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Hi Jodi,

In my experience designing homepages for web applications, there have
been two perspectives -

User's
The user would simply prefer a dumbed down version, ie, just the
username/password/any other validation requirements - followed by
OK/CANCEL actions.

Client's
Well, this often goes contrarywise - the client would mostly like to
see a colourful splash on the homepage. Though for an application
that's used frequently by a user, this kinda splash seems more like an
obstacle before getting on to the real thing.

Now, the colourful splashy homepage makes sense only when -

1. You're selling the product online, so need to do some hardsell on
the homepage - so as to sufficiently encourage user to come hither
2. There's a real value add - such as a useful Tip o' the day, an
update, other means you could think of.

In most cases, the product is not exactly 'searching for a customer
online' - all the selling hapens in the real world - so you could
safely opt for either the dumbed down version, or an attractive
homepage with a real value add.

Hope this has helped. Let me know, I could send you samples of both
types.

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