Re: Front Pages

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to give my two cents on the subject of splash screens. IMO...

Generally speaking, splash screens serve no purpose and I would almost
always recommend against them. In fact, with a recent client I convinced
them to remove a splash screen that already existed. In another example, at
GTE's web site we were asked to add a splash screen to emphasize a new
branding campaign they were running. It only ran for a week, served its
brief purpose and then disappeared. (Note: I recommended they never put the
thing up, but they pay the bills.) ;)

But, that doesn't mean it never has a purpose. In corporate, functional and
informative sites, which consist of the majority of sites out there, they
are usually bad. But in some entertainment sites and most 'artsy' sites,
they are allowed some creative freedom that allows for splash screens.

Just my opinion.

Zach Shewmaker
GTE Internetworking

At 09:14 PM 8/27/98 -0700, Kynn Bartlett wrote:
>You'll notice that NONE of the major websites, including those for
>magazines, use a "cover page" or "splash page".  You don't go to
>Yahoo and have to download a 35K image before viewing the site,
>nor do you have to see a "cover" to cnn.com.
>
>In fact -- the 60 Minutes website doesn't have a cover, either! :)
>
>>And inasfar as bookmarking the content page goes, that's fine
>>with me. They would have already read and understood the warning page.
And as for
>>the splash page, I'd say by that time it would have already fulfilled its
>>purpose. The reader would have already understood the mood of the page,
and the
>>cover story and issue information are included in the content page itself!
>
>Then what point at all is there for the splash page?
>
>Your contents page set the style well enough anyway; believe me,
>few people really want to see a pointless graphic, just to be
>put in the "right frame of mind".
>
>--
>Kynn Bartlett  <kynn(at)idyllmtn.com>             http://www.idyllmtn.com/~kynn/
>Chief Technologist & Co-Owner, Idyll Mountain Internet; Fullerton, California
>For your user-defined stylesheet: .GeoBranding { display: none ! important; }
>
>

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