 Poster: A snowHead
|
New season, new site. The folks at the tourist offices have been busy over the summer commissioning their cousin's nephew's friend who does computers to build new web sites. Do these folk know anything about making the web usable? I've just spent 15 minutes on the Val Thorens site www.valthorens.com trying to plan a trip. Pass info in strange places. Accomodation arrival date fields that only let you pick a Saturday or Sunday. Val Thorens isn't poor, isn't backward and should produce a better site than this. It looks like a multimedia CD-Rom from the early 90s. Bad enough having geometric prints back on ski wear....
Anyone else found daft sites?
rant over, thanks
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
La Plagne is pretty dire as well, but Romain Guigons website more than makes up for it.
www.perso-laplagne.fr
A new paradiski website is promised shortly the old one ended up being just a map 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
|
Courchevel's new site last year was a lot prettier and whole heap less useful than the old site. Not overly impressed with the Laax web site either - not intuitive to find info and far far too slow. All the resorts seem to be going for style over substance in their web sites at the mo imo
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
Am I the only one who finds interactive piste maps totally useless?
Please, just give me a simple pdf that shows where the lifts are and what runs go off them. That's all I need.
And I won't get started on translations. I'm just glad I can speak German.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
The SkiBig3 website this year is shite, what happened to last years which was doing a perfectly reasonable job?
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
SussexSnow, I'm right with you on this - I find most ski resorts sites almost useless.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
So, nominations for our top five sites of shame.....
And for the good 'uns, too.
I think the Tiscover network has something in that its offering some standard presentation of data.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I am quite fond of Serre Chevaliers site, which was new last season www.serre-chevalier.com . Downloadable brochures, links to coach companies to book transfers etc, online passes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
ami in berlin, Agreed about the piste maps. Nice clear PDF is far better than some weird flash animation where you can't see half the runs.
I nominate the Val D'Isere site as one of the worst. Try buying a lift pass from them. Try even finding out which pass you need. It's a bit better this year but not much.
On the plus side they do have a choice of interactive or plain piste map.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Slightly off thread but can I mention chalet websites that have pointless images in their galleries. I want to see pictures of bedrooms, bathrooms, dining and living areas, ski locker rooms. Is a floor plan and resort location map too much to ask for? Then and only then show me the bottle of wine, a dessert, random people, a chairlift, a log fire, a view of a snowy mountain.
......and all those with sites letting property should know how to spell ACCOMMODATION - 2 Cs, 2 Os and 2 Ms
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
| eithnem wrote: |
Slightly off thread but can I mention chalet websites that have pointless images in their galleries. I want to see pictures of bedrooms, bathrooms, dining and living areas, ski locker rooms. Is a floor plan and resort location map too much to ask for? Then and only then show me the bottle of wine, a dessert, random people, a chairlift, a log fire, a view of a snowy mountain.
......and all those with sites letting property should know how to spell ACCOMMODATION - 2 Cs, 2 Os and 2 Ms |
acc o mm o dati o n - how may O's ??? 
|
|
|
|
|
|
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
|
Not at all off topic. You are spot on, it's those images of rooms, plans etc that help us make our buying decisions. That's why I always order print brochures. The one for www.garwand.com - the highest hotel in the alps, has a great room photos. Big enough to see the space, that the double is really a twin, the radiator (important at 3200m asl) etc etc.
In print brocuhres the maps are a decent size and the accomowhatsits are usualy grid referenced - key to seeing how close to the lift.
We need a standard API encouraged in the industry that allows us to suck the key data from the sites - price, room, dates, lift pass, into out own spreadsheets or mash-up sites.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I guess it depends on how the resort sees their website - is it aimed for tourists to find basic information on the resort to help them decide on where to go? or is it also meant to be for people to access in resort prior to setting off for the day - for me it should be the latter but judging by how few french appartment seem to have wifi as standard then perhaps they think it's more of the former.
can't same I'm overly impressed with tignes - ok so it's preseason but it seems quite hard to find out useful info, like open runs and lift pass prices, weather updates etc.
I quite liked st.anton when I was there in March. One of the things I really like in St. Anton was the local cable tv which seemed to be everywhere. Lots of good info with details of runs open/close or planned to be open closed webcams, weather forecast and 'activities information'. And yes both my french and german should be good enough to find my way around the native language sites, rather than needing the poor english translations.
I'm with you on the pdf thing too - what's the point of interactive if you need to be online to use it. With a pdf you can print it for studying in the smallest room and leave it your laptop desktop for when (if) you're not connected.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
oh we love those Austrian and German cable channels of the mountain cams. What a brilliant idea. And it's been around for a decade or so. When I use to do a bit of business in Germany I found it severly distracting. I'd be late for breakfast waiting for resort X or Y to come on.
Oh, and forgot http://www.cairngormmountain.org.uk/ It got a lot of stick last season but I think the site is evolving. However, they got a kicking on Winterhighland.com for describing the weekend's snow as 'comestic' http://www.winterhighland.info/forum/read.php?2,93996
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
