In article QiFtd.157408$V41.134990@attbi_s52,
"Jay Honeck" wrote:

I turn once again to you, the great internet gurus of aviation, for answers
to the mysteries of the web...

Well, website design and implementation is one of the things I do to eke
out a living, so take what follows with a grain of the appropriate
salt(s)...

[...]

WEBSITE QUESTIONS for the group, if you please:
**************************************************
1. Does anyone know what the average speed modem is being used by the 70% of
people still using dial-up?

In my experience, 56K modems running at 28-32K. Shocking, I know :-).
Yes, I've had DSL for years.

2. I hear people say that Java is "evil" all the time -- yet it seems that
every cool effect on a webpage requires Java. What is bad about Java
scripting? How about "Flashmedia"?

All these technologies are neutral in terms of good and evil -- it's how
you use 'em that matters (and most people abuse them, or ate least abuse
Java and Flash).

Javascript -- which actually isn't much related to Java -- is very
useful, almost universally available and used, and quite lightweight,
and is used mostly for smallish effects (field format checking,
rollovers, etc.).

On the other hand, I try to steer clear of Java and or Flash unless I
can be certain the audience can cope, *and that the effect is
appropriate*. In your case, they'd seem a lot like overkill. The simpler
the better, if you ask me -- your splash page should say who you are,
what you do, how to get hold of you, why the potential customer would
want to do business with you, etc., in as compact and easily-digested
way as possible (one sentence for each point). No animations, etc.!

3. I have pared our opening page back to practically nothing, yet it STILL
seems to be taking too long to open. I added a new "hit" counter
yesterday -- could that be slowing it down so much? (It's
www.AlexisParkInn.com if you want to take a gander at it.) How long is it
taking to open on your computer?

It loaded instantly ... except for that damn counter, which took many
seconds. Why anybody puts counters on their websites I'll never know
(don't get me started :-)).

4. I tried to look at the page from Mary's computer (which has the screen
resolution set to "Mr. Magoo" settings) -- and it locked up her computer. I
re-booted and checked on the Microsoft website, which showed that she had,
like, ten "critical updates" to Win XP that she had not installed -- so I
installed them for her.

No idea about this one...

Now the page runs normally, but I'm worried about having a website that
might actually freeze someone's computer. Can anyone see anything on the
page that could have caused that? Or was it just a glitch in Mary's PC?

An ON-LINE BOOKING question for the group, if you please:
**************************************************
I am about to sign a contract with a company that will provide us with
real-time, on-line reservation and GDS support for hotels. This will
completely change the way we do business, and will add a significant cost to
our operation.

How many of you guys actually make real-time, on-line hotel reservations?
My gut feel has always been that we would eventually have to jump on this
band-wagon, because more and more people are booking on-line. However, this
newly released figure, showing such low high-speed internet usage, really
makes me wonder if people are actually using on-line bookings much, or if
this is a tiny minority using it only occasionally.

I use online hotel (etc.) booking all the time. Yes, with dialup it's a
pain, but it's still usually quicker and more convenient than phoning.

Thanks for your help! (Your reward for helping me is getting to view this
goofy new video, forwarded to me by a British pilot. It's yet another in a
series of bizarre ads for Ford automobiles that apparently works to sell
cars in Britain. See it at:
http://alexisparkinn.com/photogaller...rd_sportka.wmv Here's
another one from the series, almost aviation related:
http://alexisparkinn.com/photogaller...s/BirdGone.mpg )

Got to check this out :-)!

Hamish (remove the xyz's to get hold of me...).