Issue:
What pitfalls should companies avoid on their Web,
Intranet or portal home pages?
Response:
The home page of a Web site, Intranet or portal is
the most important page. It should tell site visitors,
what they can do precisely deeper in the site or at
least inform them, what they may be able to expect.
However, in most cases, the home page is just a compromise
to satisfy internal politics and neglecting site visitors'
needs. To set up an effective home page that matches
corporate objectives and user's expectations the following
pitfalls should be avoided:
1) Too much information instead of links: Many home
pages provide detailed information such as complete
news, company description, etc. or are overloaded with
images. Site visitors do not want to read information
on the home page nor guessing what might be hidden
behind an image. They want to find a link to start
navigating to the information, which they came for.
Providing detailed information on the home page limits
the space available for valuable links. Further, it
increases the risk that site visitors do not even start
navigating the site, as they do not find their specific
entry point to start their specific action or scenario.
There are two types of pages, which apply to any Web
applications such as Web sites, Intranets and portals.
Those are navigation pages and destination pages. Navigation
pages allow site visitors discovering the options to
navigate. Destination pages provide the information,
which site visitors are looking for. The home page
is the ultimate navigation page. It needs to provide
as much as possible links to the various Web sections.
The Web strategy determines the links from the home
page to the site sections. There are two major linking
approaches:
- Individual link, which relates to one link for a
complete Web section.
- Category links, which is one link to a complete Web
section, followed by links to further detail this section
(sub-category links).
Provide category links for strategic Web sections that
you want your target audience to browse and navigate
to (for example for IT companies provide category and
sub-category links to product and service overviews,
customer engagements, download section). Use individual
links for Web sections that target secondary audiences
(for example company profile or recruitment).
2) Animations / animated links: Even though
that usability research clearly shows that animations
such as rotating banners, animated text, etc. distracts
site visitors, it is still used on many business sites.
In most cases, marketing managers request Web designer
to implement animations although designers know that
animations are more destructive than increasing site
effectiveness. Web designers need to clearly explain
the differences between offline and online media. In
offline marketing, publicity needs to attract the attention
of prospects. For example, if you are walking on a
street, advertising such as ad posters must attract
your attention, as you are not walking down a street
to discover ads. In online media, site visitors already
decided to go to a Web site with a specific goal in
mind (e.g. finding contact, product or support information,
etc.). Hence, the Web site does not need to attract
the visitor's attention. There are successful concepts
to replace animations such as the so-called hooks.
Hooks are static images or graphics with a minimum
of text to tell site visitors what they can expect
by clicking on them. Hooks are not limited to the home
page but can be used on all navigation pages. Effective
hooks target the page audience (best practice sites: www.cisco.com , www.ups.com/content/gb/en/index.jsx ).
Place hooks on the home page that target the prime
Web audience, on subsequent navigation pages, refine
hooks accordingly to the page audience.
3) Not telling what site users can do on the
site: Site visitors do not go unintentionally to a
Web site. They have a specific action in mind such
as finding pricing information, applying for a job,
downloading the annual report, etc. Using action verbs
such as download, apply, compare, discover, etc. facilitates
site visitors to find immediately the link to start
their scenario. Action verbs define further links (for
example a link named "product" can be misleading as
it does not tell what kind of "actions" will be available
such as downloading, comparing, ordering, test driving,
etc.). Complementing links with action verbs helps
to reduce site visitor frustration and to increase
site effectiveness.
4) Missing the home page basics: There are
a few usability practices, which Web designer should
implement on the home page such as:
- Home page length less than two screens at a resolution
of 800x600, best would be to fit within one screen.
Place strategic links on the first screen (upper half
of the home page, if the home page exceeds one screen),
as site visitors generally do not scroll on navigation
pages and hence would miss the important links.
- Links to site support tools such as site map or site
search. About 30 percent of site visitors prefer finding
their information using site search. Therefore it is
crucial that Web sites provide search functionality
(e.g. the search box) directly from the home page.
- Link to privacy policy from the text navigation at
the bottom and link to the company profile (navigation
bar and text navigation bar).
- Company logo available in the upper left corner.
However, it should not provide an active link on the
home page but from any other pages within the site.
- Navigation consistency with the rest of the site.
Ensure that the navigation on the home page is consistent
with the rest of the site to avoid user confusion.
