Top Ten Guideline for Homepage Usability

1. Top Ten Guideline for Homepage Usability Guannan Liu EN393

2. Homepages • The most valuable real estate in the world • Face to the world • Improve business revenues • The most important page on most websites • Invest millions of dollars on website.

3. Explain Who You Are and What You Do • Include a One-Sentence Tagline • Summarizes what the site or company does • Write a Window Title with Good Visibility in Search Engines and Bookmark Lists • Begin the TITLE Tag with the company name, followed by a brief description of the site. • Group all Corporate Information in on Distinct Area • Support recruiting, investor relations • Increase a new or lesser-know company’s credibility

4. Help Users Find What They Need • Emphasize the Site’s Top High-Priority Tasks • Homepage should offer users a clear starting point for the main one to four tasks they will undertake when visiting your site. • Include a Search Input Box • An important part of any big website.

5. Reveal Site Content • Show Examples of Real Site Content • Don’t just describe what lies beneath the homepage • Specifics beat abstractions • Show some of your best or most recent content • Begin Link Names with the Most Important Keyword • The action items on a homepage • A common violation: to start all links with the company name, which adds little value and impairs users' ability to quickly find what they need. • Offer Easy Access to Recent Homepages Features • Help users locate key items • Keep a short list of recent features on the homepages

6. Use Visual Design to Enhance, not Define, Interaction Design • Don’t Over-Format Critical Content • User often dismiss graphics as ads, and focus on the part of the homepage that look more likely to be useful • Use Meaningful Graphics • Do not just decorate the page with stock art. Images are powerful communicators when they show items of interest to users, but will backfire if they seem frivolous or irrelevant.