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How to Fight the Home Page Creep
Scenario: You have worked
many hours (weeks even) planning, designing and building a
wonderful Website. The entire organization (or whatever) is
extremely pleased with the results. You and your team are
preparing to take the site live very soon and then the inevitable
question is finally asked. "Why is my department (or
something similar) not linked on the home page? I need a link!"
Welcome to Home Page Creep.
HPC is a fact of Web site construction.
More importantly it rears its ugly head more often after the
site has been live for a while. If you not only create the
site but also have to maintain it then HPC has undoubtedly
become an issue at one time or another. While it starts out
innocently with legitimate questions it too often ends up
cluttering the home page with numerous links, graphics and
(gasp) a proliferation of banner ads.
The fact is that the home page of any site
is the most visible and trafficked page so it gets the most
attention. It often drives the entire site traffic depending
on how well (or poorly) it is constructed. This fact causes
the members or interested parties of any organization to view
the home page as "prime real estate" while the rest
of the site is viewed as the equivalent of inner-city slums.
Each person who contributes to HPC by asking
for a prominent home page link, graphic or ad is not necessarily
the problem because there often are very legitimate reasons
for this "content" to be on the home page. Maybe
the CEO wants his biography linked on the home page because
he's a very interesting Michael Dell type person or maybe
the sales department just sold a $150,000 per month banner
ad that absolutely must be on the home page. These are good
reasons to allow a bit of HPC to happen.
There are also bad reasons and those far
outnumber the good reasons but the bad reasons are self-evident
and if not totally self-evident they will be by the end of
this article.
Examples
Home Page Creep is happening
everywhere, not just in your neighborhood. Here are a couple
of examples of sites that have suffered the blight of HPC.
Some have suffered more than others. (This is in no way
a criticism of these sites, just an observation.)
Why is HPC bad?
Home Page Creep is bad for
a few reasons. First, it causes obvious usability issues because
the home page can become so cluttered that the actual content
will be harder to find and use. If your site is a "destination
spot" then maybe the visitor will spend the time to find
the relevant information but usually visitors become frustrated
with all the clutter and choose another site to visit.
Second, the navigation can often suffer
especially with the "link" aspect of HPC. If the
site is extremely wide (meaning there are many categories
that are pretty much equal in importance) or if it's extremely
deep (meaning there are sub-categories of sub-categories)
then it can be very tempting to just put ALL the links on
the home page. For a news site this may mean that along with
sports being a part of the primary navigation the Jr. League
Baseball section wants to be linked on the home page as well
to avoid the "multiple click" issue. Everyone wants
to be only one or two clicks from the home page and dread
having their interests relegated to a sub-section that is
4-5 clicks away.
However, many of these multi-click sub-section
fears are unfounded because a well organized and logically
constructed site will make those 4-5 clicks a complete no-brainer.
The sacrifice of adding all these sub-sections to the home
page is again, basic usability. With 40-75 links to choose
from it becomes overwhelming to the visitor and he will often
"give up" and move on to something else.
Thirdly, adding graphics and ads is not
always bad but it must be done in moderation. The result of
too many graphics and ads is a site that screams, "Ignore
Me!" Most Web surfers have been "trained" to
ignore banner ads (which is why the have become bigger and
more intrusive on the content) so if your home page is filled
with banner ads and graphics much of the content will be ignored.
Also, a wide variety of graphics (different styles, colors,
fonts, etc.) tends to make the home page look like a quilt
and destroys any sort of continuity developed by the original
design.
There are other reasons why HPC is bad
but the three listed above are at the top of the transgression
list.
How to Fight HPC
So you know that HPC happens
and that it's bad and you may have experienced it first hand
but you may be asking, "how do I prevent it?" Well,
this is a very good question and there is no simple answer.
Often it becomes a matter of position. You work for Mr. Owner
and he likes the home page filled with graphics, ads, links
and such so you better shut up. If this is the case it might
be good to occasionally offer gentle suggestions and provide
examples of similarly successful sites with less HPC. He'll
come around eventually and if he doesn't then you'll probably
exit that position before long anyway.
Assuming that you are like most people
and there is some sort of intelligent communication in your
organization then these simple methods will help in your fight
against HPC:
- Establish strict rules
This is often the easiest and most effective solution while
being the hardest to get approved and enforced. A strict
rule would be "absolutely no ads on the home page"
or "the only links on the home page will be navigation
links." Sites that are driven by ad revenue instead
of product sales or donations are harder to implement this
sort of strict rules method. A site like Adobe.com
can do this while the WashingtonPost.com
will never be able to have such strict rules. They both
have rules I'm sure, just one is a bit stricter than the
other.
- Plan for HPC
You know HPC is going to happen so make a plan. Develop
sections or chunks of home page real estate that can easily
and effectively handle HPC. Maybe a box on the right of
the page that will house 3 rotating ads. Or maybe a "featured
link" spot in the middle of the page to promote those
hidden site sections. Be inventive and if it doesn't work,
try something else.
- Fight for your rights
Simply say no to "the Man" and tell him that he
is wrong and that he does not need that graphic on the home
page. This is like a strict rule but it's less productive.
When employing this method you must be prepared to fight
hard and to lose. When you do lose, don't be a sore loser.
- Create a consolation HPC compromise
If 6 people want different ads on the home page you could
maybe find a compromise by creating one link to a page with
all six ads. A marketplace or advertisers section works
well on many sites. Also, create drop down menus if the
link must be on the home page but you don't want it to crowd
the real estate.
- If you can't beat them, join them
When you realize that HPC is bound to happen and can't be
prevented then work on making it less problematic. Try to
"style" the elements of HPC to better represent
the overall site design. If you have an ad try to make the
ad blend in with your current color scheme. Try to use similar
treatment on the type. Be innovative. This can be the most
discouraging part of maintaining a site so don't give up,
simply be creative.
Conclusion
Hopefully with some common
sense, planning and a bit of spunk we can work together to
reduce, if not eliminate, the HPC plague that infects far
too many Websites.
Thanks to ALA
and Hal
Helms for the Home Page Creep inspiration.
Recommended reading:
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