http://www.bostonstoker.com is a promotional web site for a local coffee shop named Boston Stoker. The intended audience is the coffee drinking public. The site includes forums for the discussion of coffee and tea, information about the company, an online store, and wholesale buying information. With the URL matching the name of the company, it does a good job of reaching the public, but some areas like the Newsroom have obviously not been updated in some time.
The site uses a monochromatic background image in a rich brown shade. The actual content area uses a variety of background colors with the base of it being red, and specific content areas having different background colors. Within the content area, each element is off center, and the navigation bar is at an angle giving the home page an overall dynamic feel which would be otherwise missing in this essentially static home page. Use of color, especially the way that backgrounds go from darker to lighter, tends to draw the eye into the actual content. This site is useful for mail order coffee and accessory purchases as well as finding locations and hours of the nearest Boston Stoker
In contrast, http://www.myitforum.com is a resource web site intended for IT professionals. Based on the number of people involved in forums, and providing content, it is certainly reaching its intended audience.
The home page changes on a regular basis, and as a reference work instead of a marketing tool it is much less artsy than that of Boston Stoker. This page uses a predominantly white background, yet some content areas have different colored backgrounds. The changing background colors help the eye in discerning between different regions in the home page. This makes it easier to find content quickly. The site is useful to any IT Professional who needs assistance on a project, or just wants to learn more about the tools of the trade.
