Re: Front Pages

At 04:13 p.m. 08/27/98 -0500, Chuck McGee, Jr. wrote:
>I don't think that it is right or wrong when contemplating the use of a
>splash page.  It's circumstantial.

I disagree.

>My opinion is that it reminds me of a book with a cover, or a storefront
>with the sign on the outside, or a welcome mat on the front door of your
>house ... all of these examples are before you walk in.  Similar to
>visiting a website.  You may be welcomed in some instances, informed of
>your location in others, or even redirected to another location ... to name
>but a few.

No, this is the wrong metaphor for the web.  By the time you see
the splashpage, you're already _at_ the site; you've already
decided to come in or open the book.

All the splash page does is make your page that much slower to
use, and gives the user even more chances to leave your site
before finding content.  Splash pages are pointless and worth-
less; a web site should simply get right to "the point" of
whatever the web surfer is looking for, instead of making them
wait for some useless graphic to use.

It's as if, once you got in the door of your store, you were
confronted with a blank hallway and a long line of people waiting
to enter the store.  There's a reason that stores, once you get
inside, show you their content.  The same holds true on the web
-- once someone's there, you don't want to make them wait through
another click-through or page load, to see what you've got.


--
Kynn Bartlett  <kynn(at)idyllmtn.com>             http://www.idyllmtn.com/~kynn/
Chief Technologist & Co-Owner, Idyll Mountain Internet; Fullerton, California
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