RE: iWindsurf sloooowww

From: David St. John (david@iwindsurf.com-DeleteThis)
Date: Wed Apr 26 2000 - 21:36:15 PDT


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From: "David St. John" <david@iwindsurf.com-DeleteThis>
To: <wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis>
Cc: "Jonathan Hahn" <hahn@unetix.com-DeleteThis>, <support@iwindsurf.com-DeleteThis>
Subject: RE: iWindsurf sloooowww
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2000 00:36:15 -0400
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Thanks, Jon. This is *very* helpful.

> Ranting in windtalk is fun, but be sure to CC david@iwindsurf.com-DeleteThis
> with your [constructive] comments so that they go to the right
> place. I think he's on this list, but I don't know for sure.

Yes, I do read wind_talk daily (digest version), although lately I just scan
for website-related issues (not much time for windsurfing in recent weeks!).

I would actually prefer constructive feedback to be sent directly to
"support@iwindsurf.com-DeleteThis". That goes to George Haye who's our Content
Director and therefore the guy who needs to keep on top of all the feedback
in order to keep the big picture in view. He'll forward appropriate email
to me and although I may not respond in as much detail as I am to this
email, I will definitely read all mail and include it in our ongoing
development/improvement of the iwindsurf site.

> Fast access and download, no unnecessary graphics, minimum of clicks
> to get to info, efficient use of a page.

This is what the low-res version of the site addresses. We're also talking
about a "bare-bones" option for many pages that get used a lot (wind
reports, forecasts), for printing and/or bookmarking.

> Ability to build a custom page with specific bar charts, daily wind
> charts, tide info, etc. Templates (starting points) for different
> regions could be provided.

The custom homepage will have exactly this type of functionality. Initially
it will essentially be a "build your own region" page, where you can add the
sites you want and the forecasts you want in the order you want. You'll
select a starting region, then use that as a template to add or remove
elements. Later on we'll add functionality to the "my homepage" feature so
you can add tides, wind graphs, etc.

> The first thing I want to see is ALL the bay area bar charts in
> one screen that I can view WITHOUT scrolling (as was necessary on
> old windcall page).

You'll be able to do this with the custom homepage. Interestingly, the main
driving force for splitting the site into regions has been customer
feedback. We've received tons of email over the years asking us to "please
split your wind reports into regions so I don't have to scroll down the
page". Now that we've doubled the number of sensors on our network,
splitting it out into regions is a necessity. But I suppose it's impossible
to satisfy all sailors with fixed regions. That's why the custom homepage
is number one priority right now.

Also, tons of email that says "how about maps of where the sites are?" and
"you should show maps with the wind info on top" has come to us. Those two
requests are where the iwindsurf "wind&where" concept came from.

> Offering a page with no gratuitous graphics should solve the
> "netscape penalty" issue. I use netscape and don't want to switch
> browsers. IE isn't even available on many versions of Unix.

Yes, the graphics are part of the problem. Complex nested tables are
another big part. We know IE is not an option for many users, but for some
reason it handles the nested tables better than Netscape. It's not a server
issue, it's an HTML issue.

The low-res version of the site will eliminate all superfluous graphics and
much of the table structure. Initial feedback seems to indicate a much
faster load in Netscape. If necessary, a "bare-bones" version of the site
may be in order.

> The maps are fine, but they're not worth the cost (space and time)
> for regular use.

Actually, if you go to the bar graphs when you're logged in, the site will
remember that and will show you the bar graphs instead of the map every time
you come to the regional level (until you click the "region map" page
again). The maps are there only if you want them.

> All pages should be bookmarkable.

They should now be, unless you try and bookmark a page that you got to right
after logging in. The reason for that is that our login uses the POST
method, the results of which are not bookmarkable. If you want to bookmark
a page following a login, just click on the last item in the navigation
trail (for example, in the text that says "Wind and Where : North America :
North Bay Area : Crissy Field", click on "Crissy Field" and that page will
be bookmarkable).

The alternative is to have the login function use the GET method, but there
are issues with doing that when you're submitting sensitive info like your
password. Another alternative is to do a redirect following the post, but
that creates an unnessary network request, and subsequently a longer wait
.....

> Ability to reorder bar chart list by pushing a button: alphabetical,
> geographical, by windspeed, or custom. I believe the current
> windcall ordering is based on something that means nothing to users.

Good idea. We'll add it to the list of "nice-to-haves". The current
windcall ordering is actually based on Mike Godsey's knowledge of wind
patterns - each adjacent site is closer in "wind behavior" to it's neighbor
than any other site. That's how it's supposed to work at least (on windy
days it's amazing how the bar graphs seem to follow a pattern). But enough
user input on confusion with the layout has returned us to an alphabetical
listing.

On the custom page you'll be able to order your list however you want to.

> It would be nice to look at the bar charts and bring up daily site
> graphs in a frame on the same page.

Sounds good possibly, but it's not something we're planning now. If we get
more requests for it, maybe it's something we can add to the custom homepage
later on.

Thanks again for the constructive feedback.

--
David St. John
iWindsurf.com
http://www.iwindsurf.com/



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