{"id":17,"date":"2026-08-11T17:22:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T17:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/art-webguide.ittest-projects.drexel.edu\/?page_id=17"},"modified":"2026-08-11T17:22:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T17:22:14","slug":"homepage","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/art-webguide.ittest-projects.drexel.edu\/?page_id=17","title":{"rendered":"The Homepage"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You get about ten seconds. A visitor arrives, glances, and decides whether this lab is active, interesting, and worth their time. The homepage&#8217;s entire job is to survive that glance and hand the visitor to the right page.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-three-jobs-of-a-homepage\">The three jobs of a homepage<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\" type=\"1\">\r\n<li>Say who you are and what you study, in plain words.<\/li>\r\n<li>Show one great photograph.<\/li>\r\n<li>Point people toward what they came for.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That is the whole assignment. Everything else on the homepage is optional; most of it is clutter.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-formula\">The formula<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Your group&#8217;s name. One sentence, in plain language, saying what you study. A short paragraph on why it matters. A good photo of your actual lab or group. Clear paths to <a href=\"\/pages-your-site-needs\/research\/\">research<\/a>, <a href=\"\/pages-your-site-needs\/people\/\">people<\/a>, and <a href=\"\/pages-your-site-needs\/join-us\/\">join us<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The one sentence is the hard part, and it is worth real effort. Compare:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\r\n<p>&#8220;We investigate the synthesis and characterization of stimuli-responsive polymeric materials.&#8221;<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\r\n<p>&#8220;We build plastics that can heal themselves when damaged.&#8221;<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both are true. Only one makes a college senior want to keep reading. Save the precision for the research page and the publications \u2014 the homepage&#8217;s job is to earn the next click, not to survive peer review.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-to-leave-off\">What to leave off<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\r\n<li><strong>Walls of text.<\/strong> If the homepage scrolls and scrolls, move the material to the page where it belongs.<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>Your latest abstract.<\/strong> Nobody&#8217;s first question is answered by an abstract.<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>A hand-updated news section.<\/strong> If your theme can automatically show your latest posts, fine. A manually maintained &#8220;Recent News&#8221; box will go stale, and stale news on a homepage is the first thing every visitor sees.<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>Anything that plays, spins, or slides on its own.<\/strong> Motion you did not ask for is motion that annoys.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-test\">The test<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Show your homepage to someone outside your field for ten seconds, then take it away and ask what your lab does. If they can answer, the homepage works.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A homepage is a door, not a filing cabinet. Keep it open, keep it uncluttered, and let it do its one job well.<\/p>\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You get about ten seconds. A visitor arrives, glances, and decides whether this lab is active, interesting, and worth their time. The homepage&#8217;s entire job is to survive that glance and hand the visitor to the right page. The three jobs of a homepage Say who you are and what you study, in plain words&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":16,"menu_order":10,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-17","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-webguide.ittest-projects.drexel.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-webguide.ittest-projects.drexel.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-webguide.ittest-projects.drexel.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-webguide.ittest-projects.drexel.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-webguide.ittest-projects.drexel.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/art-webguide.ittest-projects.drexel.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40,"href":"https:\/\/art-webguide.ittest-projects.drexel.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17\/revisions\/40"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-webguide.ittest-projects.drexel.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-webguide.ittest-projects.drexel.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}