Every time I come across a link leading to HP’s angry garden salad of a Web site, I feel as if I stepped in chewing gum. Unfortunately for me, being a sysadmin means I have to deal with HP’s crapplet hairball on a regular basis. HP’s Web design and development teams follow four simple rules:

1. Broken links and images – the more the merrier. HP’s Web site seems to consist of at least fifty percent broken links. This is the company that’s behind some of the most popular enterprise monitoring applications. I guess HP doesn’t want to eat it’s own dog food.
2. Horizontal scrolling. Yes, the early 1990s are still here. Either that or HP Web designers are working in anamorphic format.
3. Tiny product photos must be surrounded by vast areas of barren whiteness. Otherwise the customers may think HP is running out of space.
4. Cheesy clip art is back! Why spend money on original artwork when you can buy stock photos for twenty bucks?

Sad to say, but HP Web site accurately represent the company products. At least in the field that concerns me personally: enterprise-class servers. It’s like buying stock photos: you pay twenty bucks and get something that fills the empty space.

P.S. An actual HP URL (broken, of course):