Novamedia blog

I thought website intro screens had died out with the ark but we still occasionally get people saying that they would like an animated introduction at the 'beginning' of their website.

Now my gut response to this would be impolite so I decided to pop my thoughts down in a quick blog post. If you have asked me for such an appendage to your website then you may well have been directed to this blog post. If you are an esteemed existing client then I am sure you know me well enough to value my opinion as much as I value your custom. If you are a potential new customer then I hope you will come to value my opinion starting with this one. (By the way, many clients do value us – just take a look at the testimonials on our website).

However, I digress. Let me give you my honest opinion on website intro screens. There is no such thing as a website intro screen! A website doesn't need an intro screen. How many top websites that you visit have intro screens? None, that's how many.

If a website company puts an intro screen in their proposal for your website, find another website company. They'll charge you good money for what is essentially a vanity exercise for them to show that they know how to use Flash. And it will do you more harm than good. (I even saw a website company proudly advertising on their home page that they are specialists in building intro pages. Jeez!).

When I visit a website there are a number of things I go there for and one of them is definitely NOT to see flying logos and animated crap, (oops, sorry I really have tried to be polite).

What you need is a decent home page that does an effective job for your organisation. So please don't ask me for an intro screen. The answer will be NO, NO, NO!