I’m working on a site redesign, so I’m reviewing a lot of other Web sites’ designs right now, and re-reading Nielson & Tahir’s Homepage Usability, and here’s what I notice about the state of Web design:
We’re all trying to be Amazon. Or Yahoo, or CNN, or any of the other 800-pound gorillas in the Web world.
Their Home Pages are busy. There are many categories and features, lots of content, fancy (but potentially confusing) widgets such as wishlists and “the page you made.”
Sorta like walking into a store and having salespeople from every department shouting at you — all at once.
Now, Amazon’s big — more like a mall, these days. Many of their visitors, I would imagine, are repeat visitors. So what if there’s a learning curve to their site? Maybe I’ll stick with it until I figure out what to do, maybe I’ll come back later and try again — but at least I’ll be back. They can afford to be complex.
I can’t. I’ve got to be concerned about first impressions, and I can’t afford distractions. The first thing they see has got to be, “here’s what do we do, and click here to get started.”
So lately I’m looking for single-screen Home Pages, with prominent taglines, central navigation, and task-based layouts. I don’t know if that’s what the chic designers are doing, but for small and lesser-known companies, I think it’s a good idea.