Top task grids

Your homepage acts as a signpost to the content on your site. It should point to your site's core pages - where users go to complete tasks and you achieve your business goals.

You can identify what should be included in this grid using the Core Page Model and data from Google Analytics. This will be covered in your training on Planning and Writing Web Content.

News and events

There are various ways that you can present news and events on your homepage.

The most used option is to display a news grid to feature your latest news. It will include your three most recent stories. This requires you to include a high quality image in every news item.

It's also possible to display an events grid. This also requires every event to have a high quality image.

To display both news and events on your homepage you can use a simple dual news and events list. 

Featured content

Featured content might include:

• a video
• a campaign advert, eg On Course to NCL
• a staff or student profile

You can have more than one piece of featured content on your homepage.

Logo carousel

A logo carousel can be added to your homepage to show your partners and collaborators, and awards you have won.

The standard image size for the logos in the carousel is 220px x 120px.

Dual tone headings

Dual tone headings are used to break up sections of content on the homepage. This heading style is used only on homepages.

The aim of the design is to carry through the Newcastle University branding using the two colours of the University logo.

Example homepage

We've created a best practice example of a homepage for the About section of the website. It shows the features described above in action with live content.