Re: Splash Pages [was Front Pages]

At 03:43 p.m. 08/28/98 +0000, Mic Miller wrote:
>Kynn Bartlett wrote:
>> Why not just simply redirect them without loading a picture?  Why
>> load an extra 35K image just to redirect someone?
>I don't know who you are confusing me with, but I never mentioned a 35K
>image.

A 35K image is what was used as an example at the beginning.

>I only use splash pages with text that flashes in a very limited
>number of seconds before the reader and then moves on.

I recently talked with a co-worker about this, at CGU.  Claremont
Graduate University recently changed its name; previously, it was
Claremont Graduate School.  The URL changed from www.cgs.edu to
www.cgu.edu as well.

My co-worker suggested, "Shouldn't we put something up, so that when
someone requests a CGS address, they get a notice telling them that
it's been moved to a CGU address?"  Something like this:

     PLEASE UPDATE YOUR BOOKMARKS

     Claremont Graduate School is now Claremont Graduate University!
     The URL you have requested,

     http://www.cgs.edu/drucker/index.html

     is now:

     <A>http://www.cgu.edu/drucker/index.html</A>

     Please update your links and bookmarks accordingly!  You will
     be taken to the new URL in 15 seconds, or you can click on the
     link above to go there immediately.

Seems sorta sensible, right, and after all, we've seen similar things
like that before, right?

Well, except for a few things:

(a) Every time I see one of those, as a user, it's annoying.  It
    takes extra time, an extra click, and makes it hard for me to
    simply go "back" when navigating -- especially if the meta
    redirect is a short duration.
(b) As a user, I probably can't affect the links to the page at
    _all_.  Most people who come to the www.cgs.edu address are
    either (1) following a link from a search engine, (2) following
    a link from another page, or (3) typing in the address
    directly, that they got from some old promotional material.
    In none of those cases can I, the user, change any links to
    page.  In 3, I might be able to grab a pen and scribble over
    the address, but really now...
(c) There are much better ways to redirect someone to the
    "correct" page.  A server-based redirect code works wonders,
    sending you from http://www.cgs.edu/whatever to cgu.edu/whatever
    transparently, without taxing the user at _all_.

Ultimately, we have to think about what best benefits the user;
what they can and can't control (such as links on third party
sites); and whether or not we want to act like _they_ have done
something wrong by using an old URL.  (Talk about "setting the
mood" before someone gets to your page!  Anything that looks like
an error message before someone even hits your site is not going
to make them a happy surfer.)

>Yeah, real funny.  All I'm saying is it's simply another way of showing
>progress / feedback (read:  "a warm, fuzzy") at a focal point (in this
>case, inside the browser's window) a typical late '90's Webhead will not
>miss.  [Come on, Kynn, the vast majority of Web readers today aren't
>Netheads from the pre-WWW, Unix-based 9-mile-long-address string daze. 
>:)  ]

The typical web user doesn't want to be shown feedback; they want
it _now_.  How many television sets display "CHANGING TO CHANNEL
7" long enough for you to be able to read it, when you press the
"channel up" button on the remote?

The average new user expects the web to function like something
she's familiar with -- and that's television.  Instant response,
instant gratification, is what newbies want.  Now, you and I know
that's hard to provide...but we can make our jobs easier by not
going out of our way to make it _less_ instant!

--
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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