A homepage that's interactive is a great way to mix important central content with engaging updates directly from your employees. It creates a lively and personalized online space that your employees will enjoy.
Objectives of your interactive homepage
Before you dive into design, clarify what you want your interactive homepage to achieve. Typically, it aims to:
- Make the experience personalized with the timeline, presenting news and updates that are relevant to every user.
- Encourage users to actively interact and share with each other to foster a sense of community.
- Keep everyone informed with the latest news, key topics, and upcoming events.
- Ensure quick and easy access to essential tools and applications, including third-party integrations.
Setting up your homepage in Haiilo
You can craft a highly engaging interactive homepage using a combination of elements and widgets. Here are some we've found to be particularly effective:
- Hero Teaser: At the very top, a hero teaser immediately draws attention to the most crucial global announcements. This is where you'd place those selected global news topics.
- My Profile Widget: A friendly greeting makes the user feel valued from the moment they land on the page. It also offers easy access to the user's profile and boomarks.
- Timeline Widget: Prominently featured and where the magic happens—a constantly updating feed of personalized and relevant content.
- Subscriptions Widget: Clearly visible, it offers shortcuts to the content users care about most.
- Launchpad Links Widget: Provides a quick access point to frequently used tools, improving efficiency.
- Latest Blog Articles Widget: Ensures fresh, insightful content is always discoverable.
- Upcoming Events Widget: Keeps users informed about upcoming activities and deadlines.
- Multichannel Posts Widget: Highlights strategic communications or important campaigns.
Tips for an even better homepage
- Design Principles: For deeper insights into creating impactful homepages, explore the Designing Homepages article.
- Complementary Homepage: We often recommend complementing your interactive homepage with a separate editorially maintained homepage. This allows you to balance dynamic, user-generated content with carefully curated official information. Learn more in Example: Editorial homepage.