OT - Internet and on-line booking questions for the group

Jay,
Without going into the other issues, one thing about searching for a hotel
on line that bugs the living s**t out of me is getting these "broker" sites
that don't allow you to contact the hotel direct, and I never seem able to
find the hotel's own webpage. And when I do, there's never a friggin' phone
number on it! I hate going through middlemen when it comes to the internet,
so if there's anything you can do to make yourself directly contactable, and
make it easy for someone to phone you directly, that would make a difference
to whether I booked with you or not.

Just my .02 worth.

Shawn
"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:QiFtd.157408$V41.134990@attbi_s52...
I turn once again to you, the great internet gurus of aviation, for answers
to the mysteries of the web...

Yesterday NPR announced that only a third of internet users are connected
at high speed, using either DSL or cable. This truly surprised me, and
I'm absolutely amazed that so few people have made the jump to high-speed
internet -- I could never, ever go back to dial-up, and have been on cable
modem for years.

Because of this rather shocking statistic I instantly redesigned our
webpage so that the home page is smaller and opens more quickly.
(According to what Frontpage was telling me, it would have taken several
minutes to open over a 28.8 modem!) It never dawned on me to design the
page for dial-up, because I thought slow connections were on there way
out!

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?

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"?

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?

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.

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.

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 )
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Peter Duniho wrote:
Well, to be fair, this is true even of plain old HTML. Just because one
looks like an actual "program" while the other looks more like "data", that
doesn't mean they both don't have the same potential for abuse.
SNIP

True.



--
__!__
Jay and Teresa Masino ___(_)___
http://www2.ari.net/jmasino ! ! !
http://www.oceancityairport.com
http://www.oc-adolfos.com

In a previous article, "Jay Honeck" said:
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"?

Java is only "evil" because Microsoft so ****ed up their version of it
(intentionally, I might add) so that it's damn hard to write Java that
works right on more than one version of IE and also works with browsers
that weren't written by complete morons. Plus Sun shouldn't have released
it until they had the Just In Time compiler - it was too slow at first.

Javascript is "evil" because the people who designed it gave no thought to
security. It's also evil because they used the word "Java" in spite of it
have absolutely no relationship to Java.

Flash is "evil" because most people who use it overuse the hell out of it.
Unless the service you are selling is your graphic design skills or your
"coolness", you do not need a fancy graphic splash screen, especially not
one with sound. Plus, if you use Flash or Java (or even Javascript to a
lesser extent) to navigate, you will exclude search engines from properly
indexing your site, exclude the disabled whose screen readers won't be
able to handle it, and exclude a lot of people who don't use the latest
flashiest web browsers because they have this quaint old notion that the
web is about information, not flashiness.

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?

Do you really need a gigantic graphic splash screen? What does it gain
you?

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.

It just pegged the CPU on my Linux box and I had to kill my browser to get
back control of my box. What the hell are you doing on that first page?

I'm guessing it's the traffic counter applet. What do you need that for?
Can't you just get the web site logs from your hosting company?


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
If God meant man to fly, He'd have given him more money.

On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 16:19:18 GMT, john smith wrote:

I like Java, it doesn't matter what platform you are using.

nice theory. :-)

scnr, #m
--
The policy of the American government is to leave its citizens free,
neither restraining them nor aiding them in their pursuits.
Thomas Jefferson

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:QiFtd.157408$V41.134990@attbi_s52...
I turn once again to you, the great internet gurus of aviation, for answers
to the mysteries of the web...

Yesterday NPR announced that only a third of internet users are connected
at high speed, using either DSL or cable. This truly surprised me, and
I'm absolutely amazed that so few people have made the jump to high-speed
internet -- I could never, ever go back to dial-up, and have been on cable
modem for years.

Because of this rather shocking statistic I instantly redesigned our
webpage so that the home page is smaller and opens more quickly.
(According to what Frontpage was telling me, it would have taken several
minutes to open over a 28.8 modem!) It never dawned on me to design the
page for dial-up, because I thought slow connections were on there way
out!

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?

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"?

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?

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.

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 heard the same story and my shock was the other way. While I agree I could
never go back to dial-up I know many, many people who still use it. Also,
keep in mind all those NetZero ads that have been running on TV are for
dial-up.

1. I'd be 56k has been the standard for quite a while now and unless the
telecom tarriffs change that ain't going to increase any time soon.

2. JAVA and ActiveX both allow a program to be downloaded and run on your
computer. The negative outcome from that is pretty obvious.

3. I was getting 4 - 5 seconds on 5 loads I did. On the last load the Java
applet for the counter paused for about 10 seconds.

4. My bet it was the Java Applet.

Online Reservations.

Be for I did that I create a form that would allow people to e-mail you
reservations just to see what the interest is for the service. I'd also shop
the hell out of it. There are a lot of good web designers out there.

Gig

Jay,

I've got a 56k modem run through a network here at work. The pc that it's
actually attached to says it's connected at 52k. Your page came up
completely on my remote MS 2000 pc in 21.1 seconds. Your "hit counter" was
the last item to load, and it took about 8 of the 21.1 seconds.

As far as Flash and Java, most of the time if those scripts do not load fast
enough to suit me, I quickly turn to the competition. I can't stand that
stuff. Nothing a buisness has to offer it's customers is worth sitting
through that much nonsense. I don't need to sit through flying graphics or
a sparkly neon header before I can move on to the information that I
require. I think that the web designers or page owners that insist on that
type of stuff forget that customers want information, not entertainment.
With over 900 channels of television available, I don't need to be
entertained by a flashy Java webpage. Check out autopilots central.... very
annoying on a slow connection, even if it does have a "skip entry" button.
What kind of a nut writes a page thinking "Here are some real neat
graphics. I'm going to force you to see them first, then you can decide if
you want to really want to. If you don't want to see them, click here."
Backwards thinking in my book.

Onto online booking. This I use. A lot. I'd even (and probably do) pay
more for a hotel room if I can book it online. I trust an email
confirmation that I can print out more than a note jotted down while a
reservationist reads me a confirmation number that may or may not be valid.
Informative and knowledgeable reservationists are becoming a rarity. I've
found that the odds of ending up with the room next to the stairway,
elevator, ice machine, laundry room, outside entrance, or all night party
are far less when booking online. I know I could always ask not to be put
in one of those rooms, but odds are that the reservationist works for some
outside booking company without a map of the actual hotel. If the online
booking puts me in one of those rooms, I complain to the desk and because I
can blame it on the online booking, they are not insulted and usually
promptly move me. I realize that your hands on operation may be differant,
but I've had it with large hotel telephone reservations.

One question that you may ask yourself, is "How will people know that they
can book online?" I assume that you will be announceing the new capability
via your current advertiseing methods, but will you be listed with typical
hotel search and booking services?

Jim


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.799 / Virus Database: 543 - Release Date: 11/19/2004

On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 17:43:27 GMT, Mike Rapoport wrote:

Was that for the US or for the internet as a whole?

this might be a good starting point:
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=26876

Mike
MU-2

#m
--
The policy of the American government is to leave its citizens free,
neither restraining them nor aiding them in their pursuits.
Thomas Jefferson

On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 15:43:44 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

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

Yesterday NPR announced that only a third of internet users are connected at
high speed, using either DSL or cable. This truly surprised me, and I'm
absolutely amazed that so few people have made the jump to high-speed
internet -- I could never, ever go back to dial-up, and have been on cable
modem for years.

Because of this rather shocking statistic I instantly redesigned our webpage
so that the home page is smaller and opens more quickly. (According to what
Frontpage was telling me, it would have taken several minutes to open over a
28.8 modem!) It never dawned on me to design the page for dial-up, because
I thought slow connections were on there way out!

snipped....

I have a T1 connection at work and dial-up at home. My modem is 56K,
although the connection speed is generally something less than that.
I can tell you from experience that surfing at home on dial-up isn't
nearly as horrible an experience as many make it out to be. The
problem is when I have to download files. I have booked hotels online
(from home) and it is not a hassle.

Everytime I think I would like broadband at home, I realize that every
month that is going to cost me a half-hour of flying time. I quickly
come to my senses and go flying.
Rich Russell

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:QiFtd.157408$V41.134990@attbi_s52...
I turn once again to you, the great internet gurus of aviation, for
answers
to the mysteries of the web...

Yesterday NPR announced that only a third of internet users are connected
at
high speed, using either DSL or cable. This truly surprised me, and I'm
absolutely amazed that so few people have made the jump to high-speed
internet -- I could never, ever go back to dial-up, and have been on cable
modem for years.

Because of this rather shocking statistic I instantly redesigned our
webpage
so that the home page is smaller and opens more quickly. (According to
what
Frontpage was telling me, it would have taken several minutes to open over
a
28.8 modem!) It never dawned on me to design the page for dial-up,
because
I thought slow connections were on there way out!

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?

I'm still on dialup (56K). Heck, I'm still on rabbit ears. I really only
regularly use the internet for email, so broadband wouldn't really be all
that advantagous. It would help with large attachments and software updates,
but I find ways around it and I have broadband at work. Where I live, the
only option right now is cable; no DSL. High speed internet is not a good
value for me, it doesn't fit my use profile.


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"?


I don't know much about these technologies, but I know a lot about using
them. I CAN'T STAND web designs which try desparately to be cool or fancy.
The ones with intro pages with stuff flying all over the place and
sounds/music drive me crazy not to mention the fact that they take too long
to load on my home machine. Also, if I am surfing at work, I avoid the
websites that are visually loud because they attract attention. Most really
professional websites are crisp, efficient and somewhat subdued.


An ON-LINE BOOKING question for the group, if you please:
**************************************************
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 bookings quite a bit. My dialup connection has nothing to do
with my ability to use the internet to reserve airline tickets, hotel rooms,
rental cars, or to simply buy things. I have done all these things many many
times. Compared to my high speed connection at work, it probably only takes
a couple of minutes longer for me to these operations at home vs.at work,
which isn't much.

If I have a special request, I like to use the phone. But even if I use the
phone, I go to Expedia (my favorite right now) and look up which hotels are
around the area that I am visiting, put them on a map and decide which
hotels I will consider due to proximity to my area of interest. I find that
if a hotel isn't in Expedia, I won't know it is there. One problem I find is
that sometimes Expedia doesn't give the local phone number of the hotel.
This is irritating. I will also use other hotel finders to see if I am
missing a good hotel, so I am not fixated on Expedia.

HTH,

-Trent
PP-ASEL

Hey Jay,


How many of you guys actually make real-time, on-line hotel reservations?
Whenever I book a hotel. I'll search online for rates/discounts the
book whatever looks to be the best deal.

--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL, IA Student, airplane partnership student

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)