Looking for beta testers

As you know, go_vols and I have been tremendously busy for several months on the complete re-write of the Plants Database.

We are now at the point where we want to get a handful of members (maybe a dozen people) to go in and closely examine the new site, check everything out, and give us feedback on what they found (both good and bad).

The new Plants Database is going to take Dave's Garden to the next level. We've worked at it a long time and we really want it to be great as soon as it goes out the door. The more feedback we can get, the better.

So, who wants to spend a little time poking around in there and testing all the new features of the site? Let me know (via posting here on this thread) and I will E-mail you with the details on how to access the new site.

Thanks,
Dave

I guess I could poke around in there if ya want.

I'd be happy to help out. I use the PDB ALL the time!

Hey, I'm open to pokin'. :)

Thank you - anyone else?

I really like the new page format, especially having the characteristics broken down as they are and how the thumbnails are on the upper right. It makes it quick to check the photos and make sure the plant's what I think it is. I'm still poking around, but I wanted to give you my initial impression. Way cool. :)

I'd be glad to help.

Me too!

I would love to! Just holler :*)

I'd be willing to spend some time at this too Dave, as long as I don't need to be real knowledgeable about the plants. I use the Plants Database everyday, since I'm still learning about all the plants. If you would like a new gardener's view, then I'd love to take a peek.

Just let me know.

Joan

If you still need volunteers, let me know. I look up something almost every day. :)

I don't know if Dave has seen your offers of help - if you haven't heard from him, please email me and I'll send you the link to the testing area.

JoanJ, we definitely need the gardener's viewpoint and comments :)

Everyone has heard from me. :)

Do you want findings posted here, or E'd to Dave or GV?

Badseed: whichever you like.

LOL Okay, here goes..
Propagation is lacking whether to divide in spring or fall. I don't see a way to edit, even what I put in. Once I select something, I cannot change it. Is it possible for the database to automatically combine duplicate entries (without losing content)? The last thing, I don't see a way to check for 'self seeds freely', other than checking 'can be invasive'. It may have been there, but I cannot get back into a sub heading once I add something. :)

> Once I select something, I cannot change it

This is now fixed.

> Is it possible for the database to automatically
> combine duplicate entries (without losing content)?

I'm not really understanding. Are you talking about the height and spacing, and such?

> self seeds freely

I don't think that's there as a checkbox. Vols will read this and determine whether it should be added (probably under Miscellaneous if she does add it).

dave

Yes, I think "self-seeds freely" can be added in the Misc. section.

Regarding the proper season for dividing plants. WHERE were you when I was putting together propagation techniques???? (she says grinning broadly)

Actually I think (unless I hear different from the majority of you reading this), we can address the proper dividing time in comments we can each make about a plant.

That keeps the list of techniques short and sweet, since some plants could be divided just about any time; and let's face it - some gardeners can pretty much divide a plant whenever/however they see fit, and the thing will grow. Others of us can merely LOOK at a plant while holding a cutting instrument of any sort, and that plant is going to shrivel up and die.

Or stated another way, the season we prefer to divide a plant will vary based on personal preference, zone, climate, age of plant, and the shade of green of the gardener's thumb - too many variables to try to capture "once and for all" for a plant entry. I'd rather leave it the timing aspect as a subjective, opinion-type comment within the plant entry.

Does that make sense? Real life example: we all *know* peonies should ONLY be divided in September, if ever. But by golly, just tell that to my BIL, who routinely rips them out of the ground, sticks his shovel through the roots to create two or three divisions, shoves them into a new spot without so much as food or drink, and they GROW. And bloom. Putting "divide in fall" in a peony entry is still good advice, but apparently not the *only* time one can successfully do it :)

I like the most recently added images and ratings on the first page. I like them there a lot. It's easy to see right away what's new.

I also really like that the plants can now be rated along with the comments.

I think I LOVE it Dave!

Thank you Dave and Go_Vols for the great job and all the hard work you put into making the plants database so much better and easier.

Thanks, Joan. Curiously, though, nobody is submitting very many bug reports. Does that mean that the code is perfect?

I've been working in the Tomatoes Database (oops, I just accidentally leaked a major feature of the Plants Database) for quite a while and it's running smoothly.

Dare I say this thing is rock-solid and ready for public consumption? Maybe! Vols and I are scrambling to migrate a lot of the data over that wasn't automatable, and when that's done, I guuess it'll be time to flip the switch and open the floodgates to the 40,000 people who access the Plants Database each month. :)

Dave

Okay, I have been playing, adding things, etc. I like the new (Change) feature. I have also been mispelling things on purpose and searching. The only thing that troubles me still (gulp, sorry) is the search feature. If I use the basic search, it gets too many hits and when I hit in the criteria I know for a plant on the advanced search it is pulling nothing (Which probably just means we need to add more info for some plants). Before today, searching, I would hit in a single word or phrase or a couple of words and tried them with " and " and also " + " and sometimes get way too many hits. Does that make sense? Otherwise I am quite pleased. :)
GV, I was there for you!! I threw in the heel cuttings! LOL It wasn't until I was adding specific info that I realized some things were missing. Come on up and smack me. giggle

Leave off the + and "and"'s. They aren't necessary with the new search engine.

Just try typing in various things (try common names, cultivar names, synonyms, genera, family, species, etc) and you should have pretty good success. I am, however, logging all searches that do not produce any results, so I can go back and see how to improve the search engine over time.

Regarding the advanced search: You're right - we need more data in the fields. That's why stuff isn't coming up so frequently right now.

Dave

Is there a reason that the temperatures beside the zones are in C instead of F?

Joan, that's a good question about the Celsius/Centigrade temps; I wondered if/when someone would ask us :)

Yes, it was a conscious decision for us. Here's why we chose to do what we did: *Most* of us in the U.S. know our own zone (or are familiar enough with the concept that we can find out what zone we're in.) We also know enough about our own winter temperatures to kinda/sorta figure out WHY we're in a particular zone.

On the other hand, our zones mean little (if anything) to those living in places other than the North American continent. And we're really about the only country that still uses the Fahrenheit scale.

At first I tried putting both F and C temps on the ranges. But it was pretty lengthy. So after some discussion, we decided to leave off the Fahrenheit scale and just go with the temps in Celsius, to hopefully make our zones more meaningful for the rest of the world. And perhaps in the process, we American gardeners will become more familiar with the Celsius scale.

Thanks, that makes perfect sense to me. I was just wondering about that. I figured out how to convert it too.

Badseed, I knew you were - I just had to tease you :) Are you okay with my take on the season-to-prune above? Let me know, okay? And if I can remember to do it, you'll soon see "self-sows freely" as an option under miscellaneous.

We also did something different with the invasiveness field - it will now link to the defintion of the term in Gardenology. This was based on feedback we've received from users of the database, usually when people weren't sure WHAT we meant by dubbing a plant as invasive. Since it can mean different things to gardeners in different regions, we thought this might be a good solution.

So for any and all you beta testers, give us some feedback on what you think of that part of the PDB (as well as any other likes/dislikes about the changes.)

To aid in folks converting the temps, could there be a link to a conversion site which would let the user type in the celcius temp and bring up the farenheit equivalent? Something like this one, maybe? http://www.cimko.com.tr/About/Cf.htm

Umm, one more thing. ;) What about seeds that have to be sown in situ (resent transplanting) or seeds that can just be sown outdoors after danger of frost?
GV, you know I am lovin' you like a sister. LOL

hehehe, listen here "sista"... (she says in a fake menacing tone. :) Take a gander at propagation techniques - I think you'll find what you're searching for there.

"Self-sows freely" is kind of an odd-ball plant attribute. On one hand it's a warning, and on the other, it's a (very casual) seed growing technique. I flipped a coin and decided it fit better with the misc. stuff, which also includes warnings on invasiveness.

Nope. These are the only seed entries I see.

From seed; direct sow outdoors in fall
From seed; start outdoors mid-winter in covered containers, coldframe or unheated greenhouse
From seed; stratify if sowing indoors
From seed; sow indoors before last frost
From seed; germinate in a damp paper towel
From seed; germinate in vitro in gelatin, agar or other medium
Scarify seed before sowing
Pretend I am blonde (I am) and it will make everything easier. LOL

The entries used to have lots more information it seems. I might be wrong though. Is there still more things to transfer or will all the information have to be put in again?

Edited to say that I found what I was missing.

This message was edited Wednesday, May 1st 6:12 PM

For all you beta testers...

Try to BREAK it!!!! Find all of those nit-picky things that shouldn't be there, find all of the things that just don't quite look right.

Looking around, I found at the top of one page said "$user=blahblahblah"- that should NOT be there. Look closely- be as picky as possible- we want you to!

In the end, it should be flawless, seemless, and above all- professional.

I'm usually the one that nags on Dave about those little things, but I can't help with this one (up to my eyeballs in the cookbook), so we're counting on all of you to be the nag for me :)

Trish

Oh, phooey (or something like that!) Apparently that deep brown hair color isn't covering MY blonde hair well enough!

I changed the propagation choices the other day - before you guys started testing. I *thought* I had included all of them, but apparently the EASIEST method - "Direct sow in the spring after danger of frost" got lost in the shuffle.

I'll work with Dave to get it added now that we're in a live environment. Good catch Michelle!

(Michele slides the peroxide back to GV and tells her NOT to work against Mother Nature-some things just ARE!) LOL LOL

I haven't found any problems...but I think the other people are more thorough than me...lol I use it as I would normally, searching for things and adding photos and little bits of info I know of. It's working fine for me.

Is this a joke or a test or is it supposed to be there??http://test.plantsdatabase.com/go/83/

It's me again, the thorn in your side. Is it possible to do any more tweaking on the search engine? I know I sound like a broken record. :) I am still pulling up just too many things and most are not even close, but the right ones are in there too.

Michelle, I know that Dave plans to do some things with the search engine still. Please give him specific feedback (what you searched for, complete with any punctuation; what you expected to find vs. what you got for results.)

Regarding the other photo - it's gone. I don't know who put it in there; occasionally we run across very odd things in the PDB, most of the time they turn out to be someone thinking they were downloading a photo, and wound up adding a photo instead. Thanks for the catch - if you find any other oddities, just holler :)

Right now I am inflicting a beating on the advanced search. Will be back with 'constructive criticism'. :) The special quirks on the search -post them or E them?

I've been having trouble with the advanced search not finding anything at all. I'll try to find a specific example.