Home Link Design Pattern

Alternate titles: Go Back to a Safe Place.

Problem summary

The user needs to go back to a safe start location of the site.

Example

Usage

  • Use when users frequently enter the website through a page other than the home page. The user needs to be able to easily navigate to the starting point or front page of the website.

Solution

  • Create a link to the starting point or front page of the website on the site’s logo on every single page on the website.
  • If the site does not have a logo, then create a link to the front page of the website with the text ‘Home’.
  • The link and/or linked images should always be in the same location on all pages.
  • If the website has more than one home, then be sure to make the distinction in linking between the root home and the local home.

Rationale

It has become a standard in webdesign, that the site’s logo is always linked to a safe start location for the user. Normally, this is the front page of the site, but it could also be the front page of a section in the site, or some other safe start location for the user.

This article has been commented 3 times.

User Interface Design Patterns

Getting input
Navigation
Dealing with data
Social
Miscellaneous
Onboarding

Persuasive Design Patterns

Cognition
Game mechanics
Perception and memory
Feedback
Social

3 comments

  • 9bc3b61a83085f9f889945e0e1eae65c

    koji on Jun 18, 2009
    Remove Edit

    I don’t know if this a local problem, but i applied some usability tests on logo link to home page. Only hardusers are able to predict the link. Regular users still trying to search a “home” link with text. :( Not so great for a clean design…

  • 49a41210571c390aeaaa87d7424e9075

    David on Jul 14, 2010
    Remove Edit

    My experience with users confirms koji’s comment. An important % of users do not consider naturally the logo as the home page. Definitively i would recommend always a specific home page link next to the main navigation items

  • 474fe580d990a95d2bf709db9b01b945

    Sydney Smith on Apr 06, 2011
    Remove Edit

    It is amazing that users that define themselves as saavy do not know this standard. Instead of giving it such prominence on the main navigation, I place it in the utility links (upper right hand corner.)

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