Recently, I went to a department store to buy a sport coat. After finding one I liked, I left it hanging on the rack while I went to look for my wife to get her opinion. When we got back, I walked over to the rack where the sport coat had been only to discover that the rack contained pants! I thought I was going nuts. I knew I had the correct clothing rack. I looked around and spotted a clerk diligently moving clothes from one rack to another like some kind of deranged pack rat. When I asked her why on earth she was doing that, she explained that it was store policy to rearrange the inventory to give the appearance of fluidity (or something like that). When I told her about my missing sport coat, she told me to look “over there,” across the room. Sure enough, my lost coat was where the pants used to be.

Tag! You’re It!

This same type of practice goes on all the time on IBM’s Web site. I can’t begin to count the times I’ve found something interesting on IBM’s Web site, only to discover that the page is no longer there the next time I visit. What’s worse, the page I used to get to the general area has changed. I can’t find anything! Is this supposed to be good for business?

Case in point: I used to use the online technical manuals on IBM’s Web site all the time. Not anymore. I’m tired of playing hide-and-seek with IBM. They keep hiding their Web pages, and I keep playing their game by clicking on link after link, trying to find them again. I used to find the manuals by clicking on the SUPPORT menu option from the AS/400 home page (www.as400.ibm.com). Now, every time IBM moves the online manuals, the only way I can find them is by using the search feature, which brings up a list of about 35 items for me to sort through. If I search the wrong area of the Web site, I have to start over. What a pain!

Currently, the online technical manuals are at the AS/400 Information Starting Point (publib.boulder.ibm.com/html/ as400/onlinelib.htm). Warning: Don’t go to this site hoping to find the Redbooks that used to be grouped with the manuals. They’ve also been moved. They’re now on submenu Redbooks Home at as400bks.rochester.ibm.com/pubs/html/ redbooks/. What’s really annoying is that between the time I originally wrote this and the time it went to the printer, the links to these pages had changed again! Geez! Whether these URLs will still be accurate by the time you read this is anybody’s guess.

Must Have Been a Rocket Scientist

IBM’s Web site design was obviously the brainchild of a person who has never had to use these links on a regular basis. Trying to navigate IBM’s Web site is akin to walking through an M.C. Escher painting. What a mess! The stairs go every direction but don’t lead anywhere.

This is outrageous! If I wrote software like this, the users would kill me! Imagine designing a data entry screen, training your users to navigate it, letting them get comfortable with it, and then, without warning, moving all the fields around so that it’s no longer even remotely recognizable. How long do you think you’d keep your job if you did that? What makes IBM think anyone appreciates this “dynamic” approach to Web site design?

Don’t get me wrong; I like an exciting Web site as much as the next guy. After all, who likes to see the same thing every time they visit their favorite URL? If the view isn’t interesting and doesn’t contain rotating, dynamic content, you probably won’t visit it very often. But how often will you visit a Web site where you can’t find the same thing two days in a row? Who’s got time to look for the same information over and over? This isn’t productive. This is criminal. When IBM wastes my time by making me hunt for information, it’s equivalent to sticking me up at gunpoint and snatching my wallet.

NOW HEAR THIS!

So here’s a message for you, IBM:

STOP SCREWING AROUND WITH YOUR WEB SITE ON MY TIME! If you want to experiment, do it on a server in-house. Don’t try something new on the live Web site, decide you don’t like it, and then arbitrarily change it. You are not improving customer relations. On the other hand, if your intent is to annoy, beyond belief, your Web site visitors, you’re doing a fine job.