Blotanical News

It's time to unveil a new feature that has been a dream of mine since the commencement of Blotanical. It's partly been available to you ever since this site began, but its usefulness has been somewhat limited.

I'm talking, of course, about the Experience tab that you find in your Plot. Up until now it's been nice to fill in the dots but hard to find others who may have similar gardening experience to you.

Well, this has all changed with the advent of this new feature - the ability to find others all over the world that share similar styles of gardening. It will become a powerful tool for you in making friendships with bloggers and gardeners who, for example, may have similar skills in Container Gardening as you. They may even have more ability than you in this area and could become a very practical font of knowledge if you want to further your skills.

I'm very excited about the possibilities and how links and networks may be further enhanced through this feature. I'm hoping that you will embrace it and find it equally useful in making new Blotanical friends.

So, how does it work?

You will notice that the Experience section has had a little facelift with easier to view results and a few new buttons;

While in your own Plot you will still be able to click the Edit button and alter your selections. Alongside each area of expertise you will notice a possible 3 new buttons. Some will only show 2 buttons depending on your choices and this will become clearer as I explain it.

• Person icon: - Click on this icon and your results will be filtered to those who share a Similar experience level to you.
• Down arrow: - This will filter Blotanists who have Less experience than you in this area; and
• Up Arrow: - This will filter Blotanists who have More experience than you in this area.

Obviously, if you have selected the Top Level of experience then the UP arrow won't be displayed and the opposite occurs if you've chosen the Base Level of experience.

Clicking one of these buttons will take you to the world map with flower icons pointing out positions of Blotanists who fit your selection criteria. At this point it may be worth reviewing How to use the Maps before continuing.

Once you click on an icon (* Red Gerbera for bloggers; * Blue Gerbera for Members) you will be provided with a link for the location of that Blotanist.

Click the link and you will be displayed a list of all relevant Blotanists in that location fitting your selection criteria. In this case there is just one and they are a Member.

Finally, click on the OWNER'S PLOT button and you will be taken to their Plot where you can leave them a message, read about them, view their blog (if they have one) or Fave them. Hopefully you will find this a great tool in making heaps of new online gardening friends.