Each week I'm preparing to share some of our results from the latest survey we had asking members about their thoughts and opinions of this site. Most of my free time is currently taken up trying to get the update up and working with new components being added and tested all the time.

This week we're going to look at what you thought were your Least Preferred Aspects of Blotanical and here a graph may be helpful;

Taking line honours is the unsurprising Navigation - your least preferred aspect of Blotanical. It's no surprise really as this site has just kept growing and been added onto like a rabbit-warren. Most social media sites dismay in this area because the more people that are involved the more options that us developers love to implement for y'all. Yet, it doesn't make navigating a site a friendly task and often becomes quite tedious.

Navigation is the main reason for the upgrade of Blotanical, dubbed Blotanical 2.0, and through it I hope to achieve a more friendly user-initiated framework to meander through rather than bumps and jumps.

The key idea behind the updated navigation is that from any page you are able to quickly see where you are, what options are available and if you like the page you can add it to your own specific set of links. These links can then be sorted visually so that you can easily keep your most preferred version of navigating Blotanical at your fingertips.

If you want to add anything to this conversation, or aspects of the navigation system that may be helpful (even citing sites that have navigation that you prefer) then feel free to comment below.

Posted by Stuart at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The Blotanical Survey for 2009 has now concluded and I want to thank the many Blotanists who gave up some of their time to share their opinions, feedback and suggestions. While I have read a few of the comments and kept abreast of the some of the summary responses, there is a mountain of information here that will take me some time to wade through.

Regardless, I'm really happy you all shared so openly and honestly. This is the best feedback I've received because it's not based purely on one or two member's opinions. And while there have been some surprises, and a few that have left me scratching my head, most of the responses have solidified what we've all been thinking.

The number one aspect that most people enjoyed about Blotanical was the Navigation - ha, just joking ;-) Not surprising, it has come out as one of the least preferred aspects of Blotanical and is my number one priority for Blotanical 2.0.

Speaking of an upgrade, it was surprising to note that most of you were happy to see some changes occur.

While 47% took the easy step and sat on the fence, 44% said they were looking forward to an update while only 2% fear it like the plague. This is helpful to know as we push ahead with the improvements hoping to rectify some of the issues that you raised through the survey.

As promised in the email newsflashes, one respondent will pick up either a 2yr subscription to Organic Gardening (if they live in the US) or a copy of Nancy Ondra's The Perennial Care Manual: A Plant-by-Plant Guide: What to Do and When to Do It if they live outside the US. As noted below, each respondent has been allocated a number in the order that they completed the survey.

Random.org was then employed to generate a number between 1 and 165 and the winner was #90 - Linda_Patchwork. Congratulations Linda, I just need some address details (email me at scrobins@westnet.com.au) to send out your prize.

Thanks again and I shall divulge some more of your responses as I get some time to read through them all.

Posted by Stuart at 4:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

For those who have been around the gardening world for some time, it is impossible to sidestep the highly rated, and extroverted, Shirley Bovshow. Her amiable style has set her well for the many TV shows she has presented and many will know her from her Eden-Makers Blog.

Shirley has started a new site called the GardenWorldReport offering streaming and on-demand videos for gardeners to view around the world. In this week's episode she, and Billy Goodnick (Garden Wise Guy), honour some of our Blotanical Award winners including Carol from May Dreams Gardens, and Anna - Flowergardengirl amongst others.

If you want to see the video then head to the GardenWorldReport and click the "On-Demand" button. You will see the "Garden Book and Blog Awards Show 10/18/09" at the top of the list. You can also leave a message in the chat box or hold a discussion with whoever is online at the time.

A big kudos to Shirley for putting this together and I look forward to watching future episodes.

Posted by Stuart at 7:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)