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A home page is a website’s first page, but splash pages are declining in popularity. They can showcase work, offer functions, updates, and ads, but visitors may find them annoying. Search engines may also have difficulty indexing them. It’s important to make it clear how to access the website.
A home page, or home screen, is a website’s “welcome” page. It’s the first page a visitor sees when visiting a website, so it’s an opportunity to make a quick first impression. Not all websites have a home page; in fact, splash pages are declining in popularity because they tend to be a hindrance to a site rather than adding to functionality.
A splash page is usually a way of introducing visitors to your site. The page may or may not be animated and play music, but there is usually a graphic of some “welcome” or “join here” type. For a designer, this is an easy way to showcase a particular work. The site visitor can then click on the image to enter the actual website.
Splash pages can also perform real functions. The page might detail the optimal browser requirements for viewing the website, or offer the ability to choose which version of a website you want to view. There may be a text-only version or a flash or non-flash version. A home page could also allow you to choose your language and region or provide a notice or disclaimer about the website. Important updates to the website may also be posted on a home page where they can be easily viewed. Finally, a home page could be a place for advertisements.
For all these reasons, it seems that a splash page can be very beneficial for your website. However, many site visitors are annoyed by splash pages and will end up closing their browser or exiting the site if they can’t immediately ignore the page to access the actual website. Frequent visitors may not want to see the same information or animation every time they visit the site, so it is important to provide a way for visitors to skip any media that may be playing automatically and allow them access to the website.
Another problem that may occur when using a start page is that since there is virtually no content on the index page of your website, search engines may have a hard time indexing the page. Search engines could then skip your website completely, which would obviously be a problem. If you choose to use a start page, it’s important to make it clear how to access the website – your site visitors don’t want to guess and in most cases won’t spend much time trying to figure it out.
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