The 10,000th Ping will be published on May 24, 2027. Paul will be just about 50 years old.
Quick poll: did you know that on the vast majority of websites, clicking the logo in the upper left corner of the page returns you to the home page?
I’m genuinely surprised by how many people don’t know this. So if you didn’t, consider it a handy tip.
Posted in Technology
The Daily Ping is the web's finest compendium of toilet information and Oreo™® research. Too much? Okay, okay, it's a daily opinion column written by two friends. Did we mention we've been doing this for over ten years? Tell me more!
Steve A December 6, 2006, 10:12 am
I didn’t know.
Ciao,
Adam December 6, 2006, 12:42 pm
I build sites for a living, so yes. But I’m always surprised by how little the majority of people know in general. Every time I think “well, everyone knows to …”, I’m wrong.
Jeani December 6, 2006, 2:46 pm
Well, I didn’t know until a very wise man enlightened me. Thanks for the tip!
Ryan December 6, 2006, 3:59 pm
I’m surprised by the same thing, Paul. When I tell people, “Oh, yeah, that’s been a best practice for ten years now” they often seem honestly surprised.
I’m also quite taken aback by how many people don’t get the concept of right-clicking to get a contextual menu (and, similarly, how few people know how to right-click to save an image or link).
EnjoiYourself December 6, 2006, 4:18 pm
I started noticing this as a recurring occasion on many sites a few years ago. I do it on my own 😉 – however my server is currently down so dont try to surf to it .. 🙁
COD December 6, 2006, 5:54 pm
In any sufficiently large group of people, most will be idiots. Internet users are a sufficiently large group.
Greg December 6, 2006, 8:40 pm
I’ve known about it for a while. I’ve become unhappy with a few sites that don’t use the logo as the return to home page. Let them know Paul so my internet experience will be better the next time.
jk December 7, 2006, 3:26 am
What about the folks who don’t know you click on “start” to turn their computers off?
Merle December 7, 2006, 3:35 am
As a web designer since ’95, yep, I know that.
But although this is “standard practice” and a “good idea”, it is certainly not *intuitive* to the end user. Sure, they can adapt, but there is nothing about the logo that makes it look like “go to the root of this site”.
Although I will also admit that for the new web user, the idea of a site having a root is a bit foreign. And for the power user, there is the URL bar…
Marcus Mackey January 5, 2007, 10:35 pm
I think it’s a case where many designers have accepted it as a common interface practice (assuming that people will “Just figure it out”), although it’s not always handled in this way so it’s often left to question by many. I still think it’s better to have a “home” link somewhere vs. relying on this method/practice solely, personally. I’m not against redundancy in the least.
What I am against is increasingly annoying and more convoluted Captcha systems that are becoming harder and harder to live with. But that’s for another Ping…