Newer (third generation) sites use a navigational method that is based on metaphor. A third generation site not only has an overall theme for the site, but the organization of the information and the navigational scheme is based on a metaphor of the theme. For example, the online Jimtown Store sells the best wines, foods, and local products of the California Wine Country. The web site is built around the theme of a country store. The Templar site is built around the metaphor of a video gaming company (mouse over and click on the various objects). To see their site with the metaphor, scroll down a bit and click on the link for their old site.

Metaphors Capture Your Emotions

People surfing the web spend only about 10 to 15 seconds looking at a site. If their interest is not aroused, they go on. Thus, a web designer must design the initial page of the site to immediately "grab" the visitors and "pull" them into the site. Metaphors accomplish this task!

As expressed by David Siegel in his book, Creating Killer Web Sites

"A strong metaphor can guide a visitor and glue a site together....Metaphors pull in visitors, making them feel at home while giving them features to explore. Examples of metaphors include galleries, comic strips, television channels, magazines, tabloids, store environments, museums, postcard racks, amusement parks, inside things (computers, human body, buildings, ant farm, and so on), safaris, cities, and cupboards." (Creating Killer Web Sites: Hayden Books, 1996: p. 35).

Splash Pages

Web sites using metaphors often don't have home pages with links. Instead, they often use "splash" pages as the entrance to the site. Splash pages are designed to load fast and create visions of the metaphors being used, thus engaging the imagination and emotions of the visitors to enter the sites and explore the worlds of fantasy presented there. In effect, the splash pages introduce stories, and we all love stories! Once visitors have been "hooked", they will wait for the longer-loading pages that give the information they are seeking.

A word of caution: if splash pages are slow loading, they may keep visitors from going further!

Structure of Third Generation Sites

Instead of having home pages with links, third generation sites usually have an entrance, a center area, and an exit. The splash page, if it is used, provides the entrance. The center area develops the metaphor and gives links to pages that provide the information the visitors are seeking. The exit provides a well defined way out of the site, giving the visitors a chance to say "goodbye" in a way that entices them to return.

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