1 Nice Article

Nice article Derek, I’m currently designing a site for an international company and the home page has been the biggest hurdle I’ve had to face.

The problem is they want multi region selection up front coupled with multi lingual support, then they want to set cookies so that people who have been to the site before can just go straight through to the secondary homepage, but allow an option to change region and language if they want to. The biggest concern is that the first time user is hit with a select region page, “select region for what?” the user will ask, “where am I”.

We have outlined several ways to do the home page but so far they have turned them all down flat because the people in the board room “don’t like that idea”… This is very frustrating when they ask for your help but turn it down flat because it doesn’t suit their personal taste for a home page.

So after nudging them away from the splash page idea, after 3 months we have ended up with exactly what they don’t need. I wish there was a better way to get these messages across to the people who run the companies…

Any suggestions for how to deal with the client? ;)

posted at 04:26 am on January 31, 2006 by Nathan Kelly

2 Goal #5: Show them the important stuff

I would argue that it’s more important to present links to your most important content on your home page, rather than focus on what’s new.

The majority of users come to a site with a particular task in mind; which typically boils down to one of a few things. If you can present those few things on your home page, then you enable users to get to where they want to go without having to think.

posted at 06:28 am on January 31, 2006 by Christian Watson

3 Users tests

Nothing new in this article. When working in the webbuilding business, this should be common knowledge. But even these very simple homepage rules are hard to sell to people who run the companies. So I guess they need to read the article in the first place. But they don’t of course. They prefer to read the Financial Times or whatever.
Maybe the only way to convince them to apply these simple rules is to organize some basic user tests. It will cost some extra time and cash, but with some luck it might open there eyes in the end.

posted at 06:34 am on January 31, 2006 by Hans Verhaegen

4 Repetition is the mother of knowledge

I think everyone of us must read this article, before starting a new project, and send a link to prospective client :)
Just because sometimes we forget these simple little things in a daily routine.

posted at 07:21 am on January 31, 2006 by Ugis Revelis

5 To make it short...

It’s advisable to read Nielsen’s book Homepage Usability (a German article from me presents some main points from his book as well as general Usability heuristics). The ALA article provides a nice outline, but there’s definitely more on this topic. (And, oh, don’t forget to test with users.)

posted at 07:36 am on January 31, 2006 by Jens Meiert

6 Great

I liked this article and I think it is extremely good common sense. I do agree to some extent that alot of designers will do this already but if I’m honest I haven’t seen an article written quite as clearly or concise as this – so nice one.

When designing a home page I always ask myself: What do I see as hotspots and how can I make cold spots warmer? Hot spots are areas that users will immediately look at eg: banner. Cold spots are places like the footer or maybe the right hand column. I have found it is good to discipline yourself in these technical areas as you can make a much more user friendly and productive website.

I think one other thing to consider when designing a homepage is the brand and the “brand imageâ€? that you are presenting. Why do you want to use that image – what does it say and why does it need to be there. What’s the best typeface for my website – and why. If you are doing a new website then maybe its time to look at your logo and marketing messages. The technical aspect is only half way there and if you don’t question everything about your designs then you leave huge gaps in your screen real estate. So, be your own worst critique and you will go far!

Great article – keep up the good work.

Matt

posted at 08:15 am on January 31, 2006 by Matt Davies

7 Great idea

Derek – Great points. I think it’s a great idea to design in reverse. Honestly, that’s not anything I’ve really considered before. It makes a lot of sense, though. I plan on applying that approach to my workflow moving forward. I appreciate the article!

posted at 11:24 am on January 31, 2006 by Chris Harrison

8 New content, or just content?

I would argue that it’s more important to present links to your most important content on your home page, rather than focus on what’s new.

You can do both. At the very least, a link to a “What’s new” page should be on the home page, where relevant. Obviously for mega sites, or for sites that are constantly changing, this may not be appropriate.

A key point is how users find the site. If your site is content-rich, new users probably go through a search engine and land at an internal page. They are more likely to engage with the site before visiting the home page. When they do go to the homepage, it is often bookmarked from a previous visit. You can afford to tailor the homepage more towards repeat and invested visitors.

If your site is the sort where most people arrive at the homepage on their first visit, you need to aim your homepage squarely at new visitors. That doesn’t have to mean much difference in what you have on the page, but it might lead to you highlighting different sections, or changing what you have in the hotspots.

posted at 11:31 am on January 31, 2006 by Stephen Down

9 How to convince the boss

But even these very simple homepage rules are hard to sell to people who run the companies. So I guess they need to read the article in the first place.

The age-old question of how to get a technophobic paymaster to listen to your words of wisdom, understand them, trust you, and follow your advice. And it’s a difficult one. Because what looks impressive and attention grabbing – eg Flash Splash! – is often a really bad idea in practice. But as soon as you start talking “technical”, so many people switch off and lose interest.

I think a key issue behind this is that most bosses have a somewhat over-inflated view of their company – they assume that everyone will know what it is, what it does, and will be interested in it. Wrong! Most people couldn’t give a damn about the company – they just want to get the information/make the purchase with as few clicks and as little reading as they can get away with.

The home page has to help visitors, not hinder them. How many sites can we all name that haven’t realised that simple fact?

posted at 12:01 pm on January 31, 2006 by Stephen Down

10 In reverse

I think it’s a great idea to design in reverse. Honestly, that’s not anything I’ve really considered before. It makes a lot of sense, though.

If you think of the home page as like a pared-down and glorified index page for the site – which is what it essentially is – it’s very difficult to design the home page until you know what’s in the rest of the site. Designing the home page first tends to lead to more arty styles that aren’t necessarily easy to use – but the design has been made and then the content has been hammered into shape to fit it. Guess what? It doesn’t work so well.

If the rest of the site has gone well, you should find that the home page pretty much designs itself – yes, you’ll want to add a bit of graphic glitz and glamour to it, but the rest of it should fall into place.

posted at 12:08 pm on January 31, 2006 by Stephen Down