The ‘Home’ Link
Two years ago I wrote about the use of a ‘Home’ link in the navigation of a site and had this to say:
The Information Architecture of a site is something that gets overlooked by designers for various reasons. One of the lastest IA mistakes that I am beginning to see popup is the lack of a “home” link in the navigation. Many times the logo takes the place of a Home tab, but I don’t think it should be used as a substitute.
One of the problems that we designers have is that we assume that users understand that web like we do. However, I have found myself many times looking for the “home” link only to remind myself a couple seconds later that I should try to click on the logo. I can only imagine the trouble that non-expert users would have.
Now looking at the designs of sites like Work Boxers I see that there is no home link at all. Granted I didn’t design the site (Rundle did), but I find that I am not looking for a home link at all. I have to assume that’s because I don’t navigate those sites like a normal user, but I am certainly not missing the home link by any means so I have to wonder if my words from two years ago still hold true for me today.
The Information Architecture of these sites isn’t the greatest by any means simply because the navigation relies solely on the categories list on the side. Over time the design will evolve to help readers navigate the site more efficiently, but I have to open the question of do you see the need for an obvious ‘Home’ link anywhere on the site? Am I counting on people to simply click the logo and for newbies to press the back button too much? If they land on an internal page and don’t know how to get ‘Home’ that presents a major issue. Hell, I might have just answered my own question but I would love to hear your thoughts.
*/
I think the Home link still has a place, but people are becoming more and more familiar with the concept of “click the logo” in order to return home. Currently, it’s probably best to use both, or perhaps start with both and phase “Home” out over time. I quite like how Riffs have done it, creating a definite association between the logo and returning home.
By David Hay on January 24, 2006 3:17 pm
Ah I never noticed how Riffs did it. Very nice. Hopefully someone knows or is clumsy enough to hover the logo though to see it takes you back home.
By Scrivs on January 24, 2006 3:21 pm
I personally think web designers tend to overthink things like this, and not give enough credit to the average web browser. To me, the “home” link is a perfect example.
Case in point: I’m designing a site for a group of people. This group as a whole, is probably the least web-savvy arrangement of people on the planet. They all think that their copy of IE 5.5 is “The Internet” and were confused when I explained that they didn’t need to upgrade their computer in order to upgrade their browser.
Anyhow. They all navigate the test site, click around the various sections, and all click the logo to go home without thinking. Then they say, “we think we should add a ‘home’ link. The average user probably won’t be smart enough to click on the logo to get home.”
So there you go.
By Richard Medek on January 24, 2006 3:26 pm
Haha, great example Richard.
By Scrivs on January 24, 2006 3:29 pm
The last project that I did didn’t have a home link, just a linked logo, and I was specifically asked to put one in. The people testing the site said they were confused about exactly how to get back to the front page.
I wish it wasn’t so. I really hate home links and think that in a year or so, most people will be phasing them out, but for right now, depending on your situation, they have to stick around.
By Dan Perdue on January 24, 2006 3:45 pm
I’ve always had home links in any of the different blog designs I’ve had over time. I did get remarks from people about the LACK of a clickable page header to go home. It seems this is becoming such a ‘common thing to do’ that it’s almost getting more important than a link labeled ‘home’.
In my new site look I did add the clickable page header. Before this I didn’t have it because I felt the ‘home’ link was enough. However my readers told me I was wrong ;)
By Marco on January 24, 2006 3:47 pm
Maybe it’s the fact that it’s called ‘Home’. Yahoo refers to its homepage as ‘Yahoo’, but obviously this wouldn’t work so well with larger site names, but I like the way they have done it in this case.
But yeah Marco you always have to have a clickable header/logo. tsk tsk.
By Scrivs on January 24, 2006 3:51 pm
Didn’t know Riffs did it like that either; I actually thought of doing that a while ago, but decided against it. Maybe I should try doing that for my next redesign. I can definitely see the point.
By Veracon on January 24, 2006 4:04 pm
Wow, it’s almost like your writing just for me! (kidding!)
I’ve just recently added a ‘home’ link back in, because I like the availability it offers.
By Anton on January 24, 2006 4:06 pm
Actually, the site I am working on now did not initially have a home link, we added one after multiple users couldn’t figure out how to get home and even commented on it.
By Jason G on January 24, 2006 5:05 pm
I imagine it all depends on what you’ve got on the home page and how good your site design and navigation are. This article at UIE questions the entire importance of a home page.
By Rick Holmes on January 24, 2006 6:19 pm
What about making it very obvious? And what is such a big deal, it is just a link after all. It won’t harm anyone by being there! If an “elite” blogger click on a logo and wonder “why there is a home link too? I’m not stuppid” isn’t a big deal.
Some people are used to click on the home link, others on the logo; do both until someone like Zeldman or Hicks came up with something that everyone will copy; then move on. ;)
By Javier Cabrera (ClearYourMind) on January 24, 2006 6:36 pm
I think it’s an issue you need to address here at Whitespace moreso than WorkBoxers. I find the case just as confusing now as it was when you posted this orginally two years ago.
Whitespace is a directory off 9rules. Yet clicking “home” here does not return you to 9rules, but the main page of whitespace.
Whitespace is a link off the 9r indes along with and in the same IA space as “about” and “contact”. Clicking home on the about and contact pages takes the user back to 9r, yet clicking “home” on whitespace doesn’t.
I guess if you’re going to argue for a home link to be designated in a link and not assumed with a graphic, you’ve also got to ensure your users that the link is consistent. It’s kinda like being lost in Asskick Montanta and running into two locals who point in differing directions when directing you to Nosebleed saloon.
By Mark on January 24, 2006 7:21 pm
Geez. Spelling — gotta remember to check spelling…
By Mark on January 24, 2006 7:24 pm
I still like to put a home link, but not always in the main site navigation. Sometimes, I just include one in a mini-nav in the header eg. Home | Sitemap | Search | Contact us.
In other words, yes, I’m still of the opinion that there should be a clearly labled HOME link. Even though it’s become second nature to just click the logo, it still doesnt hurt to have one.
By Michael McCorry on January 24, 2006 7:49 pm
Wow, I didn’t realize “home” links were still so important. I do them out of habit so at least I don’t have to go changing anything.
By Christian Montoya on January 24, 2006 8:28 pm
It is very important allright. Especially for new visitors/users. They are probably not very familiar with your site architecture/map so a ‘home’ link actually at the very least gets them back to the first page.
Think of it as your last line of defense, when everything fails. Can’t go wrong by including it.
By alvin on January 24, 2006 8:29 pm
Mark: You bring up a good point. When does a directory count as its own site and do we need to keep things consistent across the whole directory of sites. Maybe include the 9rules top nav on WS would make things easier?
By Scrivs on January 24, 2006 9:01 pm
In my experience the Home of extreme importance as usefull.
The problem with having something saying “Home” is that we are assuming a person knows that the meaning of the word Home on a website is going to the 1st page, not searching for a home…
So maybe we got a problem here.
By Mario on January 24, 2006 9:25 pm
Honestly, I think you need to spin off Whitespace to its own domain. Besides the home navigation issue, it’s also confusing to see a directory of the network also being listed as a member of said network.
Something to think about, anyway.
By Mark on January 24, 2006 9:28 pm
We have definitely put thought into it and still weighing the positives and negatives of the whole situation. Guess we should put a little more thought into it moving forward.
By Scrivs on January 24, 2006 9:38 pm
Its all about your target audiance. Experianced users will use both. Professionals may even be offended by the home link.
But in most cases your desiging for people who maybe spend an hour a week on the net. (those who have actual lives :P) And those people still need there home link.
By Vincent on January 25, 2006 3:32 am
Is there a different name anyone can think of besides ‘home’? Hmmm, I will create a new entry for this I guess so don’t answer here unless you really need to ;-).
By Scrivs on January 25, 2006 11:26 am
It’s also a good idea to make the link text of the Home link something relevant. The home link is a link to the most important page of your web site. If it’s a Design Web site, you might think of making the link text something like “Web Design Home”.
By RonnieSan on January 25, 2006 12:54 pm
How much of your traffic comes from search engines? How many times have you visited a site for the first time from a SE results page? Or any kind of link that sends you deeply into the structure of a site? (read: archives)
Home links are really important. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to go to the address bar of the browser to manually get back to the root of a Web site — which is ridiculous.
By Doug on January 25, 2006 6:04 pm
I think it has been in usability guidelines of Jakob Nielsen for quite a while now, that the site logo is where most users look for the “Home” link.
Of course, to make it more semantic, the Microformats folks suggest marking it with a rel=”home”:
http://microformats.org/wiki/rel-home
By Henri Bergius on January 26, 2006 5:32 am
What about designing for a particular market/age group.
If i’m designing for a age/group that already knows about the “click the logo to go home damn it” issue, should I leave out the classic ‘home’ link?
I think I can.
I’m sure if a survey is done about which age group knows that the logo is the way to go home (without thinking it), It would be a younger age group.
…and yes I know that I should be designing for everyone…
P.S. #3 | Richard Medek Post
people like that have no business going online
By Raphael Murrell on February 20, 2006 11:32 am