| This month I thought I'd introduce you
to Mike Son's web site which is at: http://www.thelondonnet.co.uk and a new taxi web site: http://www.taxitalk.co.uk Mike Son's web site, The London Net, is a central area where you'll be able to
find all things London related. When you visit the home page, you are told that the site
is best viewed at 800 x 600 resolution and asked if you have the Macromedia plug-in,
ShockWave. I didn't but clicked the link to take me to the advanced site anyway. It took
approximately 1½ minutes to automatically download the ActiveX plug-in using Microsoft
Internet Explorer 4.
The second page consists of three animated images, a Bus, a Tube train, and a
Taxi of course. All three images give the impression that they're moving towards you from
a distance and at the same time The London Net logo also appears - nice graphics. These
images download quickly because they take advantage of the vector graphics capabilities
provided in the Macromedia plug-in. From this page you're automatically taken to the next
page that displays the links to the various sections of the web site. Some of these links
consist of Contents, Community, Special Interest, Feedback, Advertise, Help, Take a Tour
and Quick Find pages.
Most are self explanatory, but if you pass your cursor over these links, you
are provided with a graphical and textual description of the link - again nice usage of
the Macromedia plug-in. I visited most pages of the site and my only concern was regards
searching and feedback. I searched for Tower of London and Buckingham Palace, each time I
received a Front Page error. I also received the same error when trying to provide
feedback on the advertising section of the site. These sections I feel need improvement
for the site to prosper. If a visitor can't find what they're searching for quickly,
they'll go elsewhere, also if a prospective advertiser experiences errors in a feedback
form, would he invest his money?
|
Otherwise
the site is coming along very well. It provides listings of Hotels, Restaurants, Clubs,
Chauffeurs, Taxis, Markets, Charities, etc, and is very well worth a visit. Nice one
Mike…
A new taxi trade web site came on line on the 1st July 1998, http://www.taxitalk.co.uk This web site is a
digital version of the Monthly magazine for the taxi trade "up north" -
Taxitalk. Geoff Woodruff, a member of the Taxicab discussion list at: http://www.taxicab.co.uk informed us of this
new site and of course I visited promptly. Taxi Talk, like The London Net, use frames, the
left frame acts as the menu and the right consists of the content. If you want to stay
abreast of news in the taxi trade, then this is the place to visit. Some of the current
news articles include the recent design flaw in the TX1, an order of 60 Metrocabs destined
for Russia, Manchester's fare structure, the Royal seal of approval for the Metrocab plus
cartoons by Terry the Cabbie, etc.
The content of the site is extensive and is what you would expect to see on
an online taxi magazine, but the design and implementation of the web site is flawed. Like
The London Net, Taxi Talk has problems regarding searching. I typed in
"taxicab", "taxi", and "cab" receiving nothing each time, I
expected a comprehensive listing of numerous pages. There are also broken links and
missing images, small errors like these are what you'd expect from an individual's home
page. But if you're interested in the UK taxi trade then book-marking taxitalk.co.uk
is a must.
Next month, I'll be describing a rather interesting PC purchase I made from
Tiny computers that ended in me returning the goods as "Not fit for the purpose that
I purchased them". Watch this space….
See you next month…Vince Chin |
