How Many Pages Does A Website Need?
Designers and clients frequently ask this question before designing or ordering a new website. Is there a “right” answer to it? No.
The number of Web pages that a particular website needs directly depends on the type of website, its application and also its potential user base. For example, personal websites often have two or three pages while giants like Amazon and Yahoo! might have thousands or more. In other words, the number of pages is directly proportional to the amount of necessary content. If you have a lot of content, you’ll need a lot of pages.
Before you start designing, then, it’s a good idea to plan the content and information architecture. Determine how many pages you’ll need and how content will be organized on each. There are two major benefits to planning: you’ll reduce development costs and speed up the design process.
Different Pagecount Types in Web Design
Single-Page Web Design
Maybe you’ve heard of this? At first it might sound a bit ridiculous, but it’s a relatively new and now fairly popular design trend: to design one single page instead of dozens of them. In this design method, one uses only one page and all content is placed (compressed) into it.
Not all websites can be designed as single pages, of course, but it is a practice well suited to websites like portfolios. Single-page websites, from the users’ perspective, have one great advantage over others: they save time because they eliminate multiple page loads.
The first load time might be long if a single-page website has a lot of content, but ultimately these websites are easier to use. I personally like single-page website design but there are many who don’t, and who prefer not to use them. For this reason it’s a bit risky to establish a business on a single page, but some creatives have managed to do it. If you plan to try it, avoid creating long pages that require seemingly endless scrolling. This will tire users and cause them to leave your website. Mapping a website with many pages into a single page is irrational as well. Websites should be lightweight, concise and well thought out.
Checkout following latest examples to get the idea.
Polecat
Matchball
Melonfree
Dentsu Network
Multiple-Page Web Design
In standard Web design, most websites have similar pages and each of those has a specific function. Of course every will website have unique pages according to its unique functions—pricing pages, for example. Let’s take a look at some common Web pages.
Home Page
The home page is one of the most important pages on a website, if not the most important. It’s the official entry point, and it works as a billboard by giving users an overview of the main goals of the website’s owners (usually a person, a company or an organization).
Train-ee
Train-ee is a good example of a home page that uses the header to focus in on its goal with big typography and illustrations. It also has well-positioned navigational tools both in the header and the footer, and the search box is in a good place.
Symantec
Symantec has a complete home page; it’s non-scrollable, it has navigation in the header and footer, it has a well-positioned search box and there are other good features.
About Page
Visitors should have the opportunity to learn about the person, company or organization represented on the website and to read about its vision and mission. Designers can also showcase their skills and expertise on this page. It often works well to use a funny or light-hearted tone on the about page.
Branded07
Rob Palmer introduces himself in a funny way with a friendly tone and lists his abilities in a table-like structure. The only drawback is length, but a long about page is more forgivable than a long home page.
iAmDan
This is a minimalist page that uses simple text decoration (color and size) to make important parts of the text stand out. It’s simple but effective.
Mozilla
Mozilla’s about page includes a brief introduction and an informative video. The layout and design is simple and descriptive enough.
Contact Page
This page usually lists the ways in which users can get in touch. Include email addresses, phone numbers, postal addresses or whatever you deem appropriate. It’s also common to include a simple contact form to make connecting easier.
Berttimmermans
Here is a complete and well-designed contact page with all the required things: common addresses, social-networking links and a contact form.
Surveymonkey
Survey Monkey has a proper contact page with links to other useful websites as well. Its interesting feature is that it uses maps to show the physical location of its offices. The lack of phone numbers and social-networking presence might be considered drawbacks.
Crazyegg
The Crazy Egg “contact” page, like most others, is very simple. This is the most common style for “contact” pages. A contact form is the focal point of the page, and Crazy Egg’s phone number and email address listing is nearby.
Help/FAQ/Support Page
Pages like these help users to use the services the website provides by instructing them or answering questions. The names of these pages should indicate their content: “Help” for general help, “FAQ” for frequently asked questions (usually about different aspects of the website or its services) and “Support” to address specific concerns or problems and to provide troubleshooting advice.
Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor has a well-structured “help” page that breaks concerns into categories to make topical searching easy for users. It also uses icons to support its categorization and puts everything in the right place.
Apple
Apple’s support page is brilliant, like its products! The topics are well categorized and cover all areas that users might be interested in.
Google Help Center
“Help Center” is the right name for this section of Google’s website. There are many, many Google products, so the support system must be comprehensive and well organized in order for it to be effective and usable.
Blog
Blogs have several benefits. They take advantage of user participation and are notable SEO tools. Users are interested in blogs, and most websites have them now.
Nature
This one is well designed and has good navigation and categorization that helps users find what they seek.
KISSmetrics
KISS Metrics’s blog page is another good, simple example. It has a beautiful look and feel, and the sidebar gives users many options and facilities.
Sitemap
Sitemaps generally present a complete list of the pages on a website (usually in a tree-view scheme or something like that) to help users search with ease. Sitemaps are also good for search-engine optimization (SEO).
Intel
Intel’s comprehensive and well-categorized sitemap is a good example. Compare it with sitemaps in which all links are listed in a single column without any partitioning or labeling. Those are more troublesome than useful.
Papex
Take a look at this page. For a user-friendly sitemap, design graphically. It will be attractive and alive, and you’ll be able to show a hierarchy of different sections or pages. This method is suitable for small-scale websites.
Log-In or Sign-Up Page
This page is the entry gate for registered users or those who want to become members. It should be a clear and functional page that facilitates quickness.
Plaxo
This page gives users the ability to sign in via other accounts in addition to Plaxo accounts. Its design is also clear.
Joyent
Joyent’s page focuses in on the sign-up form, which makes the page easy to use. Let’s not forget its good form either; the most notable feature of Joynet is, obviously, the link to in the sign-in page for registered users at the top of the form, which also increases usability.
Overstock
The Overstock account page tried to enhance usability by putting both the sign-up and sign-in forms on one page. It’s a good idea from the designers’ perspective as well as the users’. Most websites should do this.
For another example, consider a business website that likely has pages that list products, services, pricing and so on. There are plenty of other types of pages that might be appropriate to include as well.
Rapidxhtml
Nature
Take a look at two above examples. The first one is a commercial website and the second is a non-profit one. See some potential pages a website could have.
Splash Pages, or Intro Pages
Up to this section we’ve spoken about pages that candidates for inclusion on websites of all kinds, but there is another one—a debatable one. It’s known as a “splash” or intro page. If it exists on a website, it’s the first page that users see when they reach the website; it comes before the home page. It’s used to welcome and, most of the time, involves Flash animation.
A remarkable number of users don’t like splash pages, and they’re prone to SEO-related problems. Yet sometimes they can be useful—for example, when they provide options related to technical requirements, such as asking users what browser, language or version they prefer.
Look at the example below. On Production’s intro page gives users the option of selecting either its HTML website or a Flash game. It’s an example of the proper use of an intro page even though it could be removed without affecting the website’s content or goals.
Onproduction
Fewer or More Pages?
More pages is equal to more content and, from an SEO-oriented perspective, more content is equal to more chances for a website to move up the list of search results. However, user satisfaction should be the aim of every designer, and users don’t appreciate endless page loading, so designers should use the fewest number of pages possible. This doesn’t mean cutting content or cramming pages; it just means using every pixel of every page profitably. For example, it’s possible to put information from another page, like the contact page, into the header or footer of the home page. The information becomes easy to access, and usability increases. Running with this idea will decrease the number of unnecessary pages and improve efficiency.
Boxee
Boxee took advantage of header space for log-in boxes instead of building a separate log-in page.
Blackwell
Blackwell’s book shop has placed its sitemap in the footer to increase usability and accessibility.
Ditley
Ditley subtly placed its contact information in the home page. Also, using a slider in the portfolio viewer eliminates the need to go to a separate portfolio page to see finished projects.
This is another viable way to place content together: to use UX design patterns to enhance user-interface functionality. Sliders and dynamic tabs are only two of the features that could be very handy when presenting a large amount of information in a small section of a page.
Planetonline
By using dynamic tabs, PlanetOnline saved page space and provided a variety of things in one place that are likely helpful for users.
Conclusion
We can look at design from various perspectives, but we must always do so with users and their convenience in mind. We want to create pleasant experiences, with few page loads, that entice visitors to stay in one place. From this point of view, it’s better to design as few pages as possible—but there is no strict rule for determining the correct number of pages for websites. That determination is best made with individual situations in mind. Still, we should strive to keep away from unnecessary pages. Our visions and our plans should determine the right number for each project.
Image Credits
This can depend on the project, but once we have communicated and we have determined what you are looking for, most projects take 4 – 6 weeks.
Very enjoyable read. Thank you Mohammad. Too much scrolling down a long web page? Depends on the visitor. Less clicks and less scrolling is a motto we try to honor.
Great Article! You laid down the website foundations really well.
Very interesting article! Thank’s
According to me Joyent is best because it looks very user friendly and simple. i loves to go with single pages. great post. keep up the right and good work.
Hi,
Number of pages of particular website is depend on project and analysis. If website is about ecommerce portal then it has thousands of pages and if websites is static then it has limited number of pages.
If your content is long than it is beneficial to have different pages instead having content in only one page. It is easy for Google to index particular page. It can be done by giving continuing of pages.
Thanks for nice particle . It is very useful when creating new web design. I am going to bookmark this post for future reference.
Excellent article as per usual.
This is a good post. There are many things should be taken into consideration, but you’ve made a good point here. Thanks a lot for that. I will follow your way soon.
Very Interesting Read… thanks!
nice article, it can help anyone even rookies that start now their business!!
every client have different specifications and this depend on the type of the website.
Thanks for the information – I was wondering more about the details… numbers, Taking into account the number of pages that my website has and the time that it has been up…. Is the site where it is supposed to be as far as ranking? will it take time? more pages to get higher ranking? (of course besides more effort)
All depends as per requirement.
Awesome article about pages needed for a website..The website you have showcases are really pleasant looking and good web design..
Great article, thanks for sharing. I always try to get my prospects to think about pages and sub pages, since it all adds up to the cost of the website.
Hi Mohammed,
Well done for the article, it was really great and precise. Even thought it was first publish in 2011, it ‘s an evergreen topic. Your examples showing the “good” website to showcase all the points are fantastic.