The Home Page Versus Interior Pages - Page 7

The most prominent design element on the home page should be the name of the company or the site. The name does not necessarily have to be the biggest design element, but at least it should be in the upper-left corner of the screen or some other place where it is easy to spot. Additionally, the site name should be repeated on all interior pages because users may enter the site at any page, not just the home page. People who come from search engines or who follow links from other sites need a clear and simple way to tell at what site they have arrived. At the same time, interior pages need to focus more on specific content and less on providing a general welcome statement or an overview of the site. These two goals should be reserved for the home page.

There is a conflict between the need to accommodate people who may enter at any page and the need to restrain general information and top-level navigation aides to the home page. The resolution to this problem depends on how often you expect people to enter the site on low-level pages, and on how distinct and famous your site is. If the site is instantly recognizable to most users, then don't bother putting a lot of general jazz on the interior pages. Simply have a single, consistent link to the home page from every page. I recommend placing this link in the upper-left corner of the page, which is also the preferred placement of the site name and/or logo. Of course, sites in languages that are read right-to-left should use the upper-right corner of the page for this purpose.

The important point is to make the home page into a landmark that is accessible in one click from any interior pages on the site, no matter how people entered. On all interior pages, the logo should be clickable and linked to the home page. Unfortunately, not all users understand the use of the logo as a link to the home page, and it will take a while until this convention is fully established. So for the next few years, it will also be necessary to have an explicit link named "home" on every page.

Sites that are less recognizable may need to provide a small amount of additional identification on every page. They should also make their name or logo larger than needed on more famous sites.

Deep Linking

It is an erroneous strategy to force users to enter the site on the home page. So-called deep linking enables other sites to point users to the exact spot on your site that is of interest to those users. A website is like a house with a thousand doors: lots of ways to enter. A very welcoming place, indeed.

With a single front door and all other entry points locked, users will be dumped at the home page without really understanding how your site relates to their goals or their departure point. This is true because the home page can never be as specific or helpful to a particular problem as the actual page that describes the product or answers the question. One point against you. Then, you force users to learn your navigation system and the quirks and conventions of your site before they can get to the place they want to go. Second point against you. Any new customers left at this point? Probably not.

Much better to allow deep links. In fact, you should encourage deep links, which is what the affiliates programs in e-commerce are about.

An affiliates program is a way to pay for inbound traffic. If Site A links to Site B, then B will pay a small referral fee for those users who follow the link. Most current affiliates programs pay commissions only for users who end up buying something on the destination site, but in principle it would be possible to have a layered commission structure and pay more for users who actually purchase and less for users who simply visit but don't buy anything (under the theory that they may return later and buy something).

Metaphor

Metaphor is sometimes overused in web design. Maybe the greatest weakness of metaphors is that they seem to entice designers to be overly clever and push the site in directions that seem fun and appropriate within the metaphor but leave users' real goals behind. Users don't live in the metaphor world; they live in the real world.

That being the case, it is usually better to be very literal and describe each interface element for what it is and what it does rather than trying to make everything fit into a single metaphor.

This said, metaphor can be useful for two reasons. First, metaphor can provide a unifying framework for the design that will make it feel like more than a collection of individual items. Second, metaphor can facilitate learning by allowing users to draw upon the knowledge they already have about the reference system.

For example, using a "shopping cart" metaphor for e-commerce immediately makes users understand the basic functionality. You can place products in the shopping cart where they are kept ready for purchase but have not been bought. You can place multiple products in the same shopping cart. You can remove items from the shopping cart as long as you have not yet paid. And you can take the shopping cart to the checkout line.

Shopping carts also highlight the weaknesses of metaphor. Knowledge of the reference system would indicate to users that the way to buy five copies of something is to repeat the action of placing a single item in the cart five times over. Also, the way to remove objects from the shopping cart would be to place them back on the shelf. In contrast, most e-commerce shopping carts allow users to edit the number of an item they want to buy and to remove an item by buying zero copies. This latter action is a well-known usability problem and is often done wrong.

Splash Screens Must Die - Page 6
Designing Web Usability
Metaphors - Page 8