Today, many restaurants have their own websites to connect with their guests; two such local restaurants are Bravo Franco Ristorante and Six Penn Kitchen. Unlike Justine’s, whose site was featured on “Web Pages that Suck”, both sites are well-organized and user-friendly. Both sites fulfill the principle of unity, discussed in Chapter 1 of The Principles of Beautiful Web Design. This is accomplished, for example, through proximity and repetition on the menu pages. They also implement balance, also discussed in Chapter 1. While not fully symmetrical, they still feel complete; if they were scales, they would not tip. However, they do differ somewhat in terms of emphasis. While Six Penn emphasizes sections within pages, the pages themselves lack true title other than a rather subtle change in the banner. It requires some thought to know where one is on the site. Bravo Franco, on the other hand, gives each page a title, displayed on top in a large font size, requiring little to no thought.

Both sites also implement Steve Krug’s five “things” quite well. They have little to distract from the content, and the content itself well-organized on both sites. They use the convention of grouping together certain types of dishes, like appetizers and entrées, breaking the pages into clear sections. They achieve this convention by using a visual hierarchy. One can also see this on Bravo Franco’s wine page, where their wines are divided first into how they are served, then categories, and finally the specific types. Finally, they seem equal in how they show links. The links on the banner, while not blatantly obvious, require little thought to recognize them as links.

While both are designed well, I have to say Bravo Franco kept my interest more than Six Penn. First off, it feels slightly more organized, as it has clear titles on its pages while Six Penn does not. The other reasons are more aesthetic. Despite its organization, Six Penn’s lack of texture made the site feel a little flat, and its color scheme includes a rather sickly green, instead of a hearty green associate with good vegetables. The textures and colors on Bravo Franco’s page, on the other hand, give the site dimension and even make me a little hungry. That is a sign that a restaurant’s page has done its job.