“Toby, I just wanted to phone you and thank you for your article on Employees demand a clean home page, no scrolling,” says John, an intranet manager with a very large, prominent government organization. “It’s what I’ve been saying all along… but they (some executive types) won’t listen!”
The problem with designers, not all designers, but many of them, is that they’re trained in creative and web design. The intranet is not a website. Let me repeat: THE INTRANET IS NOT A WEBSITE! The same creative concepts for the web, and marketing driven websites, don’t always apply to the intranet.
Of particular note, the issue of scrolling. Where “information scent” and link density is important on a public facing website, which as a result may often include a scrolling home page (for an extreme example, look at the horrific versions of the Amazon.com home page in recent years; although they’ve cleaned it up recently (yes, I know they heard my past criticisms loud and clear), information scent and link density is not as important on the intranet.
As I’ve stated previously, intranet users become frustrated and anxious about information that they cannot discern at a glance. Employees want to find work-related information as quickly as possible; it’s a completely different mindset and motivation than a newspaper or news website (and many other formats as well) reader.
In short, speed wins: employees like to glance at the home page and within 5-10 seconds, they move on (sometimes they’ll click on a news headline or feature, but the vast majority have a task at hand which is usually a piece of information they need about themselves, or the business).
7 intranet design tips of note:
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Less is more.
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An intranet is a business system, and the design should fulfill business needs (no creative whim).
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Follow a design process that includes thorough input by management & employees, but design by committee leads to certain death.
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Soft corners instead of square corners (think navigation bar, buttons, photos).
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Soft colors are appreciated; darker, bolder colors such as dark red and black should be used with extreme prejudice.
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Employees love employee photos, not clip art: individual photos, team photos, event photos, etc.
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White space is good.
CONTINUE READING:
Employees demand a clean home page, no scrolling
The problem is in designing a site with multiple screen sizes being used. For instance, laptop screens, 4:3, and 16:9. Its' hard to create a solution that looks great at a company that has many screen resolutions in use.
This is a strongly stated opinion Toby! I fear, though, that it's exactly that: an opinion.
Telling teams that “intranet homepages should never scroll” makes no more sense than saying “long homepages are the right way”.
We should instead be taking a case-by-case approach that utilises techniques such as task-based usability testing to get beyond staff and stakeholder opinions.
A fuller response on my blog:
http://www.steptwo.com.au/columntwo/discussing-the-length-of-the-intranet-homepage/
I have been meaning to write about something like this on my blog and you have given me an idea. Thank you.