Articles haven't been eleminated, they have just gone dormant for a bit
As suggested by others, the holidays are a time that ATP gets a little bit quiet- both for new visitors as well as for our regular members. It is also a time that the Whitingers get a bit of a quiet time as well

Never fear- they will reappear when the time is right

I got a couple of novels for Christmas. Guess I will spend more time reading and less time on the computer.

I am also missing the recent photos and multi plant photos added to the database, but will have patience that they too will return.

Aha, found the new plant photos under the Goodies tab, likely they have always been there, but I was used to just scrolling down the home page to find them. Glad to get back to a nice variety of plant photos rather than the (to me) rather boring plant-of-day photos currently being featured on the home page. Hey, I can adapt!

Deb, I still see them on my home page as always.

Huh. Mine went away about when the featured blooms took up residence in the upper right corner. All I see is a daylily, salvia, and plumeria.

The most exciting (and new things!) are always below your watched forums- the newest threads, comments to the database, and multi-plant images

Trish said:The most exciting (and new things!) are always below your watched forums- the newest threads, comments to the database, and multi-plant images.

Yep ... just gotta scroll.

No, I don't have those on my home page. Here's what I see:

Far left blue column with site directory, my custom links, then random plant, multiphoto and article.

Middle column - warched threads, watched forums, recently tipped

Right column - today's featured plants (daylily, salvia, plummeria), photo contest discussions.

Under those columns I then see local reports, grower reports, new comments to database, and recent thread activity.

To get to new photos added to database ( one of my favs) I have to click Goodies.

Is this what others see?

A work-around for me is to add the database photos and multiplants to my favorite links I suppose? At the moment I am computer-less and rather strruggling with this outdated and mostly dysfunctional Nook so that will wait.

I am hoping articles, new photos and new multiphotos will return to home page -- or more ideally we would be able to customize the home page. Practicing patience...

The images don't appear on the homepage if you're using a mobile device.

dave said:The images don't appear on the homepage if you're using a mobile device.

But, this was not always this way...? I have accessed ATP with my old iPad for years, and now for a few months with my new one...a lot more than with my computer. Because I disabled, it's difficult for me to sit at the regular computer and use a keyboard, the tablet is much easier. I swear I have looked at a lot of recent database images and multi plant photos from my iPad by first seeing them on my homepage. Now that I think about it, it's been a while since I have seen them... Possibly before the growers reports and local reports and database comments dominated the home page?

Deb, I have given up on the idea of a customizable home page here at ATP. I started a thread about it months ago, and I know it's been brought up more than once. There must be some reason it has not been implemented. Maybe the way ATP is built makes it to difficult to program? I dunno. Maybe Dave has a reason to keep the Growers Reports and Local Reports in front of us, in such a prominent spot, taking up so much space.

Now, I only use the home page to see my updated threads, and access to my watched forums and once in a while, the special sidebar links I set up. For now...those things are still right at the top. Used to look at articles to see if they were of interest, but they are gone.

I don't even bother to scroll down at all now. Kind of like getting the newspaper, and knowing there is nothing "below the fold" of interest on the front page. I wish my tablet had a way to go directly to the bottom of the page like a keyboard shortcut. Then I might go back to looking at the Recent Threads again.

Here is a link to a thread about this from last summer...
The thread "customize home page view" in Site Talk forum

Using a mobile device explains a lot ( and I hadn't given that any thought). I will wait to see how things look when/if I ever get my laptop back. Carry on...

Edit: Finally got my laptop back (after about a month of struggle) and sure enough, everything looks like it used to, so my issue was using a small screened Nook on an interim basis.

Daylily, I re-read the thread re customizing the home page and my take away is it is something we may well get in the future. Keep in mind Dave is only one guy and gets flooded with ideas and requests from all directions. Be patient.

Deb, I hope so, but I wonder if it may have something to do with the way the site is built. It must not be something Dave can do in an hour or two. Otherwise, I would think that having the home page customizable would have been worked in by now. I think it is something that the members would really enjoy having.

It is great the site has a mobile version, because many don't and are hard to do much reading on. Downside is that some features are removed to keep the site quick loading over mobile networks, or to remove things requiring plugins not typical on mobile devices. Some sites have a button to switch between the mobile and desktop version of the site. For those that don't... just use the built-in option in your browser. In firefox, go to the menu and select "request desktop site".

Edited because I am using a 7" tablet and accidentally hit finished. If only I had the fingers of an 8 year old!

In your ATP preferences you can select for the site to always give you the desktop version instead of mobile whatever device you are on. I've set my preferences like that because I prefer not to get the mobile version on my iPod and iPad.

Morgan and Sue - I didn't realize that there was a pref here at ATP to set. I changed it yesterday after Morgan mentioned it I started poking around and found it in the site prefs. It did help with an issue I had of the tabs on the left overhanging the forums and database pages.

I am SO glad I came across this thread!!! I submitted an article but realize it might not ever get published (& that's okay). But I wondered where all the other articles were. I like to read gardening articles, even topics I don't think I'd be interested in. I read up on fairy gardens & thought, why? but now see why it would be interesting.

sooby said:In your ATP preferences you can select for the site to always give you the desktop version instead of mobile whatever device you are on. I've set my preferences like that because I prefer not to get the mobile version on my iPod and iPad.

I had forgotten all about that! I was just speaking in general terms. I would think if you had a large tablet that either version of the site would work well. On my 7" one, it is much easier to read and navigate with the mobile version. It can be very complicated trying to get a site to work well across all devices and platforms, not to mention issues caused by any browser add-ons or customized zoom or font settings we may be using. There is also inconsistency in the way different devices report what size they are to the website. It is frustrating.

When Houzz tookover GardenWeb, their new styling caused painful eyestrain for many of us. It was like staring at a flashlight and squinting to read wispy gray text on stark white. Some of us resorted to using the browser add on Stylish which lets you write your own style sheet code to be applied to the site when it loads. Trying to tweak the code to make it look the way I wanted on my tablet was more trouble than it was worth, especially since every time they made a design change it broke the code. Some users were totally fine with the changes, which just goes to show that everyones experience and preferences are different. I'm looking at the site now on a 32" lcd tv, while you may be on a tiny smartphone!

Kathy547 said:I am SO glad I came across this thread!!! I submitted an article but realize it might not ever get published (& that's okay). But I wondered where all the other articles were. I like to read gardening articles, even topics I don't think I'd be interested in. I read up on fairy gardens & thought, why? but now see why it would be interesting.

HI Kathy!

I'm always available to answer any questions regarding articles
Normally, I let all of the articles sit in the queue until I am ready to use or schedule them- at which time I approve, edit, and set a publication date for them. Zuzu often does another editing after that (or the only editing, depending on how rushed I was). On the rare occasion that I don't run an article that has been submitted, I always send it back to the author with a note explaining why, or suggesting a better area on ATP for the most interested readers. Admittedly, sometimes things sit in that queue much longer than any of us would like, but at least you know going in the way I do it