White space on the welcome page is something that is widely accepted  for a non-portal
site. Excite for example crams so much information on their site that they have not paid
that much attention to affinity modeling. I do undertsand that they have a plethora of
information to disseminate as a portal site, but the screen is so busy that i tend to
lose the centrality of my purpose to visit my site.  The information is so overwhelming
that one is bound to be drawn into tasks that stray from the main thought, but then its a
portal site and that what ist supposed to do ..lure the visitor left right n center
(literally !! in this case)
In case of a non-portal site application-based site, the welcome page doesnt warrant for
crowding the page with loads of information. Keep the page focussed on what the user
tasks. I am enagaged in a similar application wherein we have user profiles and access
limitations. So i hav etaken advantage of this to make the site more customized and
personalized depending on who logs in ..the welcome page for a user who fro example is
more of a manager is given a welcome page that lists the tasks he/she is likely to
perform on a daily basis. This welcome page is totally  different for a anothe ruser who
is down in the organizational hierarchy who is intersted in tasks that are different.
This way u dont get to loads all the information and not the let the sure scan for
informatin thats buried somewhere in those milieu of words..
personalization and customized look and feel ..that where the web based application area
is headin to..


Robert Fabian wrote:

> Sean
>
> I first divide the world into portal and non-portal sites. Portal sites are those
> that will be visited often, and for a range of reasons. Most company sites are
> what I would calll non-portals -- visitors come to get specific information
> about the company and its products/services. And the range of those
> products/services is "modest".
>
> Portal sites need to offer links to a wide variety of options. They want to be
> the starting-point for many, many visitors. In my mind, Yahoo does a
> particularly good job of fitting its home page design to its intended role as a
> portal for the millions. I find that one page of scrolling is acceptable, but if the
> home page needs more, then it isn't effective for me.
>
> In the case of Spaceworks, I can't really see it becoming a portal. You have
> an interesting offer, but visitors will only be getting information about your
> relatively simple product line. On the face of it, there is little point to following
> a design ideal for portal sites, espeically when you are not a portal, nor are
> you likely to become one.
>
> Bob Fabian
>
> On 23 Jun 99, at 11:05,  Fitzpatrick, Sean wrote:
>
> > Hey all,
> >
> > Sort of new to the list, but I'm the Sr. UI Designer for a web-based
> > eCommerce start-up outside of Washington DC.  Our product is an Order
> > Management system that allows companies to sell products over the web,
> > in a business-to-business setting.  Basically, end users can search
> > online catalogs, place purchase orders, track p.o.'s, and check on
> > inventory availability, among other things.
> >
> > Recently,  I have been receiving pressure from out CTO (Chief Tech.
> > Officer) to update the "Welcome" page, which is the first page that a
> > user sees after logging in.  He is convinced that the "way of the
> > future" is to cram the welcome page with every possible piece of
> > information and every function available in a HTML table and link
> > format, such as sites like http://www.excite.com ,
> > http://www.theglobe.com , http://www.zdnet.com/ , and many, many other
> > portal, info laden sites.
> >
> > The intention is a good one--to reduce graphics and to allow  the user
> > to see (do they really?) a lot of info at once, I suppose by scanning.
> > The problem for me is three-fold.  First, I do not like the way these
> > sites look and are organized.  Second, to me, they are terribly hard to
> > find what I am looking for (no or minimal whitespace.)  Third, and most
> > important, I am NOT designing a consumer, info intense web-site. I am
> > designing a business-oriented web APPLICATION.   Also, I am having great
> > difficulty finding usability research, though I suspect there will be
> > quite a bit more in the very near future...
> >
> > Finally, my question.  What is the list's opinion of these new style
> > websites?  Do you find them usable?  Are you annoyed with them like me?
> > It is tough to generalized, but if you look around you will see this
> > type of site-design popping up everywhere.
> >
> > Thanks for the input.
> >
> > Sean Fitzpatrick
> > Sr. UI Designer
> > SpaceWorks, Inc.
> > [log in to unmask]
> >
>
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>                        http://rfabian.com
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