Wwohn.com : A website is not a book

Posted by Oeroek in maart 12th, 2008

Recently I came across a discussion about the comparison between a book and a website. The main point of this discussion was the use of a welcome text in a similar way as a foreword in a book.

Thinking about this discussion I would like to digg a little bit deeper into the comparison between a book and a website.

What are the elements of a book that have an online twin.

The cover page of a book and the splashpage

The cover page of a book is extremely important. It attracts the potential reader to look at the book and further investigate the content and summary. A coverpage gives a first impression and feeling of the entire book.

The online version of a coverpage could be the splash page. This is an entry page that contains basic information about the website and sometimes even flash animations.

A nick name for these kind of pages is the “skip intro page”. The name says it all. You are not helping your regular visitors by presenting them the same page over and over. Although new visitors may value the splash screen (provided that they enter your site via the homepage), another part of the visitors will get annoyed by the splash page or even leave your website.

What you should use to attract visitors to further explore your website are your theme and layout. Make use of the grid and acknowledge the value of white spaces. Do not underestimate the use of color in your webdesign.

The foreword of a book and the welcome message

When publishing a book, the foreword is used to explain more about the book and its author. It may help to better understand the book itself.

On a website, the use of a welcome message is a waste of space. Although it is good to help people better understand what you are doing, you should limit this to the “about us ” page and your title tag.

I think that most visitors are looking for a webpage and not a website. If anybody enters your site I would take all effort and web space to direct that visitor to the correct piece of information.

The Table of Contents and the website navigation

Many books are divided into chapters. To find a chapter you use the table of content that is normally included on the first pages of a regular book. This helps you to quickly find the page that you are looking for.

There is a special kind of book that could do without a table of content, ie a reading book. Normally I start a reading book at page 1 and finish page by page.

On the internet such a table of content is crucial. Most websites have a navigation menu that directs visitors to several sections of the website. For a more detailed table of content you could upload a sitemap.

The summary and the meta tags description and keywords

The summary at the back of the book helps the potential buyer/reader to determine the content of the book. Many books also put credentials on the back of the book.

In a website, you could publish a short summary using the meta tags description and keywords. These tags give every single page on a website a specific summary and highlights the most important keywords/tags.

A website is not a book

Several elements of a book are aimed at potential buyers/readers looking at your book as a whole. A website however can be consumed in smaller parts.

A visitor could search and visit only one webpage of the entire website. This increases the pressure to help visitors to find their what they are looking for before they leave your website.

Maybe I should start comparing books to webpages instead of websites?

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