# slightly new look to wood ID site



## phinds (Mar 11, 2017)

I've started modifying the individual wood pages to show a brief summary of the look and characteristics of the wood right up at the top of the page, for those woods where I have enough pics to pull this off. Right now I'm focusing on the woods for which I have already created a fact sheet. 

Feedback appreciated ... anything I could do to make it more useful?

Here's an example:

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/butternut.htm

Reactions: Like 3


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## DKMD (Mar 11, 2017)

Looks like a positive change!


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## Karl_TN (Mar 13, 2017)

Nice job putting the essential pics at the top. 

Here are a few suggestions:

1) Allow user to click on pics in summary in order to see an enlargement.
2) Add one turned item (i.e. bowl) to show off something made from that wood. Expand the picture grid to 2x3 if needed. 
3) Create a hot link which describes the botanical terms being used (i.e. vasicentric & confulent parenchyma).
4) Last but not least... Please consider adding other identifying features like leaf & bark pics to your web site. This would go a long ways to helping with identification.

Thanks for all the hard work you put into your site.

Reactions: Like 1


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## duncsuss (Mar 13, 2017)

Paul, I think this is a great addition -- gets something right up at the top to quickly rule out a mis-match.

Reactions: Like 1


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## phinds (Mar 13, 2017)

Karl_TN said:


> Nice job putting the essential pics at the top.
> 
> Here are a few suggestions:
> 
> ...


Thanks for taking the time to make those suggestions. 

1) The pics in the summary generally ARE enlargements and there are tons of enlargements throughout the pages for each wood.
2) The "made" items are all at the end of each page and I don't really want to try to choose one to move up and complicate the table further.
3) Yes, this is already on my "TODO" list, which unfortunately looks right now as though it will be completed by sometime in 2031 if I don't add anything else (actually, this one is fairly close to the front of the list and I've already been thinking about the code needed to automate it)
4) No, my site is only about the lumber. "Tree things" are not in my wheelhouse. I don't dispute your point at all, but MY point is, I've spent something well in excess of 6,000 hours on this site and I still have a LOT of things to get done on the lumber. Adding stuff I know nothing about it not going to happen.

Sorry if some of my responses sound negative. I really do appreciate the suggestions.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Karl_TN (Mar 14, 2017)

Yikes, over 6,000 hours. That's a crazy amount of time to spent creating and looking at wood pictures. 

Responses understood...
1) Enjoy scrolling through the wood pics so no problem here.
2) Same as 1 above. I'd probably scroll through pics anyway. 
3) Glad you found a way to automate it. 
4) No need to reinvent another wheel. What about just linking to another site with the leaf and bark information?


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## phinds (Mar 14, 2017)

Karl_TN said:


> Yikes, over 6,000 hours. That's a crazy amount of time to spent creating and looking at wood pictures.


Well, it was spread over 15 years. I've had the misfortune (good for the site though) of being unemployed a bit during that time.


> 4) No need to reinvent another wheel. What about just linking to another site with the leaf and bark information?


 Not a bad idea. Know of any? I pay no attention at all to that stuff.


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## DKMD (Mar 14, 2017)

phinds said:


> Not a bad idea. Know of any? I pay no attention at all to that stuff.



Paul, you know this is a bit like loving a good ribeye while ignoring the existence of cows...


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## phinds (Mar 14, 2017)

DKMD said:


> Paul, you know this is a bit like loving a good ribeye while ignoring the existence of cows...


I don't believe in cows. I've NEVER seen a cow anywhere near my favorite rib restaurants.

I think ribs come from the same place milk comes from. The grocery store.

Reactions: Funny 2


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## barry richardson (Mar 14, 2017)

How bout a sexier home page  The upside of is I got so bored with it I made a donation to your site just to get a thrill. Just messin with you Paul, I, like all the others really appreciate your efforts in this...

Reactions: Funny 1


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## phinds (Mar 14, 2017)

barry richardson said:


> How bout a sexier home page  The upside of is I got so bored with it I made a donation to your site just to get a thrill. Just messin with you Paul, I, like all the others really appreciate your efforts in this...


Thanks Barry.


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## Karl_TN (Mar 15, 2017)

Paul, maybe Virginia Tech won't mind you linking to their dendrology pics. Here's a page with links based on Latin names.
http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/meanings.cfm

Here's another site to try, but I think it might be privately owned:
http://www.tree-guide.com/deciduous-tree-botanical

By chance, are you friends with Eric Meier who maintains the site *www.wood-database.com* site?


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## phinds (Mar 15, 2017)

Karl_TN said:


> Paul, maybe Virginia Tech won't mind you linking to their dendrology pics. Here's a page with links based on Latin names.
> http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/meanings.cfm
> 
> Here's another site to try, but I think it might be privately owned:
> http://www.tree-guide.com/deciduous-tree-botanical


I'll tak a look



> By chance, are you friends with Eric Meier who maintains the site *www.wood-database.com* site?


Yeah, I just posted a link to Eric's new Janka Hardness poster here a couple of days ago. He and I exchange wood info from time to time.


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## phinds (Mar 29, 2017)

@Karl_TN, I occasionally find that an item in my TODO lists nags at me and gets moved to the front of the list. As I mentioned above, your suggestion #3 is something that's been on the list for quite a while but your bringing it up made it nag at me. So I did it. The automation only took a few hours since I already have many hundreds of hours spent on utility programs to work with the web site files so the infrastructure was already there.


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## Karl_TN (Mar 30, 2017)

Paul, I saw some of the technical wood terms for the first time on your website. I'm just now understanding why you are always asking for end-grain closeups when trying to identify a wood for someone. Your links will be very helpful in following along with your detailed wood descriptions. 


Questions: Have you found that woods from the same tree family (i.e. walnut, butternut & pecan) share a similar parenchyma style? Is there a way to display the woods pics on your website by family, genus, location or parenchyma type?


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## phinds (Mar 30, 2017)

Karl_TN said:


> Questions: Have you found that woods from the same tree family (i.e. walnut, butternut & pecan) share a similar parenchyma style?


yes (within a genus, not a family)


> Is there a way to display the woods pics on your website by family, genus, location or parenchyma type?


Sort of. The decision tree is by porosity (ring porous, diffuse porous, etc), then broken down by parenchym types. That should all be clear if you have followed the links in the anatomy pages


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## ripjack13 (Mar 30, 2017)

Are all the pictures supposed to be viewable in a new tab if clicked on? Im using my tablet now and noticed a couple pictures don't open up...

***edit**** I'm only referring to the butternut page you have linked.


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## phinds (Mar 31, 2017)

ripjack13 said:


> Are all the pictures supposed to be viewable in a new tab if clicked on? Im using my tablet now and noticed a couple pictures don't open up...
> 
> ***edit**** I'm only referring to the butternut page you have linked.


If you hover the mouse over a clickable image, the mouse pointer should change. The images in the table at the top of the page are NOT clickable


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