Re: Blizzard on the way, Chris' catalogue

Winecups...was supposed to reference my text in the first paragraph for

that same plant, but apparently it wasn't obvious enough.

Oh, sorry, it was an oversight on my part


in the online catalog it will link to other plants in the
catalog if they're mentioned

Yes!  I like that idea!


One option is to do something similar; have extra color plates at the
end and link to them from each plant's entry within the PDF.
Sounds like a plan. I realize more pictures means more expense in the print catalog though.
BTW - Do you mean that your catalog online will continue to be in the form of a PDF or just this "in-the-works version? I have no trouble opening it now but the first time I tried I was on dial-up and it took half an hour. I remember years ago giving up on Greer Gardens because their online catalog was PDF and too big too download.

Kitty

Kitty
neIN, Zone 5
----- Original Message ----- From: "Christopher P. Lindsey" <lindsey@mallorn.com>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2006 12:30 AM
Subject: Re: [CHAT] Blizzard on the way, Chris' catalogue


Chris, I haven't had as much time as I'd like to look through the catalog.
the photos of course are striking. I like the layout and the personal
comments. If you could bear a teensy critique...I'm reading about
Winecups - lovely, I want some! - and you write, "As I mentioned earlier, I
love to let this meander..."
D'oh!  It was supposed to reference my text in the first paragraph for
that same plant, but apparently it wasn't obvious enough.  My Mom has been
reading a lot of these entries too and calls me with changes -- it seems
a lot of stuff made sense to me at the time, but something got lost in
translation.  :)
People usually jump around catalogs, especially online. They don't read
them front to back (My sister reads everything back to front!) It's nice to
make connections between entries, but that's too vague. Now I'm wondering
what it was you were talking about "earlier" and should I get it with my
Winecups, and darn! what page is he talking about?
One thing that I have done (and you can't see it yet because I can't
figure out how to make it work in the PDF) is to link to the names of
plants.  So in the online catalog it will link to other plants in the
catalog if they're mentioned.  It *should* work in the PDF too, but
it's complicated and I figured it was more important to finish the
descriptions first.
The icons are great, very descriptive. I like the fact, too, that you
include the plants' native range. The light, moisture, and drainage
indications might take a little getting used to, but they are much more
descriptive than a simple sun or waterdrop icon. It shows you've put a lot
of work into these entries and that you are willing to share a lot of
in-depth information with your customers.
Thanks!

I do want to come up with some sort of graphic to better depict plants'
needs, but I'm trying to force myself to write descriptions instead.
Another note on pictures. Would it be possible to have 2 pictures for some
entries? I'm thinking of the Cimicifuga/Actaea entries. A close-up of
flowers or berries is intriguing, but for something like this, a photo of
its habit would help.
I've wondered about this as well and couldn't figure out what the best
way to do it was.  Obviously it would be easy online (click for more
pictures), but in the printed catalog it could complicate things
significantly.

One option is to do something similar; have extra color plates at the
end and link to them from each plant's entry within the PDF.  Of course,
that would mean they'd have to click and couldn't see it all of a plant's
photos at once.  On the other hand, I wouldn't have to reprogram the
part that lays out the catalog.

I suppose first I should go through and see which plants could have
more photos (and find out whether or not I have them).  If I have
enough would that solution help?

As you can tell, I'm still short on a ton of photos.  :(


Still not enough time right now to look at everything, but I've put it in
my favorites so I can look some more and watch its progress.

Cool!  I really appreciate the comments!

Chris

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