But a bookmark is only helpful if it does it's job: allowing you to quickly access a specific web page. Part of that is being able to remember or recognize the site by the name of the favorite. Regardless of the browser, when a page is bookmarked, the browser uses the title of the web page for the title of the favorite. So it's important that web designers consider this when titling pages. If it's the home page, then the site title is probably best. If it's a page inside the site, then it should include the primary headline of the page.
Wikipedia does this elegantly. Here are some examples:
| My description | Page title | URL |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia home page | Wikipedia | www.wikipedia.org |
| Page about Suzanne Collins | Suzanna Collins - Wikipedia | en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzanne_Collins |
However there are still some sites that, for some reason, use the title for other purposes. I won't go as far as to say it's wrong, but I will admit, I don't understand the strategy.
| My description | Page title | URL |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads home page | Share Book Recommendations With Your Friends, Join Book Clubs, Answer Trivia | www.goodreads.com |
| Page about The Unwanteds | Goodreads | The Unwanteds (Unwanteds, #1) by Lisa McMann — Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists | www.goodreads.com/book/show/9917879-the-unwanteds |
With titles this large they can't even be seen on the browser tab, nor on the bookmark button. So, again, I don't understand the strategy here. I suppose one could say this helps with search engine optimization (SEO). However, in HTML, there are meta tags for that very purpose.
Consider this when titling your web pages: the title shouldn't be an afterthought; it deserves some type of strategy.
