First impressions do count and your site’s Home Page should reflect the tone of the individual’s/company’s brand as well as acting as an information portal.
Your choice of imagery and typography also affects the look and feel of the site, not just the written content.
Keep all the information at the top of the screen “above the fold” as you may lose visitors if they do a quick scan and can’t see what they are looking for without scrolling down – whatever the size of the screen.
It’s also important for visitors to be able to find their way back to the home page if they take the wrong route – think about having a “bread crumb trail” in your navigation.
E.g Home – Route Finder – Select ticket Type – Payment
It’s a much neater to then be able to click a word in the breadcrumb trail “Route Finder” and go back a couple of pages, rather than the back button for example.
Thanks to Janice Redish “Letting Go of the Words” for some great reading.
