Throughout my research of the built environment this semester I have explored many different things that Atlanta has to offer. What I have focused on the most is transportation in Atlanta. That is why I chose the site itsmarta.com. Upon arriving at this site I first noticed that there was a lot of white space on the homepage. This gave me a very generic type of feeling. It felt like this would be the kind of site that would be seen in the early 2000s. I also noticed that there was a lot of links throughout the site especially on the homepage. This made it clear to me that this site was mean’t to be informative.
With there being a lot of information throughout the site there needed to be a lot of pictures and thats what I found while searching through the site. With there being many pictures to go along with the links, this told me that this site was meant to be used by people of all races, ages, and intellect. Plain and simple, this site is easy to use and navigate through. If a visitor wanted to find out how to use MARTA, see schedules and maps, look through the discounts, see whats going on in the MARTA world, and find information about MARTA, there are links for all of these.
http://www.itsmarta.com/using-marta.aspx
On this page it will take first time visitors on a step by step process on how to use Marta. This page teaches visitors how to get from point A to point B, enables visitors to plan their trip according to their time schedule, and it shows visitors popular destinations around the Atlanta area and how to get get there.
http://www.itsmarta.com/schedules-maps.aspx
This page gives visitors an overview over the Marta bus and train schedules. This page also provides a map of the routes that both the train and the bus travel on. At first glance the Marta bus and train maps will look confusing to first time visitors, but once you get onto the correct line thats going in the right direction then everything else will be a breeze.
http://www.itsmarta.com/fares-discounts.aspx
Visitors that visit this page will learn about the discount and payment system that MARTA has. On this page the visitor will find that there are many discounts for disabled people, students, teachers, and elderly people. MARTA also encourages their visitors to purchase a breeze card as it is a safe, fast, and reliable way to make MARTA payments.
http://www.itsmarta.com/news-and-events.aspx
Visitors that come across this page will be able to see what is happening in the Marta world. Visitors can come to this page if they want to find out when an event is happening, to read the newsletters, to see updates on schedule changes, and to voice their opinion on Marta’s public forum.
http://www.itsmarta.com/about-marta.aspx
This page gives visitors a brief overview of the history of Marta and what they are all about. This page could be used for people wanting to do research on Marta, find a job working for Marta, and people looking to get in contact with people that have a leadership role.
Overall, I enjoyed my experience traveling through itsmarta.com. This site helped to expand my knowledge over the transportation system in Atlanta. I found that it was beneficial that I was able to visit different MARTA locations and do research, as well as do research on what they were all about online. I love how easy the site is to use, but if I were the designer of itsmarta.com I would add more color to attract and entertain people in a better way. This site is a great tool for not only tourists, but also first time visitors to MARTA. I recommend that these people find their way to itsmarta.com because it is informative.