New Additions to GardenStew - October '09

Hi all,

As I'm sure you've noticed they have been some changes made to GardenStew overnight. The main reason for the changes were to structure the site so that everything has the same design. If you remember PlantStew / Gardens / Photos used to have the PlantStew type of design. To avoid confusion for new visitors I decided to bring these together under the GardenStew design instead. That meant that PlantStew had to be renamed so it will be referred to from now on as GardenStew PLANTS.

So what has been added? Here is a list:

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Likes: I'm sure you might have seen this guy -> He appears anywhere where you know have the possibility to show a small token of appreciation by 'liking' something. You are able to 'like' forum topics, blog entries and garden photos.

Notifications: The Notifications page already existed under PlantStew before but I decided to extend the idea throughout the whole site. You will now receive notifications for other events like topic replies, blog comments and Likes.

Members who grow this plant also grow...: On most of the important plant pages you will now see a new box on the right hand side that recommends some plants that are related to the current plant. The plants are chosen based on what plants exist in others Gardens and how similar the plants are to each other. It should be a great way of discovering new plants.

Blog Subscribers: After many years I finally got around to letting you know who has subscribed to your blog. The new 'Blog Subscribers' panel on your blog will let you know who has subscribed to a blog you are currently viewing.

View Plants Added to a Garden: On the some of the Garden pages the list of plants added to a Garden was becoming excessively long and slowing down the loading of the page. So I've added a new separate page for viewing plants in a Garden rather than on the Garden page itself. Look out for the 'View all plants in Garden'-type links on Garden pages.

Combination of profile pages: Under the old design members had a separate profile page for GardenStew and PlantStew. I've now merged the PlantStew profile page into the GardenStew profile page to make things less confusing.

Minor cosmetic changes:
- Redesigned the main menu bar
- Given a new tagline under the logo "Connecting Gardeners"
- Changed link colours on the site to a more normal blue
- Other miscellaneous small changes (that actually take up a lot of time)

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So that's all I can think of (I've probably left something out). I tried not to change the design too much because you seem to like it 8)

If you encounter any errors / weirdness please send me a PM or reply in this forum topic. All feedback welcomed!

// frank

 

I find the changes so easy to use and I like the more simplified look of the menu bar as I felt it was getting rather cluttered of late.
I also think the blue print is really clear to read. The extended notifications (which is already working for me)is a great addition.

Congratulations Frank you've done a grand job for us all.

 

The route to the 'My Plant Suggestions' page is a bit of a trip.

From the Notifications page you can click on the name of the Plant that has been approved,
hover the mouse over My Plant Activity,
click on Statistics,
then scroll down and click on Plants Suggested.
There are two other routes that take you thru your Profile page to the Stats page.

And one that takes only two steps....click on My Profile at the top of the screen, then on Plants Suggested.


Can you put a direct link from a members Notifications page to their 'My Plant Suggestions' page?

 

Hi Toni, to the right of the Plant Search box there is a Plant Suggestions link. I think I will add a Plant Suggestions link in the My Activity drop down menu also.

Thanks for the idea.

 

Okay Frank, I see it now...but the addition to the drop down box will be good too.

Petunia, the photo can not be uploaded until the suggested plant has been approved Frank has the page set up.