Okay, not to add more to Dave's plate, but one thing I would love to see considered for the future is something to organize the idea articles (and, perhaps, other pages such as individual posts, a particular thread, a podcast, etc.) that pertain to things I'm interested in.
For example, I'm currently interested in finding out more about Hoyas because I'm thinking about purchasing one or some soon. My random Idea Article of the Day popped up as this:
http://garden.org/ideas/view/A... ....perfect! So I bookmarked it in my browser. This is fine, but an imperfect solution, in my opinion. Ideally, would love the ability to collect all of my ATP-generated information all in one place
on ATP to refer to easily--something that would allow me to save ideas into different categories. It doesn't need to be set up like folders on our computer, it could be organized in a different fashion that would be equally (or more) intuitive to the user. Maybe it would even allow for simple notes or personalized key words/tags that the user could add so we remember
why we added that to our bookmarks.
And since I know someone will suggest it...yes, I know that the search feature helps to find articles on a particular topic.
...but once I read an article and I'm thrilled with it, I'd like to mark it somehow so that:
a) it's easier to find (especially over time as we generate more and more articles)
b) I know I've read it
c) I don't have to remember
which one it was six months from now
(And after awhile, I may forget that I'd even found an article about that topic on ATP, so if it were in a particular 'favorites' section that I can easily see and access on a regular basis, that might help.)
I could see future uses for this, too, in that maybe someday our 'Bookmarks' (or even non-bookmarked articles?) could be linked or integrated with our plant lists so that when we update our plant list with a "have" that we have articles for (key words to be used?), it could suggest those articles as helpful tips.
And maybe in the future our hypothetical bookmarks and plant lists could be integrated with an ATP calendar that could be used to keep us on task with our gardening?
A series of events might be:
1) I save an ideas article on ferns...
2) I purchase a fern and it's the first fern on my plant list, so I get something to remind me that I have a saved article on ferns.
3)Then, that information is either automatically entered with (or I'm prompted to manually enter) a fertilizing schedule or watering schedule or anything else that might be relevant.
4) When I log into ATP, if something is due to be tended to in some way (fertilized, planted, divided, etc...)...it reminds me.
(If this integration were to occur on ATP, I could see it encouraging even more people to access the site on a regular basis than we already have. Although I love that this site already has such an active user base...it's one of the greatest parts to ATP.
)
This is all me sort of talking it out as I go. I've been so enamored with ATP since I really got into it this year that I find myself practically
living on it lately,
@Dave, please consider tucking this idea into a folder for things to think about in the future when there isn't so much on the burner right now.
(And if I'm missing a function of ATP--I am still something of a newbie!--and there is already the ability to do some or all of this within ATP, please let me know! I'm still discovering new things about ATP every week.
)
