Splash Intro Pages: The truth revealed

Everyone likes a little animation now and then but there is certainly a time and a place. The place isn't in front of your website.

Even today in 2009 we still have customers ask us to put splash intro pages on front of their site. We have five simple points to discourage them from doing it:

1. Splash pages dramatically effect your search engine optimsation
2. They delay your visitor from getting to the content (which is why they are there in the first place)
3. They are usually inaccessible for certain users as they are created in Flash
4. Most visitors will click on 'skip intro' if you have one that is
5. Consistant navigation is key, splash pages don't usually have navigation and tend to confuse your visitors.

Here is a wicked quote from Jared Spool, User Interface Engineer at Adobe, the makers of Flash. 

When asked, "Flash intros, good or bad?", this was his response:

When we have clients who are thinking about Flash splash pages, we tell them to go to their local supermarket and bring a mime with them. Have the mime stand in front of the supermarket, and, as each customer tries to enter, do a little show that lasts two minutes, welcoming them to the supermarket and trying to explain the bread is on aisle six and milk is on sale today.

Posted by Richard Johnson on 14 July 2009
This post is about: usability, web standards, accessibility.

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