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System News & Updates |
Updated Aug 25 2008 |
 Your Personal Appointment Center will store your upcoming appointment information and up to 20 records in your online history. Login at any time to check times and dates and to book your next appointment.
You were not required to submit your street address in the registration process. So if you are booking with a mobile service provider then be sure to inform them of your address. Once you book your first appointment then an e-mail link for that business will appear in your PAC.
Remember to protect your login information. |
| Multiple Client Memberships |
Multiple client memberships are discouraged.
Business owners do not want duplicate client entries in their records.
You do not need to get a new membership if your email address has changed. You can change your email address from within your personal appointment center.
Please contact your service provider or an administrator if you have any questions about a disabled client membership. |
| Important New Privacy Feature ! |
08/2008 |
 OWNERS. You now have the option to require new clients to obtain your permission before accessing the appointment book. Your managers and any existing clients will be exempt.
Check your security settings in your Control Panel. If you do select this option then a new button will appear in your Control Panel.
All new clients awaiting your approval will be listed on that new page.
When a new client attempts to access your appointment book they will be prompted to request your approval with a single click. You will then receive an email alert. If you do approve a new client they will be notified by email. If you deny a new client they will be graciously asked to book their appointments by phone.
This GREAT NEW FEATURE now provides you with complete control and 100% security. |
| Important New Feature ! |
05/2008 |
We are pleased to announce that owners can now hide any number of appointment book columns.
For example, if an owner has 4 columns and wants to retain one for internal use only, then just 3 of those columns will be available to clients for online booking.
Moreover, if an owner does not want to allow any client booking whatsoever, then all columns can be hidden from everyone but that business owner.
This update means that owners can now maintain a completely private
appointment management system online and access it from anywhere. |
We are in the process of adding some activity to the homepage menu systems.
A bit of javascript is being used to display a small arrow  when the mouse hovers on a button.
Some homepages have already been modified and the rest will be completed shortly. |
$bbu_rt is the URL variable that returns the user to their desired destination when prompted to login.
A few of the system links
are not properly POSTING that variable. We are working to resolve this issue.
Thank you for your patience,
Admin.
- - - - - - - - - -
Update: Aug 21/2008
The $bbu_rt issue has been corrected. |
| Appointment Book Mods |
08/2008 |
The appointment book has undergone a few modifications.
To avoid any confusion columns set as hidden by the owner are now clearly marked.
A small monthly calendar was displayed at the upper right corner of the appointment book for quick date referencing. That calendar has been moved to the left and an additional monthly calendar has been put in its place. The upper left calendar now shows the current month while the upper right calendar shows the following month.
As well, each day in those two calendars will now move the appointment book to that date!
Thank you for the suggestion Richard. |
| BBU Goes Global : Worldwide Access |
Aug 01/2008 |
The requests for global access have been so overwhelming that we have tackled the questions of how to make it accessible to everyone and yet maintain security for business owners.
Mission accomplished!
We took a hard look at the possible options and came up with the ideas to make this happen. |
| Accepted Email Accounts |
07/2008 |
Now that owners have absolute control of their appointment books via "hidden columns", plus the option to have all new clients request owner permission to access the appointment book, restrictions on acceptable email address have been relaxed.
Hotmail and Yahoo email accounts will now be accepted for membership. A few SMTP hosts, such as AOL, will remain on the blacklist. |
| Site Stats Update |
07/2008 |
Business owners have a page with which to view system information and their site stats.
That page has now been updated and owners can reset three key indicators
that relate to page views.
We have also excluded managers and owners from being tallied in the number of appointment book views. |
| Holidays and Hourly Adjustments |
07/2008 |
Business owners can adjust their hours of operation for a single day by entering times and dates into Holidays and Occasionals.
That page has now been modified. You will find it much easier to scan the entries and to know whether a date has been set to repeat year after year or whether the date has been applied to one year only.
That same form also allows you to adjust your hours of operation for any day of the year. |
We have now installed the latest version of Simple Machines Forum software to drive the BBU Forum.
There is a full gamut of boards covering all topics associated with this system. You are welcome to join and post feedback, discuss the system and ask questions.
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As of June 2008 this appointment system now resides on a new server. It's faster, bigger, more secure and much more reliable with the latest in server software technology.
Operating System Linux
Apache 2.2.8
PHP 5.x
MySQL 5.x |
| Booking Walk-ins and Call-ins |
05/2008 |
One of the business members asked if it was possible to permit owners and managers to book walk-in and same-day call-in appointments, even though the owner had restricted online booking to 24 or 48 hours in advance.
Now it is possible. Online clients will still be forced to abide by the business's advance booking policy, while owners and any of their managers can book appointments into the current date.
Thanks for the suggestion Venisia! |
| Bookmark Added to PAC |
05/2008 |
A functional, cross-browser bookmark button has been added to the personal appointment center. Now clients can easily add that page to their list of favorites and regularly check their PAC for upcoming appointment times and dates.
Clients currently receive an email reminder of their appointment details at the time of booking. At least one more additional appointment reminder method is forthcoming. So check this page monthly for system updates. |
| Auto Refresh Added |
04/2008 |
We've added an automatic page refresh to the appointment book.
This is a client-side JavaScript function that reloads the page every 5 minutes.
We added this so owners will encounter fewer scheduling checks when booking. If a client booked within the last 5 minutes then the owner would be required to select a different start time for a walk-in or call-in appointment if they happened to select the same start time.
Refreshing the page automatically will help to reduce this possibility.
Aug 12/08 Update: The refresh time has been expanded to every 10 minutes.
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That wide ranging collaboration and friendship network known as Web 2.0 has now been added to all homepages.
Clients and visitors can easily share the business member's homepage link with their friends at Facebook, MyYahoo, Newsvine and more.
The friends of clients will still have to register as members and login, as well as meet any booking restrictions that have been put in place by the owner.
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This website is equipped with an automatic IP trap for those who attempt to download any of these pages.
This is to stop those who think that this is a downloadable user-side JavaScript application, robots that fail to obey instructions, and web strippers.
Do not attempt to download any of these pages.
Otherwise, you will end up in the "nogo" zone. |
| Listing at HotScripts.com |
02/2008 |
Beautybyus is now listed at HotScripts.com. Anyone can view our listing and rate us, but you must have a HotScripts membership to write a review about this online appointment application.
Click the logo to open a new window and view the listing or to rate this application. Thank you.
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| Homepage Menu Updates |
10/2007 |
The homepage menus have undergone some slight modifications.
First, the less often used Live Help link has been moved down to make room for the grouping of more important system links, i.e. the contact and help links.
Second, title tags and alt tags have been added to each menu item. These are the little tool-tip boxes that appear when the mouse hovers over one of the buttons. |
| Client Registration Instructions |
09/2007 |
The instruction page for new client members has been modified to clearly explain their login options. Clients can access the appointment system from their business member's homepage or from the business member's own web site.
Clients can also login with their member ID and password directly from the main system pages. However, this login method will provide them with immediate access to their PAC (personal appointment center) and indirect access to a business member's appointment book. |
| New Services Added |
09/2007 |
We have added some new services to the "Facial Treatments" category. Contact an administrator if you are a business member and would like to have a service added to the list.
At the outset the intent was to provide business owners with a flexible appointment system that is easy to use. At the same time, it is imperative to keep sex related content out of the system. For this reason business owners must request to have services added to the list. Owners cannot add their own service items. |
| The Live Help feature of this web site serves two purposes. First, it provides members and visitors with a direct link to system administrators. Second, it allows administrators to monitor site activity and to ensure that business members remain protected from abuse. |
| "Unavailable" Category Now Hidden on All Homepages |
08/2007 |
Owners can include different UNAVAILABLE time spans, ranging from 15 minutes to 4 hours, in their list of services. These allow owners to easily book time off for themselves.
In the past, when owners opted to use these time spans, these time spans were listed as services on their homepage under the heading UNAVAILABLE.
In an effort to "tidy up" the homepages we decided to exclude this category from displaying on the homepages.
For the sake of convenience owners can still select these time spans from their list of services in the booking process, but they will no longer be seen as service items on the homepage. |
| Appointment Notes Modification |
08/2007 |
The code for creating appointment notes has been safely modified so that notes in the appointment book interface will display even if the owner includes a single ['] or double ["] quotation mark in their notes [i.e. Sharon's].
Previously the single quotation mark was breaking the code and preventing the note from showing if it contained a quotation mark. |
| The appointment booking interface was displaying a <div> tag incorrectly in some older versions of Internet Explorer, resulting in a black bar appearing at the top and bottom of the booking columns. This has now been corrected with <style> tags. |
| Appointment Categories |
05/2007 |
We have added some new categories, but more importantly, the numbering system for categories and services has been manually adjusted in the database. Everything will now display in alphabetical order.
This process took several days but has resulted in the proper ordering of services on the homepages and in the service selection area. |
| Faster Loading Pages |
01/2007 |
| The ever evolving world of web-based business applications and browser technology has allowed us to tweak the page load time for all connection speeds. Happy New Year ! |
| Appointment Notes |
10/2006 |
Owners and their managers can now insert appointment notes for both call-in and owner booked appointments. The notes are stored in the database and can be edited at any time.
Salon and business owners will now see a form for adding notes on the appointment confirmation page. Client members do not see that section of the page. |
| Navigational Menu |
07/2006 |
| We added some height and well-space to the general menu items to facilitate easier control of the menu layers. |
We have installed a new general menu in the public areas of this site. Members can also access their personal pages from that menu.
All of the homepages now have a link to Google News. It will open a new browser window to display the latest headlines in that business member's home town.
This system includes 1000's of files and snippets working in unison with an efficient mySQL back end. Together with the MSS modifications it will provide anyone .. in any industry .. with a flexible and secure online appointment management system. |
| Homepages Linked to Live Help |
10/2005 |
| All of the business homepages are now indexed and connected into LIVE HELP. Each template has an online/offline button so if a client, business member or visitor needs assistance, we can point them in the right direction. |
You may have noticed the new LIVE HELP image on the right side of these pages. It opens a new browser window and will let you chat live with one of the duty administrators.
The alternate OFFLINE image will appear if no one is around. |
| Business Homepage Buttons |
07/2005 |
Sometimes the obvious isn't always that obvious. We work hard to present an intuitive link structure, but sometimes we fumble. So to make things easier we have clarified the business homepage links. As well, all of the business homepages have a register button and a password recovery button.
If you are required to login prior to entering one of the member areas the system will automatically return the appropriate page once you have logged in. |
| The Client to Business Contact Form |
06/2005 |
The contact form that client members use to send mail to business members has been modified. Both it and the e-mail confirmation page now look the same as the personal appointment center.
In the rewriting of those pages we overlooked one line of code that was preventing anyone but an admin from sending mail. This oversight lasted only a couple of days and was immediately corrected. All is working and we apologize for any inconvenience. |
Beautybyus.net was the brainchild of Jennifer Aiken. Jennifer is a BBU business member. Now anyone can have their own free beautybyus.net web mail account.
http://beautybyus.mail.everyone.net
As long as you do not publish or make an e-mail addresses available on the internet, your chances of being spammed will remain minimal.
If you do happen to receive spam in your beautybyus.net inbox, then use the available tools to filter out any unwanted mail. E-mail filtering rules can be individually customized by each account holder. |
| The Personal Appointment Center has a new look and is more efficient for both you and the server. |
| Hair Say Forum Upgraded |
03/2005 |
The Hair Say Forum has been updated from YaBB SE to Simple Machines. This provides users and members with a lot more security, it allows uploading of images and avatars and there are lots of new forum features. Enjoy!
Discontinued May 2008 |
| Hair Say Newsroom |
02/2005 |
The newsroom is yet another new addition. It can be accessed through the Hair Say Forum. Styling and fashion headlines are regular features and we also have our own headlines. Articles range from internet security and web design to health and beauty. Everyone is welcome to submit articles for review and RSS publication.
Discontinued April 2008 |
| MapQuest® Now on Homepages |
01/2005 |
Each business homepage now has a MapQuest link that will open a new browser window to display the exact location of that business. A very useful homepage feature.
Welcome to 2005! |
| System E-mail Notices |
12/2004 |
The e-mail notices for the system have been rewritten. Appointment reminder notices now include a link to the appointment details of that appointment. We have made some additions to the Help Desk section as well.
Merry Christmas! |
| The links in your Personal Appointment Center for future, past and canceled appointments have been renamed to provide more clarity. You can use the "Request Cancellation" link to simply contact a business as well. Your e-mail will be delivered. |
We have put up a new message forum called Hair Say. It has lots of boards including buy and sell, free business ads and more. All are welcome to join.
Discontinued April 2008. |
| Practice Makes Perfect |
07/2004 |
This really isn't news or an update, it's more like a reminder. If you would like to practice booking appointments in this system then login to the appointment book for Magic Wonders
We created this demo so that new members can login and test the system.
There is also a help link in your Personal Appointment Center that explains the features of BBU. If you are really stuck then use the BBU contact form. |
| New Feature : Mobile Travel Time |
06/2004 |
| Mobile businesses can now insert a preset amount of travel time for their out-calls. This allows clients to book back-to-back appointments but also ensures that you will have sufficient time to get from one place to the next. |
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