Eating Healthy on WebMD.com

Analysis by Wanda Jenifer

Summary

As Americans we have a preoccupation with everything diet and health. There's a wholesome dose of healthy nutritional information on WebMD.com’s Eating Healthy Web site.  WebMD combines the reputation of medical professionals with technical-savvy to deliver a community-driven site of articles, video and interactivity unlike any other health Web site on the internet today. The clean, professional look make the site believable and appealing inch- by- pixel inch.

Content

The key to WebMD’s success is its specialized content. In the Eating Healthy section there are 32 articles, written by a full-time professional staff. The articles and site content are regularly reviewed by an Independent Medical Review Board  made up of four doctors from different specialty areas. WebMD says its content staff “blends award-winning expertise in medicine, journalism, health communication and content creation to bring you the best health information possible.” 

There are four easily digestible sections in Eating Healthy: Eating Out; Healthy Kitchen; Superfoods; and High Tech Foods. Each well-written section is a source for original and timely health information maintained by their professional staff. The content staff is made up of two executive editors, a managing editor, and several medical reporters and editors.

To maintain the integrity of the site WebMD staffers adhere to a strict editorial policy that follow traditional journalistic principles of writing clear, concise content that is fair, accurate and objective.

Interface
WebMD use warm colors and bold images for its page layout elements. But despite its wild success the mass amount of information make the site too crowded. It is very well organized and aesthetically pleasing, but the sheer crowdedness of its pages is hard to ignore.  The main, most recognizable, page element is the warm orange search bar that sits atop every page. Without it a user can easily get lost while surfing the site.  The orange bar perfectly match the warm yellow, green and orange color palette used throughout the site.

The simplified drop-down navigation obviously hides a complex back-end system used to organize and cross-reference all of its content. But if you don’t pay attention you can easily get lost.   

The main home page makes good use of bold images, but not so much on inside pages. Visually, the content-heaviness is felt more inside for lack of more graphics. The Eating Healthy home page simply displays a page of links with the headings and subheads styled in the site’s color scheme but, with the exception advertising graphics, the use of graphics is minimal.

Interactivity
The main interactive tool in the Health and Diet section is the BMI and diet assessment tool.
You can enter your body measurements and age to get a comprehensive analysis of your Body Mass Index (BMI). The in-depth analysis will tell you where to cut back and if you need help you can sign-up for the $4.99/month WebMD Weight Loss Clinic.

Community Views & Insights is used for blogs and message boards. Now that you have your nutritional breakdown, you might have questions so there are experts available to moderate the message boards and to write blogs that will help you understand your body and weight loss better.

Overall, the interface and content serve one goal: to get you fit and healthy. It’s neither superfluous nor trendy, it’s just the healthy facts, ma’am.