I just did a search with just the letter "A" then book marked the page. That saves a lot of time and avoids all the scrolling also.

I'd prefer an easy to get to iris database - for those times when I've got a list of irises to i.d.
No scrolling past info that I'm not looking for. Please.

Am I missing something, with a bookmark it takes me one click from my opened browser window to go directly to the iris database search box with no scrolling through anything?

Not everyone wants a plethora of bookmarks on their desktop or in their bookmarks list. And that's not a permanent solution for myriads of other iris database users.

I was only suggesting it as a temporary workaround, but I love having a one step bookmark for the things I use often on a regular basis.

Calif_Sue said:Not everyone wants a plethora of bookmarks on their desktop or in their bookmarks list. And that's not a permanent solution for myriads of other iris database users.

Exactly. A bookmark can't get me to the part of the iris database I want to use. More importantly, I'm not sure how many new users would even realize a database is there. It requires a fair bit of determination to scroll past the articles to even reach the other database features.

Sue, I am still not understanding how they are using the database and why adding a single bookmark would be much of a problem (of course my entire bookmarks bar is full and I have dozens of extra ones). I am thinking that I must be missing some trick that power users have for using the database that I am not aware of. Can you explain what I am failing to understand. I am sure Dave can come up with a solution to the problem, but
till then why would this not be the perfect solution?

Larry, on the Plant Database page, they are talking about the custom database on the right. When you click on Irises, you used to have the same search box with options as the main database page but now it only looks for iris. You starting typing a cultivar name and get an instant drop down menu of entry suggestions. It's so much easier and quicker finding what you need. In the main database page, your cultivar name would bring up anything within the entire database across all genera that may be close.

Right now, with that info page so huge for iris, that search box is way down the page.

Personally, I think the search/browse box should be on the upper right side. But the balance may be off, Dave will get it fixed.

This is what I see: My book mark is the "Search" at the end of the bookmarks bar.


One click on "Search" and I go directly to this screen.

I think the search box option for plant cultivar (or by characteristics) should be at the top somewhere. But I do like the option of having a lot more information available to everyone including how to grow and propagate them. The NGA website is shaping up very nicely and I know it is already a very popular website on the internet. Thanks Dave and Trish (and family members) for all the work that you constantly put into this website!

But that's not the customized search screen. What if I wanted to search by hybridizer, size, type? Or a word within a name?

Funny thing is, everybody has their way in moving around here, I can't seem to duplicate your A page of iris, can't find it. I know there are several ways of entering the database, but it should be intuitive.

Oh, I had not noticed that over on the right it lists : Add a Plant
Search by Name
Search by Type
Landscape photos
I just assumed the missing features were included,
but I see now they are not.
It looks like you can search by name, or Type (that allows a search by height etc.) but the hybridizer search does not seem to be included.

The iris database is a good example of a lengthy care guide. I plan to review this carefully as I often struggle with iris. Meanwhile, I do see that 'scrolling' down several pages would be onerous. Wondering if the entire care guide could just be a separate page with a link on the first page to quickly get to it. Perhaps even have a discussion option within the care guide?

Ok, I replace my bookmark with this:
From the Iris main page, scroll down to Search and Browse.
Click on Search Characteristics
Then Bookmark that page.


and now I go to this screen.

I know it is not a perfect solution but for temporary it might help some.
Edited:
Thought it might help to add the steps I followed.
You cold also add this to your custom menu bar inside the NGA site, it adds a couple of clicks, but some might prefer it.

Everyone is lamenting about that Search and Browse being so far down the iris page. I would never use Search Characteristics to find a cultivar, and it can't take you directly to the generic iris entry.

I only click on the Plant Database link at the top and nothing from the drop down menu because I mostly utilize the custom databases, I don't use the Search by Name, or Search by Characteristics links.

Admins and moderators can now manage the plant care sections in the database.

If you have permissions, you will see an "Edit" link at the end of each section. Also, below the entire plant care area, you will find a full "Manage the Plant Care Info for this plant". You can click on that to access a control panel where you can add new sections and edit any of the existing ones.

For the moment, I've blanked out all of the articles except for "Introduction To The Wonderful World Of Irises" on the Iris Database page. This brought the Search and Browse, Recent threads, New Images, and New Comments back up close enough to top of the page that they can be easily found.

I'd love to incorporate the other articles (and some more), but at 4,000 words and dozens of pictures, I don't know how to do it without creating an overwhelming barrage of stuff?

We'll have a solution for that very soon, Kent.

Today I wrote a script to copy over all the content from the old plant care guides to the plant database. There is surely some overlap with some plants that already had content, like irises, daylilies, tomatoes and more. It was a broad brush copy and everything was brought over, but it shouldn't have affected any of the existing content.

If you're a moderator (or admin) over a specific section, feel free to cut away whatever came in and put your own stuff above it. You can adjust the order that all the items appear.

In the days ahead I will be manually going through all the plant database pages and trying to start cleaning up a lot of the content that was brought over. A lot of it is good and useful but much of it badly needs re-writing.