Separating Zones by City

[thereuare]

OK, the new server appears to be working well, uptime has been fantastic, and memory errors have been non-existent! :)

I have one more thing that i need to do to the database first (within the next 2 weeks, hopefully sooner), but after that we will be able to divide our states into sub-cities. I don't want to add too many at once (one step at a time to make sure it makes everyone as happy as they think it will), so what cities should we start with? It was suggested in the past that we split Florida and California... if that's the concensus, what cities should we start with? Remember, it doesn't necessarily have to be geographic, for example we could split California into:

California - Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco

California - All Others

I'm not suggesting the above is the best way as maybe putting all 3 of those cities in one forum makes things more complicated, but just trying to present some ideas to get people thinking. I'd prefer to avoid generic terms such as "Northern California" or "Southern Coast" but i'm open to all ideas depending upon what our users want.

Remember our SEARCH feature works very well (just don't forget to change the number of days you search on the bottom right) so it shouldn't be necessary to sub-divide into extremely small areas.

Please post your suggestions/comments below.

[mucsea2003]

I actually think that dividing by these three cities would be the best approach, because they are the most sought after and each gets a good number of posts. Even though that would split California into four sectors. I, personally, don't like search functions in principle, because I always have the feeling I may be missing something because of typos.

[DeltaPurser]

I'm assuming this is a manual process that will take quite some time, and it's better to do it right from the getgo than to have to go back and re-do it later.

California and Florida seem to be the most popular destinations, so starting with those states would make the most sense.

Question: Why would you NOT divide the states into cities? Grouping e.g. Los Angeles together with San Diego and San Francisco would only eliminate a few listings from the original format. For a large state like that, splitting it up into four zones would make a lot of sense:

1) Los Angeles

2) San Francisco

3) San Diego

4) Other.

As far as Florida goes, most publications (tourist guides, etc) successfully divide the state into

1) Miami/Fort Lauderdale/West Palm Beach (South Florida)

2) Orlando & Central FL

3) Naples, Fort Myers, Tampa/St. Petersburg (Gulf Coast)

4) Pensacola, Fort Walton Beach, Destin (Panhandle)

5) Other

I can see why you would want to avoid terms as "South California" or "Gold Coast" as not everybody is familiar enough with the states to know where "their" destination fits...

Best of luck, and lots of thanks for doing all this work!

DeltaPurser :)

[thereuare]

In thinking more about the logistics of this (using California as an example)....

Would everyone want the 4 sub-zones on the first page... or would leaving just 'California' on the first page be good and then once 'inside' California have:

-MASTER HOTEL LIST and TIPS

-Hotwire California Los Angeles

-Priceline California Los Angeles

-Hotwire California Orange County

-Priceline California Orange County

-Hotwire California San Diego

-Priceline California San Diego

-Hotwire California Other

-Priceline California Other

If the set-up above... would there just be one MASTER LIST of hotel for all of California or would each sub-zone have it's own MASTER LIST?

Of course versatility and ease of use is of primary concern, but i'm also considering 1) dial-up users who have to wait for the main page to load and 2) trying to keep the length of the first page aesthetically pleasing. Both of these are minor issues so if there is concensus that the sub-forums should be listed on the first page than it's not a big deal... i've just been giving it some thought and didn't know which way users preferred.

[thereuare]

OK, San Francisco now has its own forum and is separated from the rest of California.

I only did this one city so far so that i can get some feedback if this is the format that users were looking for. If there are any suggestions on how it can be improved upon please let us know that as well, so we can implement them before separating the other cities (Orange County and Los Angeles are on tap... as well as Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, and Orlando).

[zbenye]

I would prefer to see the divisions on the main page. As a matter of fact, I would like to see the secondary menu (hotel lists, then hotwire, then priceline) eliminated altogether. It's three extra clicks that are annoying (click from main menu, click hotwire, click back, click priceline).

In other words, I'd like to see San Francisco (city or area, no problem) on the main page, and then clicking on it would immediately get me to the listings. You could have the hotel lists pinned at the top of the listings, and use different font colors (or images) for priceline and hotwire wins (let the user pick a radio button selecting priceline or hotwire when they post their winning bid).

[thereuare]

Thanks for the feedback!

I have thought about something similar to what you propose before, but how would you differentiate between Hotwire and Priceline? Having StateName-Priceline and then StateName-Hotwire would make the main page twice as long as it currently is.

Then, although there aren't too many states that also have 'tips', states like NY have quite a few (in my thinking i thought the 'work-around' for this would be to have a TIPS section, similar to the Hotel Reviews section, where tips are listed by state), but that still doesn't 'fix' the main page being so lengthly.

Those are my thoughts.

[tinnub]

I like the way you have divided California. By leaving the state in the main page, you then go to the Hotwire/Priceline breakdown for the city. When you breaksown other states, follow the same as Calif. I would suggest that after CA and FLA, other countries would be a good place, given all the bids for London, vs the rest of the world. It would also give more time to decide what to do with the state breakdown as Europe doesn't have Hotwire. Thanks again for all your help. I have consistantly told people about your page, both in person and on other web pages. :)

[fly_up_front]

I think California as it is now is perfect.

Two clicks and you have just the PL hotels for SF (which, by the way, already seems to be a pretty comprehensive list for that city).

DeltaPurser's divisions for CA and FL seem pretty logical.

And the rationale for not using the Search function is exactly right - the feeling that because of a different spelling or whatever, you could be missing a useful posts makes this new realignment of posts a great move.

Thanks!

[thereuare]

Well Orange County is now done... and when i come here i realize it was San Diego i was supposed to do! :)

I can easily put Orange County back into the 'other cities' list (easier than separating them out) but i'm assuming most would rather have this area separated too? Please comment.

I'll leave this as is for a day or two to try to get add'l feedback to see if it can be improved at all.

[bmegla00]

I thought you were going to add San Diego as a California zone. I would suggest dividing California into:

1. Bay Area (S.F., Oakland and San Jose)

2. Los Angeles/Orange County

3. San Diego

4. All Other Areas

This seems to make the most sense geographically.

[thereuare]

I don't want to combine SF with the "Bay Area" as i think it gets too confusing. Right now there is a definitive 'test' to determine where a city should be classified... put San Francisco into Priceline's text box and the list of the zones that appears are what will be included in our San Francisco section. Once other bordering zones are included it gets too confusing for me... but i may not be as bright as the rest of you :) .

I've had a major project i got tied up with last week (took a LOT longer than i anticipated) and therefore wasn't able to do any updates/maintenance to classifications on the board.

I'll probably do Florida next (separating Miami and Ft. Lauderdale) and then revisit California.