What's your opinion of splash pages?

[Beverleyh]

I'm starting this thread because I've just been pulled into a web-conversation after its happened - a conversation where other (non-web) staff think its a really good idea to have a splash page because it looks like a jazzy and interesting way to enter a site, without fully understanding the potential ramifications on the site OR my workload.

I wont go into what my reply email was in full but here's my basic opinion;

"Personally, I view splash screens like dirty cobwebs hanging across a doorway - when I open a door, I want to walk inside and go straight to what I want - I dont want to be greeted with a dirty great cobweb plastered across my face, that I have to bat out of the way to walk over the threshhold. It taints my opinion of a site before I've even started looking at what else is on offer."

A website should have enough interesting content and logical navigation anyway, without relying on a fancy bit of flash as an intro page....

What are your views?

[djr33]

Following your metaphor, I'm not sure if I'd go as far as saying they're "dirty" but they can be annoying and certainly are busy/crowded. But that's not always a bad thing.

I think the question is the problem. It's like asking "Is Flash good on websites?" without a specific website as context. Obviously Flash can be annoying-- we've all seen it, and for some of us it's a reason to "dislike Flash" (me included sometimes), but that doesn't fairly apply to all situations. There are other times that Flash is a great addition to a site. (I'm not trying to start a tangent about discussing Flash, but to me it's parallel.)

In other words, for some sites a splash page is good. For others, it's annoying. And it may also depend on how the site is used and by whom. For example, for my first visit to a new site, a splash page can be a good introduction. For my 100th visit, it can be annoying.

One thing I would highly recommend against is a "true" splash page with no navigation, just a "skip intro" button. Those are annoying. Sometimes they can be helpful for an introduction, but more often than not they get in the way.

So what I prefer is a stylized navigation page, a sort of visual home page. (Do you also have a true text-based home page? How does it fit in with the rest of the site? Up to you.)

In conclusion, when used because they make sense for a site (not because they're "cool"), they can be helpful. Non-web designers (clients) will tend to want to use splash screens more than they should. But that doesn't mean that they're always wrong-- just sometimes wrong. So discuss it and see if it does make sense in the particular situation. Also remember the audience. If it's for web designers, then web designers matter. If it's not, then I don't see why a web designer's opinion (outside of technical issues) would be relevant.

Why is it difficult to design a splash page? I don't see any major technical problems, unless you are trying to hide it except on first visit, and/or perhaps how complicated the graphics are supposed to be.


I thought there was a long and similarly-titled discussion about this topic here, but now I can't find it. If you can find that, you'll have lots of information on the subject.

[Beverleyh]

Thanks Daniel - I'll have a look for that thread later.

I enjoyed reading your reply. Of course you covered all aspects with a much more thoughtful and thorough sentiment than I me - My comments were coloured by the "so, you're giving me more work?" argument rather than by difficulty - ha, ha.
(that argument has more standing from a volunteer webmaster, as I am for this particular project)

For me, the only kind of sites where I "forgive" splash screens are the ones where they direct you to sub-sites/sub-area that are too large to be contained in the one domain - like an education site might have a landing page to direct students to student related content and teachers to teaching resources - or where a site is broken down into information, shop and blog, etc.

For this particular project the aim of the suggested splash page would be to draw attention to the latest update/event, but as the home page already includes a newsfeed for latest events and an additional announcements block feeding in from a forum (also covering latest events), I think this is just another (and uneccessary?) way of serving the same content in a hindering fashion.

Now, I have no objection to integrating something like this into the actual homepage: http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamici...tabcontent.htm (with auto-slideshow enabled) but thats another topic

[djr33]

That makes sense. More work is a different argument but I completely understand.

I think "landing" is a better word forthe kind of splash page I like. A sort of simple visual homepage. In fact in general I like simpler more visual homepages.

[molendijk]

Beverleyh, I'm with you, unconditionally, entirely.
Splash pages / flash intros: childish most of the time, and a usability disease.
---
Arie Molendijk.

[DuncanCox]

hey
I am totally agree with you.Splash pages gives more game oriented look. so much bright colors moving objects gives a rubbish look to your website.