Chapter 12. Home Page Tips and Tricks
WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?
Defining the home page
Using the Front Page Manager and Front Page Blog Layout
Creating your home page in an article
Steve Krug, in his must-read book, Don't Make Me Think!, says the home page is beyond your control. Every department and division wants a piece of it, preferably near the top and in an eye-catching way.
Despite the requests from all sides, your mission is to make the home page clear and concise. What exactly is this site, and why does it exist? What does it want from the visitor, or what does it want to do for the visitor? Why is this site better than the other guy's? All of this information must be communicated quickly and cleanly on the home page.
Clients often ask for news tickers, slide shows, photo carousels, Flash movies, and other things that blink and spin and move. They ask for blurbs for the latest news, the latest award, or the latest press release. They are so busy adding all this "interactivity" to keep the home page "fresh" that they forget about the basic message the home page should send.
Who is this company or organization? Often this is communicated non-verbally via color and layout as clearly as a blurb about the company background. A site with rainbow bars and little construction men promising pages coming soon communicate something very different than a site with clean lines, concise text, and a few well-placed photos.
What will this site do for me, the visitor? Perhaps the site offers a service ...
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