pcplantdb

[Stephanie Gerson <sgerson@stanfordalumni.org>]

Attached are a few docs:

-specific comments on the website
-re-edited vision statement
-re-edited text for homepage
-re-edited history

I'm also cutting and pasting the comments on the website here.  Please do 
not make criticisms without making suggestions, for Chad's sake.

The attached docs may pertain mostly to Chad, but I would hope that 
everyone participating is interested in the UI of our website, and will 
at least read and respond to the comments below.  

Thanks,
*Stephanie

= = =
general
∑ what happened to the website?  I liked how it looked much better before 
(in terms of font, aesthetic, etc.).   Now it looks unsophisticated and 
bland. This project is exciting and the UI should reflect that!  
Suggested changes:
∑ change font from Times to Arial, or something more sophisticated
∑ add color.  I like the gray/green combination for our website – grey 
denotes seriousness, green is lively, and relates to content.  If you 
could use a pale gray/green as the background, font, or otherwise, that 
would seriously improve the look.  
∑ Logo should be on all the pages
∑ External links (or links to pages that don’t have links back to PIW, 
such as your script page) should open in a new window
∑ I don’t like links embedded in text when it’s not obvious where they 
lead, i.e. “Eden and the accompanying dataset will be extended 
dramatically to fulfill the goals of PIW.” – it’s not clear where the
PIW 
link at the end of the sentence leads.  Readers might think it leads to 
homepage, but it leads to vision.  Please unambiguate these kinds of 
links, or don’t use them (and use only a nav bar instead).
∑ Where is are the bios, contact info, and any technical docs (to show 
what you’re working on now)?
∑ We need a “sponsors” or “supporters” page, with a link to the 
Permaculture Institute and the Threshold Foundation
∑ Need an email link to the webmaster

homepage
∑ Only refer to the project as the “Permaculture Information Web” the 
first time (in the first sentence), refer to it as PIW every subsequent 
(change in second sentence) – just makes it easier
∑ Why is there no nav bar?  We don’t want to make people fish through the

text to find what they’re looking for.  Please create one with all the 
links.
∑ Why do you have 2 links to the homepage on the homepage (one is PIW and 
the other is the logo)?  This is confusing and redundant.  The logo 
should link to the homepage, that’s fine.  But the PIW link should be 
embedded in a nav bar, and read “home.”
∑ \Why does clicking on the logo take you to a different-looking homepage 
(with no ibiblio logo on bottom right, different license info on bottom 
left)?  Confusing! 
∑ Why does it say updated 5/11/04 – is this true?
∑ The second sentence sounds like a run-on sentence, please include 
dashes: “The Permaculture Information Web offers information about the 
relationships between biota – including plants, animals, microorganisms, 
and other elements of living systems – in order to assist with the 
process of Permaculture design.”
∑ Somehow make it explicit that the second sentence is our mission, so we 
have both vision and mission covered. 
∑ PIW shouldn’t be the last word in one sentence and first of the next: 
“…engine that powers PIW. PIW is an Open…” – sounds awkward.  
∑ Attached is an edited version of homepage text

Vision
∑ Why does the last sentence in the vision end with a question mark?  
Should end with a period.
∑ Attached is an edited version, please use it

History
∑ Please introduce yourself before referring to yourself in the first 
person.
∑ Please don’t put asterisks around words like *this*, it looks somewhat 
unprofessional.
∑ Do you mind if I edit your history?  I attached an edited version, 
please use it if that’s ok.
∑ If you refer to technical details (i.e. sql), please write them 
correctly (SQL?) 
∑ explain what these technical details are for readers who might not 
know!   Make the history understandable to anyone who chooses to read it, 
regardless of their level of technical literacy
∑ Maybe I’ll write a history of our collaboration, so we’ll have 2 –
one 
about tech/platform, and one about our team
∑ Write “this little perl script” instead of “this little script” to
be 
specific and because you have it that way under misc. on the developers 
page

Script
∑ Links on your script page (i.e. http://www.permaculture.info/
pfaf_cgi.txt), please check and fix them

Developers page
∑ Shouldn’t the link to this page from the homepage read “developers’

page” or “developer’s page”? please make this grammatically correct.
∑ Re: eden, you write “You are welcome to use it in any manner you see 
fit” and you give instructions, but do you want to write a bit about what 
eden is conducive to/how it may be best used?  
∑ I really don’t like these kinds of email links: “Eden write me first
so 
I can get,” can you make your actual email the link – so people can both 
cut and paste or click on the link?
∑ “Misc:” – please don’t abbreviate like this, looks
unsophisticated.  
Write “Miscellaneous Items” or whatever fits.
∑ 2 links to historical under misc??  this is very redundant.
∑ Do you really need misc?  don’t you have all those links elsewhere?  As

long as you have a nav bar, misc should be unnecessary.  It just looks 
and feels messy.
∑ Ascii.zip link is broken (http://galatea.org/piw/ascii.zip) 

License
∑ If the “PIW” link on the homepage next to copyleft leads to info about

license, write link as “PIW license”!  Otherwise, users might think it 
leads to the homepage (because the other PIW link does).  This is 
confusing.   once again, I prefer a nav bar to ambiguous links embedded 
in text all over the page.
∑ Update date on license page reads 30/11/2004 – were you trying to write

European time?  Please be consistent.
∑ Do you need a period in this sentence: “This work is licensed under a 
Creative Commons License.”  You don’t have one in the phrase above 
(“©LEFT 2003-04 Chad Knepp and PFAF”) – please make it consistent

Logo
∑ I’m not satisfied with it, and have been doodling new ideas – I’ll
scan 
them to you soon
∑ For the time being, though, letters P, I, and W should be darker than 
words, otherwise they get lost



+++++++++++++++
Stephanie Gerson
sgerson@stanfordalumni.org
(c) 415.871.5683


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Attachment: vision4.rtf
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Attachment: homepage.rtf
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Attachment: history.rtf
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