Sales Guide Cologne on the Internet

Overview:

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• Award
• Navigation
• Tips & tricks
• Interactive Functions
• Data security

Essentially, »willkommeninkoeln.de« / »welcometocologne.com« is based on the publication »Sales Guide Cologne«, which the Messe Treff Verlag has been published annually since 1985 - since 1987 in cooperation with the City of Cologne (KölnTourismus GmbH) - in the form of a »private public partnership«.

Both on the Internet, as well as in printed form, the bilingual Cologne sales manual (German/English) offers a wealth of up-to-date information about the City of Cologne and its surroundings: transport links, places to visit, art and culture, restaurants and hotels, important event dates, and Cologne business enterprises. Hotels, restaurants, conference locations, and other important addresses are listed in detailed tables.
All details are carefully researched. However, due to the fact that opening times and dates are often altered without announcement, no responsibility can be taken for the correctness or completeness in individual cases. We implement corrections and suggestions for improvement regularly, and thus keep the Internet pages up to date.

Messe Treff Verlags-GmbH, Weyerstraßer Weg 159, 50969 Cologne, Germany
Tel: +49 (0) 221 376030, Fax: +49 (0) 221 374020, E-Mail: office@messetreff.com

Award

In August 2004, at the RDA Workshop at Koelnmesse, the most important pilot fair for the international coach tourism network, the Sales Guide Cologne was awarded the main prize in the »tourism organisation« category. Thus, the claim of being No.1 was confirmed for Cologne planning for business travellers and tourists, on the one hand, and for professional tourism service providers, as well as travel agents, coach companies, and conference organisers, on the other.

Navigation

All themes are described in four chapters, which are either called up via the contents page, or directly via the navigation bar on the top edge of the screen. The German and English flags there mark the two language versions. The key facts and figures can be faded in from any page; additionally, a key word search is integrated.

We use the classic »top down« menu:
Every page includes a navigation bar on the top. The first line shows four chapters, the active one on a blue background. Below - on Cologne's skyline - the chapter's different pages can be found.
Just a few pages fit on one screen height. To make scrolling more comfortable under the headline a second smaller navigation table is included which enables jumping to the pages's subheadlines.

We included four additional search options which can be found on the service menu on the top:

(1) Contents
shows all pages underneath in their chapters.

(2) Sitemap
opens - without leaving the page - the website's structure where you can go to all the pages.

(3) Destination Cologne
leads to those pages which are used frequently, for example traffic, sights, hotels or trade fairs.

(4) Search
may be the fastest possibility to find a certain kind of information. The search function lists all relevant contents if spelled correctly.

The fastest way to get access to a certain topic is without using any navigation at all. We use the short URL www.koeln3.de. Just add a certain keyword, for example -
- www.koeln3.de/hotels
- www.koeln3.de/trafficjam
- www.koeln3.de/history

External links

On every topic we collected links with further information, which you can find in the right column, all in all more than 2,200. We are not responsible for the contents of these websites, and naturally we cannot control whether a page is taken offline or its adress is changed. Nevertheless, these links offer valuable information or just a different viewpoint.

Tips & tricks

Adresses on our pages can be located in Google Maps by clicking the pin which opens the map on a new page.
All pictures on the left can be enlarged by one mouse click.

The navigation bar is more than a simple table of contents on the Rhine panorama. At the same time its a kind of interactive city guide with the most important sights, features weather forecast, traffic information, webcams and internet radio from Cologne.

Cologne's best side
There's not one, but three different Rhine panoramas which can be changed by using the arrows on top right:
 Deutz
 From the Cathedral to the Colonia tower
 From the Rheinauhafen to St. Kunibert

All visible buildings are named - just move the cursor on it and the name is shown. A click of the button opens a short description in an info box on the left.

To every sight - not only the Cathedral - you can find additional information; you get access by clicking to an internal link.

Sounds from the station
 The churches on the left side of the Rhine offer something special: Their bells can be listened to by using the link in the info box. Audio files are also available for Cologne's main station (noise and announcement).
We digitalized the data in three formats so they can be played on all softwares:

QuickTime

RealAudio

WindowsMedia

Interactive Functions (Service)

At the top of each page in the right column some interactive functions are included:

Feedback & Contact
The »Contact« button on the control bar calls up a feedback form, via which you can give your opinion about the Sales Guide, and naturally also provide corrections and suggestions for improvement. You can rate the page by using marks (1 = very good, 6 = unsatisfactory) or add a comment. If you're interested in feedback you can add your e-mail address in the comments field.

E-Cards
Send a digital post card with a fitting Cologne picture from our collection.

Print preview
This function enables printing only the information you want, without navigation elements, page background, columns or illustrations, things that only make sense on the screen.

Search
Almost all services and providers in tourism and sights, trade fairs and convents, traffic, culture, leisure and business can be found via our search function together with a lot of background information.
The search form can be put on your own website via the page »Linking this website« without further programming or additional costs.

Data security

Loading times
In order to not only make addresses, press, and dates available for tourism planning, but also to provide a visual impression of places to visit in Cologne, our Internet pages contain a total of over 1,000 photographs. In order to optimise loading times, only a smaller overview on the left-hand edge of the screen is initially shown; by clicking, the illustration can then be enlarged to the size of the window.
In the case of a slow Internet link, images can be switched off altogether - all textual information, and tables, as well as the navigation remain. However, in this case, it is also possible that page loading will be somewhat slow, due to extensive listings for certain themes.

Data security
For our appearance on the Web, we have taken general data security into consideration: No personal details about visitors are ever stored; in addition, we do not use any cookies or Java applets. We use JavaScript exclusively to make navigation more convenient (mouse-over effects, etc). On our web pages, banner advertising is taboo.