case where the cat exists in both states of being dead and alive. Now clearly this state cannot be observed and leads to the more common philosophical question of ‘was the cat dead or alive in the box before you opened the box to check?’ or simplified even more to ‘was the cat in the box before you opened it to check?’

So what has this got to do with web design and ‘The Fold’? It’s all about observation and the person observing.

The fold is a concept in print design. Picture a newspaper stand. All the newspapers are placed neatly folded in half. The top half is on display and designed to capture your interest and entice you into buying the paper and reading further down the page. ‘The Fold’ refers to this point halfway down the paper where it is folded for display.

Now on the web, we don’t have a physical fold but what we do have is a point where content drops off the bottom of the screen forcing the user to have to scroll down the page to read any further content. We cannot prevent a page from scrolling without limiting the amount of content on the page and even then, we have no control of the resolution of the screen the user is viewing the page on so we can’t determine how much content is the maximum amount before causing scrolling to be necessary.

We have come to a stage where we can say that a reasonable majority of users will be familiar with and understand the concept of having to scroll down a page and so it is quite common to hear designers screaming ‘THERE IS NO FOLD!’ shortly before leaping out of the nearest top floor window whenever posed the question by their clients. However, I would disagree. There IS a fold, but it’s position is not fixed from one user to the next. If presented with a page that requires scrolling there is some content that will be initially hidden from the user. Now if this is critical information, the user my not scroll down and find it. As Schrödinger’s cat’s state of life or death is undetermined unless being viewed, our page and the position of the fold is similarly undetermined.

To solve the problem, it is firstly important to grab the users attention and maintain their interest to continue reading down the page. It is also just as important to ensure that the layout of content is carefully considered so as not to hide important information or calls to action away from sight.

Just to make sure they really were dead, Walshy jumped in the drivers seat to do a demonstration drift lap:

Things didn’t start well when I realised after we left the garage that having given them my mobile phone number, I had left both my phones in the car.

We had promised to take a barbecued burger back for Gill at the garage when we returned. So in true Top Gear style we figured that to keep the burger warm we could wrap it in foil and place it on the engine for the journey. Strangely it turns out this was not exactly the best idea in the world. Halfway there we could smell it cooking. On arrival it was gone! It had fallen through and was sat on the undertray beside the exhaust flexi. However, we did learn that the roof bows make handy tongs for fishing out barbecued food.

You can expect lots of photos to be posted here and on my Flickr account. Until then, here are a couple I took of Molly:

Having arrived back home from Austin and SxSW, the following day held in store a once in a lifetime experience that no amount of jetlag would keep me away from.

Arriving home from the airport gave me enough time for a couple of hours sleep before jumping in the car and heading up to the hotel in Bedford for the night.

First thing the next morning we were all up and drove across to Bedford Autodrome, where we were signed in a sat down to breakfast (mmm breakfast… I had missed proper breakfasts for the last week. The Americans seem to have a thing for brightly coloured cereals and random sweet breads. That’s sweet doughy things rather than meats you wouldn’t feed to your dog.)

Over breakfast we were given a briefing about the cars and circuits we would be driving. The line-up was awesome consisting of a Caterham Seven (both on track and in head to head autotest style races, Renault Clio Cup, Porsche 911 JP3, Jaguar XKR, Landrover, Kart, Jaguar JP1 and the single seat Formula Jaguar!

Our team started the day in the rather lively Caterham Seven Superlights on the East Circuit. With a claimed power to weight ratio of 286bhp/tonne these cars are quick. Combine that with their weight of a mere 490kg and they are a handful. A lot of fun to drive although possibly not straight after a big breakfast.

With no time wasted, we were then taken to the North Circuit where the Renault Clio Cup Racers and Porsche 911 JP3s were waiting for us. First up for me was the Renault. Stripped of all creature comforts and fitted with a six-speed sequential gearbox operated by paddles, this car is absolutely nothing like the road-going version.

Then I was into the Porsche. I got in the car hoping that driving it would change my preconception of Porsches. I didn’t like Porsches. The design lacks imagination. They are incredibly well engineered, but I expected a lesser driving experience from them with all their ‘electrickery’. However, driving this particular model seemed to suit my driving style, surprising me with the fastest lap time in my team.

Last up before lunch was the Jaguar XKR on the South Circuit. Powered by a 420bhp 4.2 litre supercharged V8 this car promised a lot. Grip levels were astounding, but as I tried to be more precise with throwing it into the corners, my lap times dropped. I guess I just didn’t click with this car.

After lunch we headed over to the West Circuit and were installed into the Formula Jaguars. This is a ‘slicks and wings’ F1 style car. 0-60mph is 3.1 seconds with only 1.6 seconds for 60-0mph. It is powered by a 3.0 litre V6 engine and is capable of 2.3G whilst cornering. I spent the first few laps getting to grips with the way the car felt and responded to my input and gradually started pushing harder. Unfortunately all too soon the session came to an end. I would love to go back and try this machine again. I’m sure I didn’t manage to explore more than a tenth of its capabilities.

Next was a complete change of pace as we were put in Landrovers on the off-road course. This involved driving across seesaws, beams and insane gradients all the while looking to score points by hitting tennis balls suspended around the course with targets on the wing-mirrors and in the centre of the windscreen.

Then we were back on the pace for head to head timed runs round a wetted down autotest circuit in Caterham Sevens that were similar to those we had driven earlier in the day, but these had been set up to slide. This gave us the opportunity to compete against each other directly and show how good our handling skills were. Keeping the car pointing in the right direction was not easy, but it was great fun sliding the car round the bends.

We finished up the day in the Jaguar JP1, a slicks and wings two-seater with an instructor to help us get the best out of the car.

A couple of years ago, Andy and I were coincidentally given flights at Airkix as presents. Here’s the video:

Amongst those who turned up were many new faces alongside the ‘old hands’. Hopefully the ‘newbies’ will come back for more of our meets. Possibly the ‘newest’ face was that of little K, passengering with her dad Wispy on her first run at the tender age of three months. Good work Wispy (and Di) – get her started early

Pretty soon after setting off, the phone calls started. AJK and Frimley111R had come off the road after exiting a bend to be greeted by a sheet of ice! Thankfully no damage was done, other than to their pride and whatever punishment Penny would give Andrew for getting her muddy as she helped push the car out of the very muddy grass verge. Once again luck was on our side as no damage was done to either driver or car, although Frimley111R felt unsafe to continue with his brakes so full of mud.

The remainder of the journey was much less treacherous, with the rising sun melting away the ice. Although a lot of care was needed in many places. As far as I’m aware, there were no further incidents.

Everyone remaining descended on the little cafe at Hayling Island by half 10 for a well earned breakfast to the amazement of the locals who clearly weren’t ready for 70 sports cars.

Best start planning the next run.

On a less geeky note, planning for the annual Seloc Winter Warmer run is well under way now. MSA approval has been provided, the cafe down at Hayling Island has been warned they will be swamped, RLO’s have been sent the route maps for their approval and around 70 people have signed up. All that remains is to sort everyone into groups and pray the weather isn’t too bad for the day. Roll on 6th January!