> How does a landing page work if it doesn’t offer a next step?
Does the front page not have links to other pages on the site? If not, then whoever built it fucked up. I don't want to be "directed". I don't want anything that resembles a hard sell. As far as I'm concerned, a website's front page should be a menu, not a "call to action".
> I see a thing that looks interesting and then it’s my job to go on a hunt to figure out how to get it?
It’s entirely opposite to the whole field of good user interface design?
It seems pretty uncontroversial that the goal of a user interface ought to be making it easier for the user to do what they want to do. If I load up a site for some product, there’s basically 3 possible outcomes of reading the page:
1. I don’t want the thing
2. I might want the thing, but I need more info
3. I want the thing
In the 1st case, the close tab button works great. In the 2nd and 3rd case, I want to either get more info or get the thing. So a site with a good user experience will provide an obvious indicator that says “click here to learn more” and “click here to get the thing”.
The problem is that landing pages are often sales jobs, and the presence of call-to-action items, email harvesting, etc., confirm that it's a hard-sell job.
Such pages tend not to be useful to people who have not already decided to buy, because the "learn more" links usually don't really inform you about the product, but instead lead you to another sales pitch.
> It’s entirely opposite to the whole field of good user interface design?
Good for whom? Good by what standard? The older I get the more I've come to suspect that most UI and UX designers come from the Temple Grandin school. They seem to think that users, website visitors, etc. are just human cattle and that their job is to design better cattle chutes.
I don't want a "better user interface". I want web apps that work, and I have yet to find one. Even dict.org reports errors when run through wave.webaim.org.
- If your web app doesn't work in Lynx, it doesn't work.
- If your web app doesn't work on a 56K dialup connection, it doesn't work.
- If your web app isn't WCAG 2.0 AAA compliant, it doesn't work.
> If I load up a site for some product, there’s basically 3 possible outcomes of reading the page:
No, there are four outcomes. You forgot one:
4. This website is so obnoxious that I've forgotten why I bothered accessing it in the first place.
If even one of your users asks, "Why am I doing this to myself," when visiting your website or using your web app, you've messed up.
Not like you want to make people work too hard, but a person who works a bit will be motivated, self-selected and "drawn in" to the situation. Rather than you working to sell them they work to sell themselves, and they are more effective at that than you will ever be.
Does the front page not have links to other pages on the site? If not, then whoever built it fucked up. I don't want to be "directed". I don't want anything that resembles a hard sell. As far as I'm concerned, a website's front page should be a menu, not a "call to action".
> I see a thing that looks interesting and then it’s my job to go on a hunt to figure out how to get it?
Exactly, and what's wrong with that?