Waitlist Page Template
Use this template when the artifact is a pre-launch / private-beta / early-access waitlist for a product that wants to feel measured and exclusive — not a growth-hack countdown page.
Use When
- The product is not yet shipping — primary CTA is "join the waitlist", not "sign up free".
- Audience is niche / creative / pro — visual creators, AI tinkerers, indie founders, design-tool users.
- The vibe should be calm, curated, "few slots" — not "10,000 people are on the list, hurry".
- The page can carry one email form well, plus a slim feature triplet, and ends there.
Avoid When
- The product is shipping and ready for trial — use
saas-landing/(full marketing) orpricing-page/. - The brand is loud, neon, consumer-mass-market — wrong mood.
- The page needs to do conversion-optimization with multiple CTAs, A/B variants, urgency timers — this template's hushed tone is the opposite of that.
- The audience is enterprise — use a contact-sales pattern, not a public waitlist.
Required Reading
Read this SKILL.md first. Do not read 层云-waitlist.html by default.
Read 层云-waitlist.html only when you need: the floating-card drift loop (8 cards, 14–19s with staggered entrance), the fade-up cascade timing, the live-counter bump-on-submit animation, the glass-nav backdrop blur, or the form success / error states. Extract patterns; do not copy the placeholder brand voice, the 820+ counter starting value, or class names wholesale.
Design Strategy
A waitlist page does one job. Decide the singular hook before adding anything:
- "Your creative system. Finally arrived." (product-thesis hook)
- "Built for [audience], not everyone." (exclusion hook)
- "We're opening 100 seats this month." (scarcity hook — use sparingly)
Then keep the spine short:
- Fixed nav (logo + secondary link + small CTA)
- Hero teaser with drifting visual cards
- One-line headline + one-line subline
- Email form with live joiner count
- 3-feature article triptych (optional)
- Mid-page CTA echo
- Minimal footer
Resist adding pricing, testimonials, FAQ — those belong on the post-launch landing.
Layout Bias
Prefer:
- deep charcoal background with subtle radial vignette
- one accent color (the template uses success-green) for the joiner pill and form success
- thin weights for body, medium-bold for headline, no display-poster type
- soft floating animations (14–19s loops) — never bouncy, never fast
- form succeeds in place — no redirect to a generic "thanks" page
- live counter that bumps up by one on submit
Avoid:
- countdown timers, urgency banners, scarcity badges
- testimonials from people who haven't used the product
- 3D plastic mockup hero images
- 黑金 / neon-cyber palettes
- emoji in the counter or features
Platform / Size
Desktop and mobile both first-class — waitlists get shared on Twitter / 微信 and most clicks are mobile. Keep the hero readable at 360px width; the floating cards should reduce to 4 (not 8) on mobile.