You can enable JavaScript, Java and plugin execution for sites you trust with a simple left-click on the NoScript status bar icon, or using the contextual menu.
For each site you can decide to allow the exact address, or the exact domain, or a parent domain.
The whitelist is easy to manage - just specify the website you want to allow to execute scripts to add new ones to the list.
While its primary aim is preventing malicious JavaScript from running, NoScript can effectively block Java, Silverlight, Flash and other plugins on untrusted sites.
Various appearance related settings may also be easily configured.