[Sigia-l] Ebay - fact or fiction?

[Jake Cressman]

Hi,

I'm fact checking a story I heard that sounds vaguely suspect. Maybe you've
heard it too and can refer me to some legitimate sources.

The story goes that ebay once had a yellow background color (I think I
remember that). Then one day, without altering the site architecture or
doing any page redesign, they changed the background color from yellow to
white. Immediately the ebay community revolted. Hundreds of emails came in
from users who said they could no longer navigate the site, that everything
had been "moved around" and that ebay better put it back the way it $%%#-ing
was. So, they did. The background color was changed back to yellow.

However, the design team at ebay began to incrementally change the
background color over a period of months. Each time they would adjust the
yellow a shade closer to white. Eventually the background was pure #FFFFFF
and the users lived happily ever after.

Anyone else heard this one? I was told the story's famous, but I've only
heard it once so...


Thanks,
Jake Cressman