Sliders and carousels are popular solutions for organizations because they can help to negotiate complicated internal politics. They allow for an easy way to be able to say that the latest ideas are on the homepage, without having to do any of the difficult work of cycling old information off of the page.
But do sliders actually work? Research shows that they aren’t particularly effective in most cases — most users don’t engage with sliders and, if they do it’s only with the very first slide. Here’s a great article that summarizes the shortcomings of sliders and carousels. It turns out that sliders and carousels are attractive to stakeholders within the organization because they offer an easy way to appease many masters, but aren’t particularly effective from a user perspective. This means that more thought should be put into the use of homepage real estate and that some difficult work may lie ahead.
The good news is that if you’ve sufficiently answered the Three Big Questions in our manual: Building a Sustainable Content Ecosystem, you’ll have a great litmus test for cleaning up your homepage and keeping the clutter at bay. To learn more, get in touch and request a free 30-minute consult to help figure out the next steps in becoming a content whisperer yourself.
Dominic Vecchiollo is a content whisperer who helps nonprofits build sustainable content ecosystems to better manage their digital content. He has worked in the nonprofit sector, both in house and as a consultant, for more than 20 years. In addition to producing websites that work for nonprofits, associations and foundations, his firm, DOSSU Design + Consulting LLC, develops branding, designs nonprofit collateral and advocacy reports, and creates award-winning public-health campaigns. He works from his adopted hometown of Baltimore and is learning to explore its rich urban environment by staying active through Parkour training.
