Splash Page: A splash page or splash screen is a page of a website that acts as a front page prior to displaying the home page. These pages are often elaborate or artistically interesting, but contain very little content to be indexed by search engines.
There are a number of different reasons why a designer would choose to add a splash page to their site:
- To direct users to the appropriate website for their country or language preference.
- To direct users to a low-bandwidth site or one more accessible to disabled users.
- As an additional form of advertising.
- To restrict access to content such as pornography, alcohol advertising or sales, or gambling.
- As an aesthetic complement to the main page.
- To grab someone's attention to take them to a page with more details, usually for a product they are selling.
Not only do these pages lack useful content, but they can also sometimes be so rich in graphics or animations that they can take a long time to load, and in some cases, may not work correctly for certain users who have turned off rich content. This just adds an extra step before the user reaches the desired content, and as a result, splash pages are disliked by many web users.