Splash Pages can be a Good Addition to Your Website
The first question a beginning web developer should ask him or herself when designing a splash page for the website is not what image to use, but should a splash page be created in the first place. A splash page is “a branding page before the home page of your Web site” (O’Rourke). While this page can be good and serve as “gateways into web content” (“Internet Marketing Glossary”), one may choose not to use a splash page. Such a page can detract from the professionalism of the site; if a person or company wants to appear professional and wants the website to portray this, a splash page can ruin this desire. To seem professional, the rule ...view middle of the document...
So if a viewer decides that, based on the splash page, he/she will continue on to view a site about politics, he/she would be upset and confused to see a site about guitars. The splash page sets the mood for the rest of the website, so designers should make sure that the appropriate mood is set. In a similar sense, the medium of the graphics on the splash site should be consistent with the medium of the graphics within the actual website. A website should have a consistent theme running throughout the website, as should the style of graphics. Taking this a step further, the graphics on a splash screen should be consistent with the graphics on the website it is linked to. To keep a consistent theme and feel, a designer should not abruptly change styles of pictures in the middle of website navigation and creation.
Another major issue to tackle is ease of the viewer to view the splash page. A splash page that contains large graphics, animations, or movies may alienate viewers with slow connections. Many computer users...