Those who use Firefox web browser can now download a browser add-on directly from Mozilla-Addons. This extension provides users with quick links to the business member's web site and to their booking system pages.

Download OA QLinks ver 3.1 from Mozilla Add-ons.

Visit the extension information page and discover why this is a valuable add-on for all system users who use the Firefox web browser.

Update 07-20-2010: version 3.2.7 is now available.

The new appointment system at www.mynextappointment.com is up and running. We unbundled all of the options so owners can pick and choose the options they want.

Recent local updates include trimming the required membership information to an absolute minimum. We've also created a form on the appointment details page that allows owners to edit the name and phone number associated with that appointment.

The client pages have also been tidied up a bit.

Members will now edit their membership information and their passwords on separate pages. Some novice users were getting confused with the number of options when those two pages were combined into a single form.

Besides downloading a client's .csv appointment history file and importing it into your favorite spreadsheet software, owners can now go to a printer friendly page and print the appointments for a single day, week, month or year in ascending or descending order. In fact you can select any time span.

Select a column, select the beginning and end dates and click print.

You can include or exclude canceled appointments, select any column or person and paginate through the results.

- - - - - - - - - -

Any or all of your clients can now be flagged by the owner as "trusted" and allowed to cancel their own online appointments.

By default only owners and their managers can cancel appointments.

You can download each client's appointment history and open that .csv file in your own spreadsheet software.

This new feature provides you with absolute control of your appointment information.

The page for adding services, pricing and time has been updated. Owners can now navigate through all 17 service categories with ease.

- - - - - - - - - -

Those with subscriptions for a home page with appointment book will now find a monthly calendar included on the hours of operation page.

view live example in new window

This convenient addition displays days open, hours open and the percentage of available booking hours for each day.

The public can select and display times and availability for any column without logging in.

Data for hidden columns can only be selected and viewed by the owner or manager. Days past display 100% appointment activity.

Owners can view a client's appointment history from within their control center. That page has been updated with a new sort feature to show the client's future and past appointments.

All public pages have been converted to XHTML and the main menu has been replaced with a new css drop down menu.

OAQLinks has been updated to version 2.35.1 to meet the new Firefox minimum version requirement.

Please uninstall your current OAQLinks addon and download and install the new one from our Firefox extension page. Your extension settings will not be effected.

Updated new membership email messages with clarifications and links to key system pages.

The same security has been applied to the calendar as exists with the appointment book. At a minimum, clients must be in the same country as the business to view their calendar.

If the owner requires access approval then only their approved clients can view both their appointment book and their calendar.

- - - - - - - - - -

The personal appointment center has been updated. Members can scroll through their entire past and future appointment records in ascending or descending order.

- - - - - - - - - -

We have corrected a time calculation in the calendar view. This display error did not negatively effect the scheduling process itself.

Owners and clients can now switch from day view to month view with one easy click.

The calendar differentiates between open days and closed days and will display the hours of operation for each day of the month. The calendar will also display the number of appointments booked on each day, as well as the remaining percentage of available booking time.

Switch to any column or employee listed in the appointment book to view the appointment data.

Thank you for the suggestion Sherry.

- - - - - - - - - -

Owners can now display a 180 x 200 pixel image of either themselves, their location or their products on their BBU home page.

Upload your image to an image hosting service or to another server, then set the link to that image in your control center.

- - - - - - - - - -

If you have another web site or a shopping cart you can now link to it directly from your BBU home page. Two additional text boxes have been added to the Banner and Links section of the Control Center. One is for your 118 x 80 pixel image and the other is for the link.

The image will appear at the left of the home page and the link will open in the same browser window. Thanks for the input Rick.

The adjustment dates for daylight savings and the end of daylight savings are staggered throughout the world. This may effect how time slots for the current hour appear in your appointment book.

A new page has been added to the Control Center so owners can adjust the current available time slot forward and backward by one or two hours.

We have added a cookie security test to the main login form. Your clients will not be frustrated if they are unaware of their high browser security settings, and can now easily check the security setting of their browser.

- - - - - - - - - -

To remedy the problem of not allowing same day booking and yet allow next day booking, regardless of whether or not it is more than 24 hours in advance, we have added a 12 HOUR option to the business security options.

If your business is not open more than 12 hours on any day then clients will still be required to book into the next day.

Thanks for the suggestion Anna.

It may be just as fatal to put your phone number on a web page as it is to include your email address. Harvesters will take each one and spam both your inbox and your cell.

In the last few years the workaround has been to put skewed text on an image and force the user to enter a random word (the image is called a CAPTCHA). But even these can be cracked with optical scanners. It has happened to Google, MSN and Yahoo!

Email and phone number harvesters come in various models and levels of development. Some have optical scanners while most others (usually the free ones) simply scan the page content for fodder.

However, it is still vitally important to provide visitors and potential customers with your phone number on your web site.

Our solution to protecting business members as much as we can, while balancing their need to provide a phone number on their home page, has been implemented. We have created a CAPTCHA for the business phone numbers on all home pages.

Most of the tool-tips have been removed from the tabs in the live appointment book. We were able to create instances where they were creating errors in Internet Explorer.

Tool-tips for individual appointment information, which are visible only to the owner and their managers, will remain an integral part of the interface.

- - - - - - - - - -

Fixed Opera browser CSS issue in the appointment book.
(Opera ver 9.62 on Windows XP Pro)

- - - - - - - - - -

Moved the client registration button to a prominent position on all home pages. Clients agree to the terms of use directly on that business member's home page. The button is hidden when logged in.

- - - - - - - - - -

A convenient login form has been inserted into each home page. Now clients can login directly from the business member's site.

The form includes the usual option to remain logged in for return visits. The permanent login cookie has an expiry date of 365 days.

- - - - - - - - - -

Booking instructions have been moved from a popup window and incorporated directly into the BBU home pages.

- - - - - - - - - -

Clients who register from a home page registration link will see no BBU branding whatsoever.

- - - - - - - - - -

A link on all home pages now allows clients to test their browser's security settings with respect to login cookies. Clients can easily check whether their browser will accept the login cookie.

We are in the process of redoing all of the home pages.

$message, $hours, $services and $location have been separated into individual pages and have been linked with a new set of buttons across the top of each home page.

As well, a very cool Google Map script extracts your raw street address from the database, geoencodes it to precise latitude and longitude values, and outputs the results to a Google Map on the home page (with widgets).

It includes a geomarker and a form for retrieving driving directions.

All home pages have been tested in Safari 3.2.1, Opera 9.62, Firefox 3.0.4 and Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP Pro. All home pages are XHTML 1.0 Transitional.

Have a good Christmas everyone.

- - - - - - - - - -

As of January 2009, all of the Google maps include Street View. The maps have been overlayed with blue highlighting on those roads and streets which have been photographed and indexed by Google.

Double click any highlighted road and the street view will appear below the map.

We have written a Firefox Extension that makes it very convenient to access various pages within the system, including a direct link to the appointment book (login still required).

If you haven't tried the Firefox browser you may want to check it out. The extension is worth the look.

We have created a database query which lists all clients who have booked with each business. This provides owners with the ability to send a message to all of their online clients with a simple two step form.

There is room to enter a return email address and allow clients to respond to that inbox. This is a great way to keep your clients updated with events and specials and to keep your doors swinging.

Owners have a separate page where they can view the upcoming and past appointment history of each client.

That page will also display the owner's own appointment history and it has now been modified. When an owner or manager views their own appointment history they will also see the name and / or phone number which they have associated with each call-in appointment.

The client's phone number and the type of service is now visible within the tool tip when you hover on a name in the appointment book. This means owners no longer have to click to view the details of an appointment.

Simply hover on a name to view the service that has been booked, your notes, and the client's phone number.

The Personal Appointment Center has been given a face lift.

In addition to the new BOOKMARK link, we have added links for editing membership details, searching the BBU database for business members, contacting a business and viewing the details of future and past appointments.

Owners can now associate a name and phone number to any appointment. Prior to this update, the surname that appeared in the appointment book was that of the person who did the booking. Enter any name up to 10 characters in length. Empty spaces will be stripped from the character string.

This is important for those who enter call-in appointments. This update will let you visually distinguish one appointment from the next without having to rely on your notes.

Suggested Method : first initial dot last name => r.connolly (max length 10 characters)

The second and final step of online booking has been secured to prevent members from booking into a column that does not exist.

Clients were also given the option to select any of the other available columns after they clicked an open time slot. That option has now been removed. Clients are now required to return to the appointment book if they want to book in a different column.

We were given a heads up about currency symbols by one of our UK business members.

All system pages which display pricing will now display in your national currency. Existing businesses can edit their currency in their subscription settings. We have also made room for international currency codes if you prefer to use the three character code.

Thank you Anna.

We are in the process of adding some activity to the home page menu systems.

A bit of javascript is being used to display an arrow when the mouse hovers on each of the buttons.

Owners now have the option to require new clients to obtain access permission. Your managers and any existing clients will be exempt.

Check your security settings in your Control Panel. If you select this option an additional button will appear in your Control Panel. All new clients awaiting your approval will be listed on that page.

When a new client attempts to access your appointment book they will be prompted to request your approval with one click. You will then receive an email alert. If you 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 new feature gives you complete control and 100% security.

$bbu_rt is the 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.

The $bbu_rt issue has been corrected (8/2008)

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.

The requests for global access have been so overwhelming that we have tackled the question of how to make it accessible to everyone and yet maintain security for business owners.

We took a hard look at the possible options and came up with the ideas to make this happen.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Linux
Apache 2.2.8
PHP 5.x
MySQL 5.x

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 anyone who wants to maintain a completely private appointment management system online and access it from anywhere can do so.

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!

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.

We've added an automatic page refresh to the appointment book. This is a client-side JavaScript function that reloads the page every 15 minutes. We added this so owners will encounter fewer scheduling checks when booking.

If a client booked within the last 15 minutes and the owner happened to select the same start time, prior to a refresh, then the owner would be required to back track and select a different start time for a walk-in or call-in appointment. An automatic page refresh will help to reduce this possibility.

This web site 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.

Beautybyus is now listed at hotscripts.com. Anyone can view our listing and rate us, but you must have a Hot Scripts 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.

The home page 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 links, i.e. the contact and help links. Title and alt tags have also been added to each menu item.

The instructions for new clients has been modified to clearly explain their login options. Clients can access the appointment system from their business member's home page or from the business member's own web site.

Clients can also login directly from the main system pages. This login method provides them with immediate access to their PAC (personal appointment center) and secondary access to the business member's home page and appointment book.

The home page 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 links, i.e. the contact and help links. Title and alt tags have also been added to each menu item.

The Live Help at 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.

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, they were listed as services on their home page under the heading UNAVAILABLE.

We decided to exclude this category from displaying on the home pages.

Owners can still select these items in their list of services but they will no longer be seen as service items on the home pages.

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.

We added some new categories and the numbering system for categories and services has been manually adjusted in the database. Everything will now display in alphabetical order.

This has resulted in the proper ordering of services on the home pages and within the service selection area.

Owners and 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 will not see or have access to that section of the page.

We installed a new menu system in the public area of this site. Members can also access their personal pages from that menu.

All of the home pages 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 and all tied into a mySQL back end. Together with the MSS modifications it will provide anyone in any industry with a flexible and secure online appointment management system.

All of the business home pages are now connected into LIVE HELP.

Each template has an online/offline button and if someone needs assistance we can point them in the right direction.

The LIVE HELP image on the right side of these pages opens a new browser window and will let you chat live with an administrator. The alternate OFFLINE image appears if no one is around.

To make things easier we have clarified the business home page links. As well, all of the home pages now have a register button and a password recovery button.

If you are required to login the system will automatically return the appropriate page.

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.

Each business home page now has a MapQuest link that will open a new browser window to display the exact location of that business. A very useful feature.

* Replaced with Google Map

The e-mail notices for the system have been rewritten. Reminder notices now include a link to the appointment details. We have made some additions to the Help Desk as well.

The links in your Personal Appointment Center for future, past and canceled appointments have been renamed to provide more clarity. As well you can use the "Request Cancellation" link to simply contact a business.

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.