The two burger restaurants that I chose were McDonald’s and Burger King.  Both websites have many similarities and differences.  They both demonstrate some type of balance, unity, and emphasis.

The McDonald’s web page has a textured background on its homepage giving the site depth and an appealing look.  The main colors on the page are red with accents of yellow.  The McDonald’s logo is in the top left corner of every page, which creates consistency and unity between pages.  The menu bar is located on the left side of the screen.  When the mouse goes over each tab, it lights up and shows a preview of what is under that tab to add emphasis to the information being delivered.  Plus, there are pictures of each of the food items to make it easier to scan the site faster.  Some of the pages have sound, which adds a fun feel to them.  The text on every page is centered, and there is a lot of negative space on either side of the information.  This gives the site balance and makes the layout look very clean.

The McDonald’s site follows Krug’s five important “things” very well.  There is a clear hierarchy shown on each page by making the showcased items larger than others or adding animations to the important tabs they want people to click on.  McDonalds takes advantage of the logo making it a link and putting it on each page.   Also, each page is separated by category, and the menu tab on the left side of the page clearly defines that.  The links on the side light up and give a preview, which makes it obvious the customer should click on them.  Finally, the noise level of the site is very low because the information is all centered and there is very minimal text on the screen making the site easy to read and understand.

Burger King’s web page is a lot different from McDonald’s in many ways.  The homepage uses a lot of earthy colors and has a picture in the background that is blurred out to add depth.  The menu tab is located at the top of the page.  The tabs change color when the cursor hovers over them, but there is no preview of the items in the tab unless it is clicked on.  There are pictures of all the food items neatly organized under the “menu” tab, which creates emphasis on each item.  The Burger King logo is in the left corner of ever page, which shows consistency in each page and unity.  Plus, the background of each page is just about the same, which shows a lot of unity between the pages.   To add emphasis to their restaurant, they have a video of their commercial on the homepage at the bottom.  The text is in the center of each page, and there is a lot of negative space just like McDonald’s site.  Also, the text is very minimal, and it makes the site easier to understand.

The Burger King page follows Kurg’s five important “things” almost as well as McDonald’s.  There is a clear hierarchy of what food items they are featuring on the homepage by making them large and in the center.  Also, the logo is used on each page as a link just like McDonald’s, but Burger King does not use specific colors on each page that relate to the logo.  The pages are clearly defined by the tabs at the top, but they do not preview what is on each page unless they are clicked on.  Burger King’s site does not make it obvious what links are clickable unless the mouse is hovering over them.  There are a lot more animations on the McDonald’s page to make navigating around a lot easier and more obvious.  There is less noise on Burger King’s web page because the background stays consistent, where as the backgrounds on the McDonald’s site changes with each page.

Overall, the McDonald’s web page is more effective than the Burger King website.  There are a lot more animations, and it is easier to navigate around.  McDonald’s site is faster to scan through and the colors are a lot brighter than Burger King.  All of these aspects make the McDonald’s page more appealing to look at as compared to Burger King’s site.