The Martha Stewart Website (http://www.marthastewart.com/) is an excellent example of a Website that has interesting and appropriate content, visual appeal, good navigation, acceptable download speed, and interactivity. The content for MarthaÆs site consists of recipes, video segments of her shows, articles from her magazines, information on her television program segments, craft projects, holidays, entertaining, decorating, and homekeepingùall topics that Martha is well known for.
Underneath each of these topics are subtopics, as well. For example, homekeeping includes home office, homekeeping 101, organizing, petkeeping, traveling, stain first aid, and MarthaÆs trademark ôgood things.ö The content is presented beautifully, with color images accompanying most items. Reference pages such as the ôgood thingsö listing are in MarthaÆs characteristic muted Jadeite green, an elegant and unobtrusive color that bespeaks elegance and good breeding. Web pages that provide instructions on how to make craft projects include not only photographs of the finished project but also of the various preparation steps, along with the instructions in step-by-step text form. Where applicable, downloadable templates in PDF format are provided to use as patterns.
The visual appeal of the site has both positive and negative factors. Although the main page is laid out in an organized fashion, for example, it looks a bit busy and would be more attractive if stripped down a bit and composed more artistically. Large advertisements would be more acceptable if they were advertising MarthaÆs publications or wares, but they are not, so they clash with the content and image of the site. However, MarthaÆs preference for ordered, logically organized ideas shows through, and this adds a clean element to the visuals. The look of the site seems consistent with its intended audienceùupscale housewives and craftersùand with
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