In "Home Sweet Home," a recent article on the Vitamin blog, Paul Boag makes an attempt at dispelling some of the most common myths of the web site home page. I found this to be a pretty good read. It is geared primarily toward web designers, teaching them how to educate their own clients as they approach web site design, but I think both designers and clients can benefit from considering some of the principles discussed.
One myth Boag dispels right off the bat is the idea of the home page gets the majority of initial page views on a site. Citing research from Jakob Nielsen, he writes that interior pages now account for "60 percent of the initial page views" on the web. This is due to the fact that search engines and RSS feeds help to guide users directly to the content they are seeking, rather than everyone entering through the home page of the site. Boag believes that this percentage will continue to increase in the future.
Given this, I really like the idea that Boag proposes of starting the design process with an interior page, rather than the home page. In his words:
"It seems to have become standard operating procedure for us as web designers to start look and feel development with the homepage. But starting with the homepage might not be the wisest move. Instead consider beginning the design process by developing lower level pages such as a standard text page. Not only do these account for 60 percent of initial page views they also make up the majority of pages on the site. And, more importantly, they don’t attract the same degree of opinions as the homepage."
I think this makes a lot of sense and is worthy of consideration. I know that on most projects I've been involved with, defining the home page content and setting out a home page design is always the first task, with the interior page design becoming a quick afterthought. Why not focus first on the internals? He makes a good case.
I hope you'll take a read through this article and see what you think. I'd love to hear your opinions as well.
Posted on
Tue, August 14, 2007
by Tim Wall