New user seeks assistance on Journal, Navigation, Searches..

Greetings!

The Plants database is by far one of the finest and most comprehensive source of information I have come across. Hence, I joined DG as a paid subscriber - fantastic value for the $.

Equally attractive has been the underlying tone of warmth and friendliness as voiced in various forums/discussions. With such a large population, it is a refreshing experience to see such personalization.

Questions - I am truly lost with the Journal. How do I create new journals, how do I modify existing categories, how do I add plants searched directly to my journal so that I do not have to enter difficult spellings, etc... Is there a Journal tutorial or previously asked/similar question?

Same with navigation - From Plants database to come to Forums, is going through "Member Page" the only way to navigate? And, how does one add or start a new thread once you get to the member page or add/start a thread directly from the Plants database?

BTW, the responsiveness/speed of this site and searches are SUPER!

Thank you for your review and time.

Diablo aka Don

Don, we're happy to have you join us (and thanks for the nice words - we're delighted to hear that you've found qualities in our forums that have attracted so many other nice people ;o)

Here are some tips to hopefully help you get your bearings.

Journal: at the top of your journal is a link that says "Need some help?" and it will take you to this thread: http://rir.davesgarden.com/t/251387/ - it seems perfectly clear to me (since I wrote it!) but if you have more questions, or need more help, just holler.

Navigating from the PDB (or Watchdog) to Dave's Garden is a little tricky. I usually go to the bottom of either page, and hit the Tour link (PDB) or Acceptable Use Policy link (GWD) to get back to Dave's Garden. Why isn't there an easier way to navigate? You'll have to ask Dave (*grin*) - but in the meantime think of DG as the hub in the center of a lot of spokes, each spoke takes you to a differnet site/feature, but it is sometimes a one-way street.

Starting threads can be done in one of two ways:

Through the forums, choose the one that seems best suited for the topic, scroll down past the most active/current threads to see the area where you can start a new thread.

The only way to start a thread in the PDB is to submit an image. Once it's been released from the queue, it generates its own discussion thread (and you as the photo's owner are automatically set up to "watch" it - if anyone posts to it, you'll see a notice at the top of the PDB and DG homepages, which you can click to read what has been posted.)

Hope that helps - just holler if you have more questions, or need better explanations!

Terry, Thank you for your Warm response and Promptness.

I spent some more time looking around and reviewed the link you suggested. While your tips are easy to follow as they are well written, I am a bit behind when it comes to computers. For example, I still could not figure out how to changed/add categories as navigating to the bottom right of the page does NOT have any options to do that (this is in default journal's main page). Also, perhaps, you may have addressed this - I may NOT have understood it.

Can we try again? You indicated - "Open up your journal. Scroll down to "Manage Categories" and add a name (maybe "2002 Journal" or whatever makes sense to you.)" Now, Terry, if my life depended on finding this, I could not and did not find it! Logged out/in, scrolled up/down, back/forth...whew!!!

Then, the other hopeful feature I am looking for - Is there a way to search a plant and then click on add to journal and it adds it to the default journal or takes you to a link to add to your journals. Given that botanical names and other info is hard to spell, a copy/paste would be adorable!

HELP!!!

Thank you so much for taking the time to review this and my apologies if you have already been asked/answered the above...just point me there.

Hi, Don-
Hmmmm. I just logged in as you, and your journal is....well...blank. This looks like a problem for Dave! I'll let him know, and I'm sure he'll figure out what's going on a lot faster than I could.

Now as to your other request, yes I agree having some sort of "make a journal/wishlist" by going through the Plants Database would be super snazzy. If enough of us clamor for it, and we plead loud and long enough, it might just happen.... ;o)

I just logged in as him and the journal isn't blank - it has all the categories listed and he's being prompted to select one.

"diablo2003" please look on the right side of this page, below the logo, in the "Menu" box and click on "Journal".

Or, click here: http://davesgarden.com/ej/

What exactly do you see on that page?

dave

I see a page with the heading "Step 3..." (You now need to start your journal off ...."Add a new item".) either by selecting Journal on this page or via the hyperlink you posted.

The following menus appear on the right hand side:

- Journal Menu/Main Page
- Custom Menu
- Diablo2003's Menu
- Voting Booth
- Search the forums
- DG Network
- Happy Birthday!

If a category is selected, a page with the title "Adding a New Item" appears.

Thank you.

What happens if you add a new item?

Dave, I added a test item and upon submittal, I was able to see all options for the Journal including add/del, etc..

Okay, that's what was supposed to happen. It sounded like there was a bug in the system, but now that it's done it looks like it behaved as it should, yes?

10-4. Thank you.

Terry,

I was wondering about the same thing Diablo asked about. I just started my journal yesterday and was wishing there was someway to link to the plants database when adding an entry. I was searching the FAQ wondering if there was an option like that out there. So, I second the suggestion.

It would be nice to have - but it's definitely a question for Dave.

If (and it's a big "if" for some of us!) you spell the genus and species correctly, your entry will automatically include a link to the matching entry(ies) in the PDB.

Yeah, I noticed the link after entering in a few more entries today. That is nice to have. I still like diablos idea too, though. So, if Dave can eventually set something up like that it would be great. :)

Thanks!

I think a link is a wonderful solution. I mean you don't even have to go get a book, just click and quick- you're there.
And what happened to highlight, edit, copy, go back to journal page at some point AND place your cursor, hit edit, paste. No having to spell it. Right? Haven't had time to start a journal-- too busy outside too tired when I get inside.

I am also lost! Will try to read this and figure it out. Wish me luck. I'm not much of a computer geek either.

I need a "how to" on the basics of getting a Journal up and running so I'm bumping this older thread which appears to be in some need of updating.

Thanks.

There is a whole forum DG Journals & Diaries where you can get help if you need it: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/journals/all/ And if you go into your journal and click on the FAQ link, there is information there too which I believe is more updated than this thread. If you can't find the answers to your questions in that FAQ, then post in the journals forum and hopefully someone can help you.

Thanks again.