Comments on: Is There a Tension Between A Link-Rich Home Page and A Home Page that Looks Good?

By: Richard Todd

Richard Todd — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 21:45:48 +0000

Two timely articles – on the link-rich home page and the quiet death or major re-launch – have now thrown a monkey-wrench into a project now underway for our website. The challenge for us, and for many like us, is that an instructional, information-rich website (espeiclaly one that has evolved piece-meal over several years) is all about users finding answers and help with as little wasted effort (on their part) as possible.

Examples with 200 links on the home page, despite what some might feel, makes a site appear overwhelming. At least, that’s true to anyone who doesn’t need the information. But if you as a user need something it should be right there in front of your face or no more than one click away.

That doesn’t mean clean design is impossible – we are currently working to remove “visual clutter” and replace it with “constructive clutter” on our home page. It is a battle between instructor and designer.

It also, inevitable is a struggle between what we’d like to do – the overhaul/redesign – and what we should do – gradually make the site better and better for our users.

I wonder whether there is not merit in gradually making content and navigation in stages (not just color changes). It requires having the ultimate template in mind, plus the added effort of transitional stages.

By: Josh LaMar

Josh LaMar — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 21:25:27 +0000

An interesting observation: The three “good” examples Jared mentions (Veritas, Analog Devices and NYT as well as Craigslist) all have links without the famous blue underlines.

Perhaps getting rid of the underlines helps make the page more classy and less unwieldy.

(See http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2006/07/05/do-links-need-underlines/ for more info)

By: Daniel Szuc

Daniel Szuc — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 03:57:50 +0000

Perhaps with AJAX there are now opportunities to reveal underlying structures through transitions without even having to leave the Home Page?

However, the question still remains – is there a need for large information structures in the first place?

I wonder if a company will ever bite the bullet and say its THIS we want to do via our web channel, do it really well and NO more. Perhaps there are companies that have done this already?

By: Peter Flaschner

Peter Flaschner — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 20:30:18 +0000

This is a very interesting topic. I make my living designing blogs, so I’ve spent a great deal of time considering how to make link-rich pages effective and elegant. I’m wildly self-serving in saying this, but I do think that training and skill as a designer, as well as a strong intuitive sense are needed to find that balance – or at least to do it repeatedly.

Thanks for a terrific article.

By: Yuri

Yuri — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 09:03:15 +0000

Thinking that less links is better is simply ego-centristic. If you think of your customers, you’d rather go with more links to important pieces of content.