Newsletter ArchiveSUBJECTs:Browser Updates - Vanity Numbers The Internet 800 Directory - http://www.inter800.com The Internet 800 Directory Newsletter This issue is for Friday, August 10, 2001 Table of Contents 01. Browser Updates 02. Vanity Numbers *01 Browser Updates-Chuck Arning Welcome to The Internet 800 Directory Newsletter. It looks like its time for the browser wars to heat up again. In what seems to be an amazing twist of fate both Netscape and Explorer should have new versions of their browsers for us to download by the end of this coming week. Netscape’s upgrade to version 6.1 hit the net on Wednesday and Microsoft’s Explorer 6.0 should be available by the 15th of this month. Netscape’s upgrade comes nearly nine months after Netscape 6, and according to the company, “greatly enhances the performance and stability of Netscape 6.0". Other changes include a new cache for storing frequently accessed files, an upgraded mail program, new search functionality, and drop-down auto-complete for Web page forms. With Version 6.1, Netscape is capable of rendering Hebrew characters, which are read right-to-left. The browser also supports Arabic characters when run on Microsoft's Windows operating system in Arabic. The browser's AutoTranslate feature now includes Russian, and translates between European languages. You can upgrade to 6.1 at this web address: http://home.netscape.com/computing/download/index.html The final version of Explorer 6.0 has not been released, but some people are predicting its release next week. This forecast is based on e-mails sent to beta testers last week. Explorer 6.0 will feature few radical changes from 5.5; the biggest changes are integrated media playback, automatic picture resizing and increased privacy with the adoption of P3P(see last weeks newsletter). Microsoft decided to remove the Smart Tags feature from the browser because of repeated complaints from consumers fearing an abuse of the technology. Smart Tags modify certain words on a Web site, turning them into links to additional information. If you don’t want to wait for the final release of Explorer 6.0 you can download the final beta (Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 Public Preview) at: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/download/ If you have any thoughts on this subject or any ideas that could be helpful to the others in this group send them to me (Chuck Arning) at chuck@inter800.com *02 Vanity Numbers-George Paul Hot enough for ya? Sorry. That was uncalled for. It won't happen again. As some of you may know, our directory only lists toll free numbers in the all-numeral format. This has brought complaints from some owners of vanity toll free numbers (like, 888 WEB PAGE). The following information is taken from the Yellow Pages Publishers Association's report on "Consumer Attitudes Towards Toll Free Numbers Appearing in Yerllow Pages Ads". I reprint it here with the hopes of answering that issue, as well as providing guidance to those advertising vanity numbers: 51% said that when a company uses a vanity number in their ad, it is important that the toll free number appears in numbers as well as letters. Those who say it is important that the toll free number appears in numbers as well as letters feel that way primarily because: 37% they do not have to translate the letters 18% they prefer numbers 17% it's easier to use numbers 10% numbers are quicker 7% letters are confusing 5% letters are stupid Those who say it is NOT important that the toll free number appears in numbers as well as letters feel that way mainly because: 15% they do not find it hard to convert the letters 9% they think letters are easier to remember More than 3 out of 4 (77%) said they prefer a toll free number that has only numbers, rather than a vanity toll free number. The research also indicates that younger people are less likely than older adults to prefer a toll free number that has only numbers. So, if you're advertising your toll free number as letters-only, it would serve you well to add the numbers-only format as well. If you are marketing to the younger crowd, you may be less concerned with this and, conversely, if you are marketing to an older group, you need to be VERY concerned with this. The entire report may be viewed here: http://yppa.inetcity.com/pdf/Consumer_Attitudes_Towards_800numbers.pdf If you have any questions, comments or complaints, email them to me (George Paul): george@inter800.com Thanks for taking to time to review our newsletter for this week. If you know of anyone that might benefit from receiving this newsletter, send them to (http://www.inter800.com/news800/ ) where they can subscribe. All Contents Copyright ©1995-2001 The Internet 800 Directory Subscribe To The Newsletter: |