The homepage design best reflects the level of the web designer

In the many projects I have worked on, there is basically a vicious circle that cannot be avoided - the homepage is difficult to design. According to the schedule, the homepage must be released on time, otherwise it cannot be reviewed or tested. Therefore, the homepage can only be continuously redesigned in subsequent work. And I found that the homepage adjustment is often not complete until the entire product is completed.

Think carefully, why does a website need a homepage? Because content needs to be indexed and tasks need an entry. From any angle, the homepage is the center point of the entire system, and any move it makes will affect the entire system. Perhaps, this topic needs to be expanded to the revision level.

Six years ago, in order to earn some pocket money, I often received private work like "redesigning the homepage of XX website". All that can be done is to adjust the layout and sections according to the existing content, optimize the fonts, line spacing and other minor issues that now seem to be purely in the scope of "information design". Although he has not received professional training, he combines his professional knowledge with personal aesthetics, and does a better job than many "designers".

Four years ago, I was working on an interactive entertainment portal in the industry and underwent three major revisions within three months. The result is getting worse each time. I think the key reason is that you shouldn’t change the homepage first. Changing the homepage can indeed easily create "political achievements", but frequent changes are a disaster for users, who may even think they have gone to the wrong place or that something has happened to the website.

Any revision will cause data shocks. This is because users may not be suited to the new version for a short period of time due to user habits. But if it is a good revision, the data should be restored within two weeks, and a gradual improvement trend should be seen. The content on the homepage should be sufficient rather than excessive. It is always better to supplement it slowly than to go back and forth. Avoid setting "norms" based on preconceived ideas. For the specific reasons, please refer to the point in the comparison hint: "When making major changes, users will focus on which changes are good; when making minor changes, users will pay more attention to which changes still need to be made."

Therefore, the lighter the revision, the smaller the noise, and the less impact it will have on users. The whole site revision should follow the "bottom-up" principle, starting with the most basic functions of the structure and ending with the homepage; the single-page revision should follow the "inside-out" principle, starting with the smallest module at the innermost part of the structure and ending with the page layout. The following viewpoints are familiar to everyone, but the old ideas are not completely wrong:

“Once the style of the homepage is decided, the whole site will be easy to build.”

Is that so? Not at all. But this starting point makes the mistake of being "style-centric". Because what users want first is not style, but information and content. The content that needs to be placed on the homepage must be extracted from the various subordinate organizational units. The life cycle of a homepage that is created under the premise that the entire information structure is not solid can be imagined.

“The homepage is the first page users see, so it can’t be taken lightly.”

Is that so? Not necessarily. It needs to be analyzed specifically according to different types of products. For example, for news and information websites that take the media route, and department store websites that take the business route, the homepage is very important, but most of the visits will definitely come from the bottom-level content and product information pages. The products that provide services are different. For example, for a private email account, the most important thing is definitely the login on the homepage.

“The homepage design best reflects the level of the web designer.”

Is that so? Indeed. Because the prerequisite for a good homepage is to do a good job on the entire site. At the same time, the designer must accurately grasp the communication points and guide the flow of different task behaviors. The homepage is just a nickname for the default entry page, just like the tradition of calling it index and default, but different types of products need to highlight different focuses. For example, should the login box be placed directly on the homepage, or just linked to it? Specific situations require specific analysis. For example, I stubbornly believe that a direct introduction is the best homepage for a personal website, and there is no need to add "about" myself.