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Designing home pages
One of the main functions of a home page is to provide users with an overview of the content and resources on offer. Generally, home pages should present users with the top levels of the information hierarchy (for faculties and sub-brands, some of this might be included in the global navigation bar). A set of quicklinks is sometimes used on home pages to allow users easy access to popular resources. Home pages may also include feature content (e.g. promotions, expos, open days) and news items that are updated regularly.
Guidelines for home page design:
- use home page screen real estate wisely; give centre stage to navigation
- avoid filling the centre of the screen with welcome messages, mission statements or other content that might be read only once, if at all
- aim for a distinct layout so users will easily recognise when they are on the home page
- do not copy the design of the Monash University home page
- home pages should not have left hand column section navigation.
Example of good home page navigation design
The Monash home page devotes most of the screen real estate to showing users the content available on the site.
See also
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