What should be the main page of the web application?

Question

Web application development, how do you design your homepage? By this, I mean the page displayed to the user after entering the base url, for example http://www.foo.com .

It probably depends on the website, but ...

• stackoverflow welcomes us with a list of questions, not silly what a stackoverflow landing page is,
• last.fm is a kind of dashboard, very popular lately, a kind of personalized landing page for registered users.
• google welcomes us using the search box, but iGoogle I have a completely different story - it looks perfect for everyone (well, actually this is the point).

Another thing is if the user is logged in (provided that the website supports logging in), should we present him with different content, and then some new random input? And I do not mean any personalized content, but something completely different, for example, its user profile instead of the main page?

From one point of view, these can be good registered users, as a rule, they know our site and receive a special greeting as soon as they return. On the other hand, this can cause problems - when I show the site to a friend, he goes there from his computer and sees something completely different. Another thing is when I show my friend http://www.foo.com and he takes me directly to my user profile / toolbar - this is not something that I would like to show everyone, as this may show some of my personal data etc.

What do you do when developing your web applications? What, in your opinion, is best from the point of view of the user to worry about what a website looking for different for registered and unregistered users does or does not make any sense? (Again, I do not mean small differences, for example, register a huge link hidden now ), but showing a completely different look).

Answer 1

It really depends on the focus of your application, but if you generalized, I would say, identify one or two of the most important paths in your application and focus on them.

• Registering is probably something you want to drive more differently, so make it clear how users can Register and get involved.

• Making existing users accessible is easy.

• Consider the amount of text that you have on the main page and reduce and combine it as much as possible. Keep messages and information, pass here as concise as possible.

• Immediately provide some content showing what your application or site provides. Do not force users to follow the link to access the basic functionality of your site immediately, for example. if you are building an auction site, ensure the availability of listings on the main page.

• Think about your audience. If your site is not technical, the less user interface elements you present better. A site-like portal with lots of features and information can be confusing and overwhelming for many non-technical users.

• Clarify how users can get help if they require it.

Answer 2

Not knowing the business area of ​​your site, then it will be difficult to answer this question, but ...

You should send the user to the main stream of your site as soon as possible, and the home page is the best place for this.

If you are an online store, start showing off your products. If you are a search engine, give the user the opportunity to search. If you are a blog / news site, show the user the latest news.

Yes - it’s better to make an experience for the registered user / registered user (show them their news, show them their recommended products, etc.), but the purpose of your site should be obvious and accessible from this home page. As soon as possible, launch your users into your stream and accept new users on your site, showing them the meat of your site.

There are many places that discuss good web design, making your website sticky, etc. Check out SmashingMagazine.com (this is one such site), but there are many others.

Oh, and remember that there is a very important user of your homepage that you need to host - search engines. Make their life easy, make your content accessible and indexable, and get people to your site through Search.

Answer 3

What I found best for me is the role-playing game for end users.

When they initially get to your site, what do they most want to see or, in other words, what are they most likely to look for and want to do?

I work on many intranet sites for a very large company, and I found out that the home page with detailed information about the site and what it does is useless, and therefore, my end users just skip this to get to the pages, which they really need. So, my strategy is usually on the home page, which allows them to get right to the point and what they do there.

BUT, this is only for the sites that I create. I think it completely depends on your target market and what they want to do.

Answer 4

For the most part, the visitor landing on your page already knows the essence of your application, so there is no need to explain in detail what you are doing. Instead, show them that you have the information they are looking for. Screenshots and screencasts are becoming popular these days as a means to transition to a limited user.

For registered users, I would recommend transferring them directly to the main page of the application, and not to the home page (if the main page is not the main page). For many applications, this is a dashboard (Flickr, Basecamp, Campaign Monitor). If the main goal of your application is the home page, you can show them a personalized version of this page (think Google against iGoogle).

With all of this in mind, it really depends on what you are building. Each application is different, and there is no right way to do this - only conventions that work for most.

Answer 5

I would start by looking at the type of tasks that can be performed inside your web application, what is important? What matters when they are a new user? What is important when they are repeaters? which is important when they have not registered yet.

Although all these things happen on the same page, you probably need to define different states. for example, if the user is on the main page and is not logged in, we must ask them to log in and register.

Perhaps see also Personas , so you can determine exactly who will use the application and what is associated with them.

Answer 6

This should be all that makes sense for the application, and it should be verified by testing the application with a group of expected users.

Answer 7

The first user should be provided on the main page with sufficient visual and / or written information to understand what the application is. They should have some idea of ​​what actions they can take to interact with the application, and what the results of these actions may be.

Answer 8

I know that people hate this answer in stackoverflow, but there is only one way to find out what is most suitable for your users - you need to brainstorm ideas with potential users, or at least you ask them.

I do not suggest that you do a focus group or put an erroneous survey (none of these things work). Rather, I suggest you go out and talk with people who will potentially be in your target users, and plan games with them (for example, sorting cards) or go out and do some user tests using paper prototypes.

Anything else guesses.