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New Websites for Martha and the Minimalist

Good things. Both Martha Stewart and Minimalist Mark Bittman, of The New York Times, launched new websites this week to tie in to their TV shows.

Mark Bittman's Best Recipes in the World minisite is the companion website for Bittman's new PBS show and the Best Recipes in The World cookbook. The site, like the new show, is quirky. Don't let the red plane zooming around the site distract you from the recipes including Mushroom Caviar with Toast and Plantains in Coconut Milk. We like how Random House recommends novels and non-fiction for further reading with each set of recipes.

That brings us to Martha Stewart's eponymous new site. Martha, Martha, Martha. The new site is our guide to all things Martha linking nine brands -- from Blueprint to Weddings -- and ten categories under one big light blue and peach tent. Pshew, this site is rich. We admire the sites ambitious attempts to incorporate video and tabbed search results here.

Some of us were regulars around the old Martha site, so we're still getting used to the new digs. For example, the old site had a single page that listed all of the Everyday Food recipes in one easy-to-browse page. We can't find a page like that, but hope it turns up as the new site settles in.

Fancy your self a mini-Martha? Then you might like the new game at somartha.com.

There's a Community section on the new site that features the same bulletin boards used on the old site plus a Blueprint blog and some ideas submitted by readers. The Martha brand is known for tight control over all the details . . . think they will enable comments on their recipes or some of their articles?

Comments (2)

i'm the editorial director of marthastewart.com, and thrilled to see a post about our new site here. thanks for the coverage!

stay tuned to our site for more developments... by the fall, you'll see great new community features... rating, saving, sharing, and more.

posted by jody j on April 13th 2007 at 6:31am
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jody j - I have so many questions about the new site. Where is the advanced recipe search? Where is the plant encyclopedia? I'm having such a hard time finding anything. I like the improved search but the rest is a usability nightmare. Please rethink how people might want to find some of the most useful info on the site and make it more user friendly.

posted by mgn on April 13th 2007 at 2:57pm
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