Hacker News Reader

Comment by nemesis1637 | Hacker News Reader

The logo (of the Cascade site) is clearly above the fold in the upper right corner.

"Do as I say, not as I do"

(I'm the author.) You're right that a dimmed logo shows there, but it's low on the visual hierarchy. So this still fits the goal I explain in the post: put what customers want to know first.

Well, I still see a logo above the fold, whether it's dimmed or not, it kinda invalidates your point.

That point seems pedantic to me. The author is talking about the logo as central element on the flow of the page. His point was to put communicating with your potential customers above shoving a brand down their throat.

EDIT: Although on second thoughts, there is an argument in there for a revision of the actual literal advice to align with the point.

Thanks. The point is to place the logo low on the visual heirarchy. 'Below the fold' is just a snappier (and also somewhat less accurate) way of stating that point.

It's also a landing page vs. a website. I can see why it would make a difference in this case, but it's not really general purpose advice.

Having a logo in the top left that links to the homepage is common enough that people expect it. A good example of something that's counterintuitive is the blog post itself; it's really not obvious without hunting for it that the text "fellow." on the top right goes home.

I tried to indicate your first point in the post:

> But for small startups like mine, ...

> Brand awareness doesn’t exist if your customers number in the hundreds.

I think it's clear that I'm talking about landing pages for a certain type and size of business, and not all websites in general.

Also, thanks for the suggestion about the blog theme. I hacked that together really quickly, and it could use some improvements.

Edit: formatting.

I don't think it really matters how many customers you have. Your goal isn't to build brand awareness at this point, it's to get the visitor to provide their email.

It's a great example of a landing page that clearly lays out the problem and solution. I especially like the dark on light/light on dark transitions.

Yes, the real rule here is 'breaking the rules for a landing page. The author hasn't noted that his site is a one page site. I suspect that when he adds any extra pages the logo will appear back at the top again. Actually, I'd argue that a number of designers know that landing pages are not standard site pages. I certainly always design a content page to figure out the general structure and expect landing pages—particularly the home page—to potentially break these rules as their goals are different (by the time you end up on a content page, you are usually looking for specific information).

..and it's one of the first things I looked for also.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com