Splash screen

Purpose

Splash screens are typically used by particularly large applications to notify the user that the program is in the process of loading. They provide feedback that a lengthy process is underway. Occasionally, a progress bar within the splash screen indicates the loading progress. A splash screen disappears when the application's main window appears. Splash screens may be added for a period of time and then replaced anew.

Splash screens typically serve to enhance the look and feel of an application or web site, hence they are often visually appealing. They may also have animations, graphics, and sound.

On the Web, a splash screen is a page of a web site that acts as a front page prior to displaying the home page. Designers may use splash pages:

• To direct users to the appropriate website for their country or language preference.
• To direct users to a low-bandwidth site or one more accessible to disabled users.
• As an additional form of advertising.
• to restrict access to content such as pornography, alcohol advertising or sales, or gambling.
• As an aesthetic complement to the main page.
• To grab someone's attention to take them to a page with more details usually for a product that they are selling.

An early use of the splash screen on a Flash website was to enable the site developer to launch the site in a JavaScript-controlled new window without browser elements such as scroll-bars or an address bar, and in the exact size of the Flash movie. This has gone out of style with the predominance of pop-up blockers. Later, many Flash web pages started allowing their audience to choose to go to full screen viewing instead of running in a pop-up window.

Since splash screens often increase the wait for the desired content and may take a long time to load, they are not liked by all users. Web splash screens are especially inconvenient for users with slow internet connections as the first page may take longer to load. Moreover, if the user has turned off rich content, such as images, Flash, or Shockwave, the splash page may not load at all. Splash pages and any associated main pages created in Flash often cannot be accessed by search engines or handled by text readers for the blind.