How to Make a Splash
There’s only so much you can do with a website template, right? So to stand out from the crowd you need a really good splash screen.
This is an introductory page that appears before the home page of a website. Usually involving animation, sometimes film and sometimes music. The more technically impressive the splash screen, the greater the impression made upon your visitor.
And if you competitor does it. So do you.
The flaw in this reasoning is emphasized when you consider what all splash screens have in common. A “Skip Intro” link.
Expecting your visitor to watch the splash screen when they can skip it with a single click is akin to recording your favourite television show on video and then NOT fast-forwarding the adverts on playback.
Incredibly, I once found a website that had an introductory screen asking if I wanted to “view the splash screen or skip straight to the homepage?”.
They say a lawyer should never ask a question he doesn’t know the answer to. Well in this case a web designer should never ask a question he does know the answer to.
Your visitor is there to discover your content (or lack there-of). Not to watch your self-indulgent, technical showboating.
Besides, anyone with enough money can hire a techie to create a fancy splash-screen. But not everyone can create interesting, worthwhile content. That is what your visitors want. And they are in a hurry.
If your homepage is simple, clear and focused, your visitor can quickly assess what you are about and what you have to offer. Splash screens just slow access to this and often have very little to say.
But before you fall asleep, I’m not suggesting that the internet should be a dull, static, plain of existence.
Creativity is good. Just not at the expense of usability.
If you have technical wizardry available and want to use it, why not integrate this with your homepage as well.
Take a look at www.midlandhr.com/.
The homepage and splash screen are combined to good effect with a simple, one-play animation on the right-hand side. The splash screen tells you what the company is about, or it can be ignored while you check out their descriptive links.
A splash is intended to get attention, not to soak people and ruin their day.
So by all means make a splash. Just remember why you are doing it.
|
This article first appeared in The Nettle Ezine.
If you enjoyed it, why not try The Nettle Magazine at www.thenettle.com
| |
|
Learn how to make money with Google Adsense
|
