kate's infrastructure

I’m not much of a fan of the splash page as a general rule.  I understand that the location-specific content presented to me can be improved if the site knows where I’m from, but I’d prefer not to tell them before I’m shown any useful or meaningful content whatsoever.  The fact that this seemingly unessential splash page simply doesn’t function using Google Chrome suggests that some customers may be lost to competitors at this first hurdle.  I had to fall back to using Firefox to get through the initial puzzle.

A better design for me would be to:

• Provide an initial generic site, highlighting some features or specials;
• Don’t ask me to confirm language and then only offer me a single option;
• Guess my location based on my IP address, and;
• Give me the opportunity to correct my location if you’ve guessed wrong;

Regardless of how you actually achieve this, we must then consider what you can do with this new found location and language info.  Ignoring this info (which is initially presented as a mandatory step) is a little stupid.  Why ask me my country and language if you don’t intend to show me information actually tailored to that?  I understand the necessity of language but do not understand why you would ask my country and then not default to my local airports or currency.

Website gripes aside, it seems cheap.

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