HP.com the chameleon
In around 2000, Hewlett Packard launched its then latest website; the website quickly became a case study synonymous with what not to do online.
I remember reading two books and a few online pieces at the time that pointed to the terrible navigation, lack of intuitiveness and complex page design.
The website has since been through several rounds of development and enhancement; the latest version – though hardly a case study for optimal web design – sports a great homepage feature.
If you visit the homepage, there are a number of hero stories geared around key Hewlett Packard services and products; printers, government services and laptops for example. The case studiwa refresh every few seconds, automatically synchronising the key homepage navigation colours and other website components - if the case study colour is hot pink and advertising SOHO printers, the homepage navigation changes to hot pink also, highlighting the navigation reflecting those areas of the website relevant to the case study.
In turn, this assists the user in determining which areas of the website are relevant to the case study (product and service), and which areas of the website are irrelevant.
The effect is simple, stylish and professional, makes great use of the limited homepage real estate and presents HP as colourful and creative organisation.
For those interested, the effect uses Javascript and is fairly easily implemented.
