Booking a Vacation
on the Internet
Bob Cartolano
12/06/01
ISE 582
IT for Industrial Engineers
Dr. Elaine Chew
Agenda
Purpose and scope
 Subject websites
 Observations
 Conclusions
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Purpose and Scope
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Examine the design of three popular
websites
Analyze the use of HTML and Model/View
design/architecture
Identify similarities, differences, advantages
Look at page layout and ordering sequence
for booking a cruise
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Subject Websites
– Priceline.com
– Travelocity.com
– Expedia.com
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Observations
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Travelocity and Expedia GUIs are
cluttered/crowded
Priceline had a simple looking GUI
Code is extensive, complicated and often
difficult to decipher
Variety of technologies used
– HTML tables, forms, meta tags
– Server side applications used to fetch
information from databases
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Active Server Page (ASP) designs
Search engine based technologies
– JavaScript/Java
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Objects defined to facilitate searches and GUI display
Bob Cartolano, ISE 582
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Conclusions
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Different websites can use the same database
information (but hosted on different servers).
JavaScript can be quicker at loading GUIs than HTML
references to HTML pages.
Server side applications used by all sites.
– HTML based forms fire server side applications to fetch and
return information based on search criteria.
– Use of parsers and objects when fetching information.
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“More” information is not necessarily better.
As a user, I care more about website look and feel and
speed, and less about technology.
Presentation and speed can differentiate one site from
another, since each offered the same cruise pricing or
packages.
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Bob Cartolano, ISE 582
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