Echo February 2002 What's new? Lebanonpanorama: Visit Lebanon online! www.lebanonpanorama.com was especially designed by lawyer and web designer William MATAR to arouse the curiosity of both the Lebanese living here and abroad, as well as foreigners, in discovering the most beautiful cities and regions of Lebanon online. 'Echo' will tell you more about this site through an interview with Mr. Matar. How did the idea of lebanonpanorama.com come up? The idea actually started after designing www.lebanonart.com in 1997, especially dedicated to artist Joseph Matar, and www.lebanonart.net in 1999, which is a 'façade' to all sorts of arts. Due to the feedback we received about people wanting to see Lebanon through those websites, I had the idea of designing a website especially conceived for people who would like to see the various areas and regions of Lebanon online. What is so special about lebanonpanorama.com? Lebanonpanorama.com consists of several pictures of several areas of Lebanon, which can be rotated up to 360 degrees, and which one can zoom or even penetrate by merely using a mouse. In addition, an informative text accompanies each of these pictures to give clear and concise information of the area or region depicted. How would you define lebanonpanorama.com? I would say in short that lebanonpanorama.com is a virtual touristic guide of Lebanon, where the Internet surfer could enjoy seeing a complete view of certain regions and read information about them by just browsing the site. What are the steps that one takes to familiarize with the site? First, one has the choice between an English or French version of the site. If a person happens to choose English, for example, he or she will see an interactive map representing the different areas of Lebanon. Let's say that person chooses Beirut, he or she clicks on the 'Beirut' location and enters a page especially designed for several touristic sites of the city. Once he or she decides to view one of the pictures available, he or she is able to enter the picture and rotate it up to 360 degrees, and to even enter the picture to see it more detailed. He or she is then free to read the information accompanying the picture. How does lebanonpanorama.com differ from other similar sites? Actually, lebanonpanorama.com is the only site on the World Wide Web that depicts a whole country virtually, which gives it its unique feature. Do you plan to add anything to the site in the future? Yes of course. Eventually, we're thinking of adding a special section about hotels, clubs, restaurants in Lebanon… We're also thinking adding a links section for the best sites in Lebanon that might be of benefit to the users. What would young people benefit from by browsing the site? Many people residing in Lebanon admit not knowing the country's touristic sites very well. For this reason, they might benefit from lebanonpanorama.com by discovering those sites and reading about them. And who knows? They might be encouraged to go see them!