What is Accounting
What is Xero? Xero is beautiful accounting software. It says so right on the tin. Watching the video gives you a very memorable impression of what Xero is all about. That's why it gets top billing.
What is Accounting
It’s always a big challenge re-designing a homepage, so we thought we’d share some of our thinking, why we made the choices we made.
Any time you approach the design of a homepage you’re opening yourself up to world of conflicting opinions and internal strife. Every department insists on a prominent link on the homepage – as they see it, their link is a big reason people come to our site.
And they’re right. All of them. Sales, support, finance, HR – the people they deal with come to our site to connect with them. Our previous homepage tried to give relatively equal footing to all those different needs and ended up being cluttered and confused. It grew into a barrage of competing links all trying to get your attention at the same time.
For existing customers, Login is the most important link on the page. Even though it’s the most important link, it doesn’t need to be the biggest link. It just needs to be easy to spot, then it quickly becomes a habit.
The secondary reason existing customers visit is to find add-ons, find an accountant or get support. Which are all covered in the Do More menu, right next to the Login link.
And they rank in that order. Even though they all seem equally important, they’re not. Business owners matter most because without them none of us would be here.
Accountants & bookkeepers follow very closely, so we definitely make sure we address them in a prominent way. For everyone else, relevant links are on the homepage, just not prominently.
It says so right on the tin. Watching the video gives you a very memorable impression of what Xero is all about. That’s why it gets top billing.
You should care because it’s beautiful – not just on the surface – it will change the way you do business. Don’t take our word for it, listen to what our customers have to say.
That’s why all the content on the homepage explains the benefits of Xero – that it gives them a new way of working together and doing business. That it connects people and data together, in real-time. That it makes it super simple to keep everyone up-to-speed, so you can make smart business decisions when it matters most – right now.
Realistically most people aren’t quite ready to sign up on their first visit – they probably want to learn more about how it works and what it costs, so there’s a Do More menu to guide people in the right direction.
The product isn’t the reason Xero is important. Connecting people, so they can work better together, is the reason Xero is important. The focus is on people, not the product.
We also realized that people have an emotional attachment to Xero. That’s unusual for software. It’s completely unheard of for accounting software. So we wanted to make sure that new visitors get a sense of that emotional connection, which really sets Xero apart from any other accounting software.
If you visit the homepage on a mobile device you’ll see a custom mobile version of the page featuring just the video and links to Xero Touch for iPhone and Android.
New site looks fantastic. Kudos to Philip – I greatly enjoyed reading the thinking behind the redesign. Industry leading perspective on product & website design.
Thanks for the heads up around the strategy of the re-design. Like Xero itself, It. Just. Works. Great design, and great to be thinking of the user experience right through it!
Should we be expecting a re-fresh on the product design as well? I love the new clean website interface and excited to see what you come up with in the future. I’m hoping you’re the Mint.com for business.
Personally, I don’t think the previous version was “cluttered”. “Do More”? It’s not very clear what that button does if you’re on the site to find yourself an accountant/bookkeeper to help you with your Xero. If we run with that thinking, let’s get rid of Accounts Payable/Receivable inside Xero, and put all the menus under a “Do more” dropdown box. That way the title bar won’t be so cluttered. You’d see just the dashboard, and a DO MORE button.
Further to that, if there’s a custom mobile device version of the page, why does it seem to be formatted for a tablet? I don’t know about you, but the majority of PCs now have a widescreen, with a resolution of about 1920×1080, but instead the site is VERY narrow, and just scrolls down for about 6 pages?? Why not format for a widescreen PC, and leave the custom mobile page for tablets?
There’s always one, isn’t there….well, I LOVE it. (written on an iPhone while cooking the sausages – which is what it’s all about, hey?)
Hi @Paul, I think you require multiple levels of what we call tracking in a timesheet. We'll definitely look at this when we come to ...
I agree with Adrian. With the recent homepage redesign, it seems that formatting is going towards small resolutions & tablets. However looking at ...
Any time you approach the design of a homepage you’re opening yourself up to world of conflicting opinions and internal strife. Every department insists on a prominent link on the homepage – as they see it, their link is a big reason people come to our site.
And they’re right. All of them. Sales, support, finance, HR – the people they deal with come to our site to connect with them. Our previous homepage tried to give relatively equal footing to all those different needs and ended up being cluttered and confused. It grew into a barrage of competing links all trying to get your attention at the same time.
For existing customers, Login is the most important link on the page. Even though it’s the most important link, it doesn’t need to be the biggest link. It just needs to be easy to spot, then it quickly becomes a habit.
The secondary reason existing customers visit is to find add-ons, find an accountant or get support. Which are all covered in the Do More menu, right next to the Login link.
And they rank in that order. Even though they all seem equally important, they’re not. Business owners matter most because without them none of us would be here.
Accountants & bookkeepers follow very closely, so we definitely make sure we address them in a prominent way. For everyone else, relevant links are on the homepage, just not prominently.
It says so right on the tin. Watching the video gives you a very memorable impression of what Xero is all about. That’s why it gets top billing.
You should care because it’s beautiful – not just on the surface – it will change the way you do business. Don’t take our word for it, listen to what our customers have to say.
That’s why all the content on the homepage explains the benefits of Xero – that it gives them a new way of working together and doing business. That it connects people and data together, in real-time. That it makes it super simple to keep everyone up-to-speed, so you can make smart business decisions when it matters most – right now.
Realistically most people aren’t quite ready to sign up on their first visit – they probably want to learn more about how it works and what it costs, so there’s a Do More menu to guide people in the right direction.
The product isn’t the reason Xero is important. Connecting people, so they can work better together, is the reason Xero is important. The focus is on people, not the product.
We also realized that people have an emotional attachment to Xero. That’s unusual for software. It’s completely unheard of for accounting software. So we wanted to make sure that new visitors get a sense of that emotional connection, which really sets Xero apart from any other accounting software.
If you visit the homepage on a mobile device you’ll see a custom mobile version of the page featuring just the video and links to Xero Touch for iPhone and Android.
New site looks fantastic. Kudos to Philip – I greatly enjoyed reading the thinking behind the redesign. Industry leading perspective on product & website design.
Thanks for the heads up around the strategy of the re-design. Like Xero itself, It. Just. Works. Great design, and great to be thinking of the user experience right through it!
Should we be expecting a re-fresh on the product design as well? I love the new clean website interface and excited to see what you come up with in the future. I’m hoping you’re the Mint.com for business.
Personally, I don’t think the previous version was “cluttered”. “Do More”? It’s not very clear what that button does if you’re on the site to find yourself an accountant/bookkeeper to help you with your Xero. If we run with that thinking, let’s get rid of Accounts Payable/Receivable inside Xero, and put all the menus under a “Do more” dropdown box. That way the title bar won’t be so cluttered. You’d see just the dashboard, and a DO MORE button.
Further to that, if there’s a custom mobile device version of the page, why does it seem to be formatted for a tablet? I don’t know about you, but the majority of PCs now have a widescreen, with a resolution of about 1920×1080, but instead the site is VERY narrow, and just scrolls down for about 6 pages?? Why not format for a widescreen PC, and leave the custom mobile page for tablets?
There’s always one, isn’t there….well, I LOVE it. (written on an iPhone while cooking the sausages – which is what it’s all about, hey?)
Hi @Paul, I think you require multiple levels of what we call tracking in a timesheet. We'll definitely look at this when we come to ...
I agree with Adrian. With the recent homepage redesign, it seems that formatting is going towards small resolutions & tablets. However looking at ...
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