Re: Thoughts about new Heronswood Web site

Well- I got a chance to check out the site and here are my thoughts:

First thing that hits me is the main page- the graphic is poor quality and fuzzy. Does not provide any kind of confidence that this is a reliable company (which I know they are- but if I wasn't already aware- I would be leary about going much further and certainly not sending them money)

The "plant finder" link isn't what I thought it would be- I wanted to type in the name of a plant to see if they had it- not give list of options and see what comes up. It is an intersting concept they have, but just needs a different name. I suspect that more people using Heronswoods sites have some clue of what they are looking for, but I could be wrong. Their options for soil conditions are lousy (moist vs. dry) and have programming errors. Just for kicks I tried this out and did a little search and there were zero plants apparently that I can grow at my house. Which of course, is not true- so in reality this "plant finder" option is useless to me. Where is the regular old search by common or botanical name option??

Back to the main page- it is confusing and redundant to have links all along the side as well as buttons at the top. Why?? Do we need more clutter in our lives?

I don't like clicking on the side links only to get another page that doesn't have actual content on it. Do they really think everyone is exceptionally stupid? If I clicked on a link that says "information", then I obviously know that link provides information about heronswood and ordering. Why have another page with a secondary menu (which by the way also appears on the side with the rest of the links then). Similarly, if I click on shop- don't make me choose a category! Let me do a normal search or alphabetical if I want. Not everyone searches by category. The ironly is that once you click on a category, they only give latin names- so the site is set up for people with limited plant finding skills, but then they are expected to know only latin names. Not a great plan.

I think the others have touched upon the other complaints that I have. I can't stand the "suitcase" thing- give me a break- that isn't cute- it's confusing. Everyone knows that online shopping goes in a cart! And, I'm with Kitty- I want to know exactly what size pot I'm buying!
I miss their old site- and that has nothing to do with the who designed the old one. It was simply far better done - much more user friendly and more visually appealing too.

Theresa

Andrea Hodges wrote:

Where have I been? I had no idea you designed and managed their site before Burpee. I've already given you my opinion on the whole having to click repeatedly to get to the plant I want. I'm with Chris P. I want to see a whole list in front of me that I can scroll down, and there MUST be pictures of course. There were a lot of "no image available" pics, which I understand happens sometimes, but I don't have to like it.

I didn't care for their little icons at the top. I had to click several things to get to where I could find the plant. Don't care for that.
A

----- Original Message ----- From: "Christopher P. Lindsey" <lindsey@mallorn.com>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2006 4:37 PM
Subject: [CHAT] Thoughts about new Heronswood Web site


As I start designing my Web site and online catalog I'm thinking about
different approaches that I can take.

As you know, I designed/managed Heronswood's Web site for a number of
years, but this year Burpee took over the site.

For those of you familiar with the old site I'm curious what you think
is good and bad about the new one that I can apply to my site and others.

I obviously already have my own opinions that I'll share later -- I'm
curious what some of you guys think.

Their site is at

http://www.heronswood.com/

Chris

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