JEDDAH, 23 January 2003 — A private firm has set up an innovative website to serve as Jeddah’s information gateway, providing a variety of data required by the city’s residents as well as foreign visitors, pilgrims and businessmen.
Mohammed Mustafa, business development manager of Amtech Computer Center, claimed that the new Jeddah directory developed by his organization (www.jeddahclassifieds.com) was the best available on the Internet.
Mustafa disclosed plans to develop the site further including new information and categories useful for the public.
“The most outstanding feature of this website is that individuals and organizations can add new information by posting it in the specified forms,” Mustafa told Arab News.
“The site has many user-friendly features and is the best among the existing Jeddah sites in terms of speed, easy access and systematic arrangement,” he added.
The site also offers the public an opportunity to place classified ads on the site free of charge in categories such as buy & sell, job available, job wanted, news & events, rent/lease, greetings and matrimonial.
He said clients can post small pictures in the classified ads section. “This is an added facility,” he said.
“They can also deactivate an advertisement by just sending an e-mail,” he added.
“Our goal is to satisfy the needs of all Jeddah visitors, irrespective of their nationalities,” he said. “It’s a dynamic portal with a comprehensive and up-to-date database of well-known shopping and service outlets in the city,” he added.
Mustafa pointed out that all English-speaking Arabs could benefit from the site. According to a recent survey, about 70 percent of Arabs prefer English sites as they provide comparatively accurate and dependable information.
Mustafa said Amtech has so far set up 35 websites for various companies, hospitals and schools. “We design user-friendly websites serving a range of needs from simple websites to those requiring sophisticated solutions such as database integration, web portals, shopping cart applications, etc.,” he said.
