Lovely Medicinal Herbs Site!
Answered by: Conrad Richter
Question from: Peggy Simpson
Posted on: April 4, 1998

How kind of you to respond so quickly and tuck my "too many toys" suggestion away for your company.

I have been a fan of your trans-generational family company since the early 1980s, when I lived in the Chilcotin and raised herbs, and I point it, and its development (and promotion of herb production) out as a valuable example of community-based economic development.

I manage a website myself, and am currently working on web-based university course design. I am finding that too many softwares intrude so much that the manipulation of the tools (too often toys like icons) becomes more important than the content and outcome of the tool-use.

I cannot imagine anything driving gardeners more crazy than that kind of intrusiveness. I know some seed catalogues who manage to do it in print, too. Very ill advised.

It is a trait of the machine tinkerers (computer geeks are lineal descendants of automobile enthusiasts), not of us hands-on-the-soil folks, who still prefer elegantly simple tools like hoes.

Yet this is hard to be articulate about when faced with manic software and webpage designers, who could not live with one judicious ladybug, nor with the calm retreat of the garden, nor the intrinsic appeal of tradition, such as herbal medicine stands for.

They rarely understand that the tone and the "metaphor" of the site need to be consistent with the company and the product, as yours is. An intrusive "futuristic/spacestation" website would introduce a mixed message and set up some pretty mistrustful vibes in would-be customers.

I have bookmarked your site as a good example. Keep up the good work.

I hope you will have sweetgrass seed someday. I understand my friend in Ottawa got your only available-for-retail sweetgrass plant last year.

Cheers, and back to my Burnaby garden.

Penny Simpson
Community Economic Development Centre
Simon Fraser University

>On Wed, 1 Apr 1998, Penny Simpson wrote: > >> My annual thanks for your web site. I have not seen another such site >> that has -- for adult users -- such a nice balance of both charm and >> efficiency, with the weight in favour of information instead of in >> favour of webtoys. >>
>> A real pleasure.
>> Penny Simpson >

>Thanks so much for your feedback. It is much appreciated! We have >invested many hours and dollars in the site and it seems to be going in >the right direction for many people. We are excited about some new >features we are working on, but we promise to remember your praise about >staying away from the "toys"!

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