[Sigia-l] landing page vs. no landing page

[Andrew Boyd]

Hi Hilary,

I have used lead-in pages to 'consistentise' site structure quite often. 
The text doesn't have to be fluff - it can be a valuable summary of the 
pages to come, such that the end user knows what is coming, and can 
decide whether it is worth their while clicking through or not. I don't 
want to start another heated definitional argument, but if IA isn't 
about getting end users to the information that they need (or think they 
need), then what is its use? :)

This works in much the same way as stem sentances on bulleted lists - 
they help the end user to retain context.

I can't quote research on this, perhaps someone else can, this is just 
what has worked for me and the rest of the team over a period of years 
(regardless of navigation mechanism).

Cheers, Andrew

Hilary Marsh wrote:

> I hope it's okay that I ask a pedantic question. I'm not an IA, but 
> sometimes on small projects do IA work in addition to my usual content 
> strategy and management services.
>
> I'm working on the website for a nonprofit organization. The 
> organization's current site uses rollovers, so the user sees the 
> top-level nav categories but can only go to the second-level content. 
> (I.e., the top-level category is "areas of interest" and when you 
> mouse over that, you see the areas -- arts, environment, etc. -- 
> "areas" is not a link but the things under it are.)
>
> One category -- "about us," of course -- has a page labeled 
> "introduction," which is effectively the landing page for that 
> section. It's the only section that has such a page. (And why is 
> "about us" always the problem-child section, anyway? I've encountered 
> this on almost every site I've worked on.)
>
> I usually try to make navigation consistent, in that sections either 
> have landing pages -- which often requires writing static fluff 
> content that no one reads or cares about -- or not have them -- which 
> results in the occasional "introduction" page.
>
> How do you all feel about this? I look forward to your input.
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Hilary
>


-- 
_________________________________________
Andrew Boyd 
Business Development Manager
Daily Basis P/L
Phone 02 6282 9797 or 02 4885 1357
Mobile 0412 641 074
Email andrew at dailybasis.com.au
or andrew_db at bigpond.com
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