Smashing Magazine - we smash you with the information that will make your life easier. really.

Yay first to comment (well, i was when i wrote this!)

Great article guys!

Guys you’ve missed a real annoying one http://www.eweek.com/

EGA

Most of the reasons are ‘open doors’.

5: The designer informs visitors about site requirements such as used browsers, screen resolution as well as used Flash, Java, Quicktime etc. and suggests to choose the “right” configuration and download plug-ins for “optimal” site presentation.
If a user lacks Java, Quicktime etc. etc. your site should still be usable.

8 Splash page is supposed to include hints for browsing the site and explains the main sections.
If you need a splash page to explain how to navigate a site, you have some serious usability issues :). However, if you have some explaining to do, I would put that under the “Help” or “How to” section.

Love this blog/mag. Follow the RSS as soon as posted. Great tips! Keep it up guys!

We I must say apart from the odd annoying one or two, I love splash pages and the extra element of design they can add to a web site, just like the front cover of a book or an album cover.

Splash pages should be outlawed.

Another great article. One thing I didn’t see mentioned was the detriment to search engine optimization caused by splash pages. Sometimes getting clients and designers to do the right thing is (unfortunately) easier if you put it terms of SEO or lost-traffic e.g. lost opportunity.

Sorry, splash pages = a “no no” of modern web design. Dont make me sit through a flash splash page for no reason, I want information and I want it yesterday… oops, you lost me, im moving onto the next site.

Another great post…

i don’t know how many times I will write this…

;)

Another quality article from SM – but I wanted to quickly comment on some of the replies above. In SOME cases it IS necessary to have a splash page for a website. I create websites for theater companies, and when you have more than one location but only one website, and want / need to offer only relevant information to a visitor ie their local theater, the best, simplest and most user friendly way is to use a splash.

Take this site I am currently creating for a client http://www.galaxyfunplex.com. We have a splash page to choose you local theater – you have the option for the system to set a cookie to remember your location and automagically make it your “home page” the next time you visit – but once you do this, what if you move to a new house in a new area? Simple we add a message next to the welcome message near the top of the page – which takes you to the splash to choose again.

Obviously splash pages are not good, and I started creating websites when it was the CRAZE to get one – flash websites with splash pages – yuk! Still get asked for them today but refuse to do them by explaining the pit-falls to clients and making them understand – only use when NECESSARY.

Thanks again for the wonderful website SM and keep up the great reading material for all freelancers!

While I hate splash pages I find I don’t mind the language selection splash page so I can choose to view the site in a language I can read. That being said I think that there could be more information on a language splash page besides just choosing the proper language.

If you are using Firefox or Opera you’ll find out that the mouse click on “Enter” opens the main page in a new tab in your browser.

Minor quibble. This is only true if you have gone in and told Firefox or Opera to behave this way. It’s a preference to have Firefox open new windows in a new tab instead.

Interestingly, I think sites that usually have an “enter here” splash are usually created by designers originally from the print media who are maybe more used to slapping a front cover on things.

Agreed. I teach web design to undergrad graphic design majors and one of the hardest parts is teaching them to think of the web as its own medium, instead of just designing for a physical medium and adapting it to the web. It’s also self-perpetuating. The designers they like (who are primarily print designers) all use splash pages, so they feel that’s “the way to do it.”

In SOME cases it IS necessary to have a splash page for a website. I create websites for theater companies, and when you have more than one location but only one website, and want / need to offer only relevant information to a visitor ie their local theater, the best, simplest and most user friendly way is to use a splash.

Personally, I don’t consider this to be a splash page. When it performs a necessary function of the site, it’s more of a configuration utility than a splash page. As long as (and I’m sure this is the case for you), you provide a means for automatically skipping that page once it’s been configured.

An very interesting topic. To my mind, Splash pages that are used to determine a user’s technical set up are deeply suspect for 2 reasons:

1. There are perfectly viable methods for automatically working out technical set up, such as JavaScript for plug-in detection and geolocation for national / regional location. Where possible they should be tried first to make a decision on the user’s behalf. Too often, offering choices is just a sympton of lazy or inept programming.

2. The idea of asking a user to confirm something before they enter is deeply unappealing, plus a non-technical user (i.e. most of us) have no idea what plug-ins we have or what the options mean. Imagine a High Street shop that employed a dress code, or asked people to give their inside leg measurement before entering.

In particular, I question the Ice Age example, which gives the option of entering a regional territory if you are not in the US. Film Studios have a major problem in this area and this is the typical lazy and unsatisfactory result; assume you are in the US, though make the user state otherwise. Geolocation is a perfectly simple solution to this problem, where at least the site can hazard a pretty good guess at where you are in the world, whilst still giving you the option to move around.

Your list of reasons for using splash pages is a good reminder that they are not all evil. However, there is not a single instance that requires the page be Flash based. Apple uses Flash, but embedded. That seems to be a reasonable compromise. Flash only splash pages may be interesting but aren’t necessary and in most cases do more harm than good.

I have to disagree. Splash pages serve a very valuable function when implemented correctly. More often than not, companies have “invested” in a very expensive, cluttered, poorly designed website, and don’t want to change anything for fear of incurring costs. At the same time — they run advertising that is intended to inform — and hold ad agencies responsible for their sales. See the disconnect? The only workable solution is to craft a landing/splash page that matches the campaign and offers a few simple options on an otherwise impossible to navigate site. Users are happy because they find what they need, client is happy because (for sites that are sales oriented), sales go up.

nice splashs :-)

Forget splash screens… go back 5 years in time. You should have seen the number of flash intros every site had. There used to be one loading screen and a % loader showing you the loaded bytes. You wait endlessly and a there it loads after an hour, quick images which you never get to see and fast music to scare your office neighbor!

http://dharma.indviews.com

What defines a ‘Splash Page’ really?

On our current site, I have what I consider to be a Splash Page, in that it looks entirely different to the rest of the site and gives a bit more of a visual, but it also provides a link to every page on the site.

At the moment I’m currently re-designing the site, and have gone for an option without the Splash, but part of me is considering designing a fresher one for the new site, or should I just drop the idea altogether?

Nice article by the way, I agree with some of the comments above that on a porfolio/designer site, it can be nice to see an unobtrusive but stylish peice of work to show off some skills before entering more of a standard layout.

As mentioned before, if your site has a splash page specifying a resolution, you need to redesign your site.

If it has instructions on how to use the site, you need to redesign the site.

If the splash screen is telling the visitor they MUST download Flash to continue…you need to redesign the site.

The only place I want to see a Splash screen? On a porn site.

http://www.creationunivers.com is a copy of http://www.mba-multimedia.com
Shame on them.

“Yes I could avoid the trip to the theatre by watching a DVD at home – much better useability!”

It is? You like how many DVDs these days force you to watch all of the previews before you get to the menu? At least with video tapes, you could fast forward through them. Instead, I get “that action cannot be performed”. I’m not being entertained, I’m being annoyed. I already watched those previews last time I watched this movie (or I had to switch disks with the rental place because the first one was skipping).

Splash pages are 99% bad. Yes, 1% of the time it *is* appropriate for some sites (disclaimers, audio warnings, pages to set local settings, language/region selection). Most sites use it because they are pretentious dinks who think making you wait for content is a form of entertainment, not making the connection that what they’re doing is little better than what the DVD designers do.

Splash pages should not be confused with the home page of the site: some sort of summary, branding, navigation to the major sections, and/or highlights of what’s hot/new/popular. The home page is supposed to have an overview of the whole site. Apple and Zune do a home page right; neither is an example of a splash page.

Thats why I did not even make a “home” page!
In my website http://www.designrific.com
The website has no homepage. every page is considered a home page.

Are you kidding? There’s no reason to ever have a splash page.

It’s an intro, a greeting, a brief “hello” in a world full of impatience.

Like the cover of a book or album.

Websites today vomit information all over you.

This article is so good, thank you for this useful information.

Hi. Good site.

THIS IS A FUCKING PEICE OF SHIT HOW CAN YOU LIVE WITH YOURSELF WRITING THIS BULLSHIT HUH WELL YOU SHOULD JUST GO CRAWL UNDER A ROCK AND DIE YOU SUN OF A MOTHER FUCKN BITCH I BET YOUR A FUCKIN FAT ASS THAT SITS IN HIS BASEMENT AND JACKS OFF TO ANIME ALL DAY YEAH THATS RIGHT I KNOW YOU LIKE THAT NARUTO SHIT BITCH WELL MY TIME IS UP SO FUCK YOU AGAIN BITCH FUCKER

guys what the hell, your gonna get in trouble i think mr deldegan saw it, you guys are so immature, your gonna get in trouble

Good article. Posts 53-54 must be the designers of some of those horrible sites like I’mJac. LOL! Yes it is creative, but it stops there.
Some of those links really show that a great artist isn’t necessarily a great communicator. Those are two VERY different fields, and extremely difficult to master them both.

Sometimes it can be useful .. IE: for location selection .. sure I can test by IP addresses or whatever to see where the visitor is coming from, but that doesn’t always mean that they want to be stuck with that location… meaning if user A wants to see data for location A1 but is location B1 .. should they only see location for B1 without the choice for selection?

johnsun wrote “(a splash page is) an intro, a greeting, a brief ‘hello’ in a world full of impatience. Like the cover of a book or album. Websites today vomit information all over you.”

This is absolutely true. It’s funny how the self-professed arbiters of what is and isn’t “right” or “good” so often seem to be unaware that their opinions are driven by *fads*. Sure, in 2000, everyone wanted a splash page. Sure, in 2007, the pendulum had swung back the other direction, and everyone was decrying them. Guess what? -in 2011, it’s entirely possible that they’ll be all the rage again. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

Another point seems to have been lost here: the attention span of those generations that have come of age within the web-era is embarrassingly short. We get uppity about having to wait an additional 0.5 seconds for a (NON-Flash) splash page to load, then having to click one additional time to enter? Oh, the agony! [shakes head]

But “johnsun” hit it on the head: an _appropriate_ and _well-crafted_ splash page provides the introduction to the content, just like the cover of a book does. Do we bitch and moan about having to turn 10 or 12 pages of a book just to be able to get to the content? Do we whine about having to leaf through 15 pages of ads to get to the first page of content in almost every magazine? Of course not. Let’s face it: when it comes to “give me content/usability immediately!”, we’re utter hypocrites. How many of us would prefer to walk into a stylish, hip clothing store and be greeted with appropriate music, attractive clerks, good lighting, etc., before getting to the clothes? -or would we prefer to step in the door and immediately be confronted by a rack of clothing? No, the atmosphere of a shop and the soft transition from the street are part of the “content”.

Finally, the fact of the matter is that there is not just one kind of website. There are websites we visit for information (no one would suggest CNN using a splash page), and there are those we visit for pleasure. If you hear a new band, really like their sound and go to visit their website, is a splash page that enables them to communicate their aesthetic to you in a pure and uncluttered way such a bad thing? I actually prefer such introductions to artistic, creative sites. The key is to use splash pages only for appropriate types of sites, to not use media that requires loading (especially not Flash), and to focus on providing a soft transition between the harsh edges of the site one just left and the site one is about to enter. With those provisos in mind, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a well-designed splash page.