There’s nothing tougher than staring at a blank piece of paper – Hemingway called it the ‘White Bull’. Suddenly, you forget what it was you wanted to write – and can only vaguely remember an outline of what you wanted to do. It’s like that with a Homepage
So, the important thing to do when thinking about your Homepage is to remember the key things it has to do, and the key features it has to have. And just to make life that little bit easier, here’s a list of some of them:
- ‘What we do’
- A site’s Homepage should clearly communicate what it is that the site is for (i.e. the business you are in – what you sell, etc.). We’re talking about a large strap-line in the middle of the screen here – don’t go subtle, go obvious. Obviously, the strapline should be as concise and informative as possible, but it should be the first thing people see when they visit the site.
- Structure
- A lot of the Homepages on the Web look a mess with lots of different colours and no clear sense of structure. This makes the page look ugly and doesn’t lead the user’s eye in any particular direction. Designers have a trick of designing to a grid structure. The human eye likes symmetry and balance, so think grid, think big basic blocks – think simple and structured.
- Navigation
- Presenting your site’s navigation on the Homepage will allow users to get a good feel for the range of information on your site.
- Search
- Your Homepage should have a ‘Search’ function. This should be a text-entry field with a ‘Go’ or ‘Search’ button. Why force people to browse your site if they know what they want?! Let them find the information/product quicker and they just might buy/contact you quicker!
- Contact Us
- Put your contact details on the Homepage – not a link to the details, the actual details themselves. We’re talking phone number and email address at the very least. If someone wants to contact your company, why make it hard to find the details?!
…and that is how you build a Homepage – easy!