At first glance, the web site appeals to the viewer because of the coloring and graphics. According to The Eightfold Path to Enlightened Website, a web site is judged first and foremost by its home page... "it must rock or die." Blue Marlin's home page is not what you would expect from a clothing manufacturer, but instead maybe from a historical baseball collector. This is why I was first attracted to the site. The pictures are all black and white, some still and some action frames, set in a soothing black background. The deep black makes the photographs stand out and creates an old scrapbook-like effect to the whole site. The text is white and a soft yellow, which contrast sharply with the background but still are soothing enough on the eyes. These first four inches of the site are most appealing and sparked my interest in Blue Marlin. The largest photo in the center of the page changes every couple of seconds into three different frames of baseball, which holds a viewer's attention immediately.
The Blue Marlin home page and all links within the site include imagemaps, making each page easy to navigate for any viewer. Imagemaps are banners, headers, and footers that define multiple "live" links within a single graphic on a web page (Yale Guide). Blue Marlin uses this same layout on every page, giving a consistent graphic identitiy that allows viewer to adapt to the design qucikly and find information easily. A consistent layout also allows the designers to easily add or "plug in" text and graphics or to create a new link. At the top of each page, there is a graphic banner with the page headings HOME, BLUE MARLIN, MEDIA, CLOTHING, HATS, STORES and HELP that lead to internal Blue Marlin links. Down the left hand side is a column with HATS subheadings and graphics -- INT'L, MINOR and GIRLS -- with another picture labeled CLOTHING beneath them. The graphics are actual black and white photos of each historic baseball league, and with just a click the viewer is taken to the appropriate link. In the upper left-hand corner of most links are small action frames of the historical teams and their fans; pitchers throwing, baserunners sliding into home, and so on. These are subtle additives that add to the overall thrill of the game and the curiosity we have what things were like in the past.
