Homepage usability : 50 websites deconstructed

Preface. The Role of the Homepage. The Organization of This Book. Your Action Items. The Companion Web Pages. Homepage Guidelines. What's Not in These Guidelines. The Guidelines. Communicating the Site's Purpose. Communicating Information About Your Company. Content Writing. Revealing Content Through Examples. Archives and Accessing Past Content. Links. Navigation. Search. Tools and Task Shortcuts. Graphics and Animation. Graphic Design. UI Widgets. Window Titles. URLs. News and Press Releases. Popup Windows and Staging Pages. Advertising. Welcomes. Communicating Technical Problems and Handling Emergencies. Credits. Page Reload and Refresh. Customization. Gathering Customer Data. Fostering Community. Dates and Times. Stock Quotes and Displaying Numbers. Homepage Design Conventions. Homepage Design Statistics. Download Time. Basic Page Layout. Page Width. Liquid Versus Frozen Layout. Page Length. Frames. Fundamental Page Design Elements. Logo. Search. Navigation. Footer Navigation. Site Map. Routing Pages. Splash Pages. Frequent Features. Sign In. About Us. Contact Info. Privacy Policy. Job Openings. Help. Graphics and Multimedia. Pictures. ALT Text. Music. Animation. Advertising. Typography. Body Text and Background Colors. Link Formatting. Recommended Homepage Design. Sites. About http://www.about.com. Accenture http://www.accenture.com. Amazon http://www.amazon.com. The Art Institute of Chicago http://www.artic.edu. Asia Cuisine http://www.asiacuisine.com.sg. Barnes & Noble http://www.bn.com. BBC Online http://www.bbc.co.uk. Boeing http://www.boeing.com. CDNOW http://www.cdnow.com. Citigroup http://www.citigroup.com. CNET http://www.cnet.com. CNNfn cnnfn.cnn.com. Coles http://www.coles.com.au. DIRECTV http://www.directv.com. Disney http://www.disney.com. Drugstore http://www.drugstore.com. eBay http://www.ebay.com. eMagazineshop http://www.emagazineshop.com. ESPN http://www.espn.com. ExxonMobil http://www.exxon.mobil.com. FedEx http://www.fedex.com/us. Federal Highway Administration http://www.fhwa.dot.gov. Florida Department of Revenue http://www.sun6.dms.state.fl.us/dor. Ford Motor Company http://www.ford.com. Gateway http://www.gateway.com. General Electric http://www.ge.com. General Motors http://www.gm.com. Global Sources http://www.globalsources.com. IBM http://www.ibm.com. James Devaney Fuel Company http://www.jamesdevaneyfuel.com. JobMagic http://www.jobmagic.net. Learn2 http://www.learn2.com. Microsoft http://www.microsoft.com. MotherNature http://www.mothernature.com. MTV http://www.mtv.com. NewScientist http://www.newscientist.com. NewsNow http://www.newsnow.co.uk. PBS http://www.pbs.org. Petsmart http://www.petsmart.com. Philip Morris http://www.philipmorris.com. PlanetRx http://www.planetrx.com. Red Herring http://www.redherring.com. Slusser's Green Thumb http://www.slussers.com. Southwest http://www.southwest.com. Ticketmaster http://www.ticketmaster.com. Travelocity http://www.travelocity.com. USA Today http://www.usatoday.com. Victoria's Secret http://www.victoriassecret.com. Wal-Mart http://www.walmart.com. Yahoo! http://www.yahoo.com. Appendix. Index.