it`s very unattractive and does not make you want to hang out and chat. I will not be coming here very often at all. I can`t stand this ugly page. even pictures that are uploaded look terrible, washed out and pale.

Tally Ho!

I really feel like I am on a business website with that shopping cart up there.

I suppose we'll find it better than the alternative of no Garden Web at all.

Most of us here share sentiments about the changes, but as someone said on another forum it is either this or no Garden Web at all. All the ads and pop ups we were having makes me think the old one wasn't making it financially.

I never heard of Houzz before, but it seems it is more geared to home decorating, make-overs, appliances, and gardening is just taggling along. I wasn't aware how much house stuff was on GW until links to posts started appearing on the right side bar of the old GW.

I wonder if the clean look makes it easier to read on smart phones and tablets that the younger folks have, where many of us gardeners are older and view it on our computer.

Incidentally, the oft mentioned glare doesn't bother me and the photos looks bright, sharp and a good color. That must be because of the settings on my computer. If it doesn't look like that to you maybe your settings for brightness and color tone can be changed.

So even if we don't care for the changes it's still the best thing going for gardeners to get together on line.

If things need warming up maybe we can all insert a photo in our posts! ... LOL

The paleness of the type makes the whole forum hard to read. I had also got into the habit of checking out some of the recent posts that were listed on the right sidebar from other forums, mainly dealing with remodeling and all that. Some were very interesting, but they are now gone. I can live without that. It's pretty easy to change colors on a website. Don't know why they thought this combination was a winner.

I also check out the African Violet forum and they were in the middle of a round robin exchange when the change-over happened. Now they can't find their thread. So, yes, it could be worse.

Wow! I just installed the 'No Squint' add on for my Firefox browser. I was able to change the text color to black and the background to light coral. Nicer to look at and much easier to see for sure!

Whoo hoo -- sounds like the answer to problems with the brightness people are having! Thank you!

I am getting notifications on EVERY single thing posted on this idiotic site. New post, old posts, posts I have never seen. My e-mail this am had HUNDREDS of e-mails from this site. I don`t use Firefox browser so that is no help. The bright white, pale font and the shopping cart are not making me happy and now the millions of e-mails is really pissing me off. For a "decorating" site this is sure one ugly page.

and now it wants to post it all to Facebook. I DO NOT want this linked to facebook! Aaarrrggghhh!

Go to the Your Houzz tab in the top right and in the drop down go to edit profile. In there, especially the advanced tab, you can turn off the email and facebook links, etc.

I just found that out, BTW.

Does Houzz care about spammers? Or is that something we just have to put up with now?

Marti, you can report spam by clicking the flag in the upper right corner of the post. When you do that it immediately disappears from your view.

I have noticed more spam-like posts with a Pro badge under the login name. I believe that those are subscribed professionals here at Houzz, but don't know that to be a fact.

Thanks Pam. I hadn't noticed any spam-like messages, but that's good to know.

Wow Tally! I haven't received hundreds of emails from Houzz. Wonder why you have? But as Carla says you can change your preferences.

Something else new to me at least is that we can set our preferences to let people message us THROUGH Houzz. That doesn't mean our emails are made public.

How to let people message us through Houzz ...

From the 'Latest Updates' on the right. What are "Rich text features"? Are they talking about the bullets and numbers or is there something I'm missing?

"Updates as of 2/19/15:

• Messaging is now available between all users - settings available under Advanced Settings on the Edit Profile page
• GardenWeb trade lists have now been restored and are editable via the Edit Profile page
• Rich text features have been supplemented for your posts and comments. Bullets and numbering is now available for forum posts and comments.

We are continuing to work to make improvements based on feedback we are hearing, so please don't hesitate to contact us with any questions."

I'm getting to like this site better and better ... :-)

When did this change over? I don't care for it as it wanted to change my name with my first and last name and the number 56? So I signed on with facebook hoping it will be easier. Oh well sometimes change is good, right??

What are "Rich text features"?

Probably refers to the B (bold) and I (italic) buttons that have been added. Used to be able to include these with markup (HTML) tags in old GW.

Gretchen, we woke up to the 'big change' a couple of weeks ago ... LOL

If you want you can change your screen name by going to "Your Houzz" in the upper right hand corner of this page, hover over it and click "Edit Profile", and then fill in "Your Profile" with whatever name you want, plus you can include your planting zone on the name line. You can't change your account name, but below it is "Your Profile" which can be changed.

Hang around and you'll get the hang of it ... :-)

Thanks Botedo! I hadn't noticed those.

Roselee -

I like most don't like change. But I will try. :)

Also is their the conversation page or is that gone? I am trying to get use to this but it is difficult.

Gretchen, there is no longer a conversation page. What's interesting is they said there would be no separate 'Exchanges' page, but it's still on the opening page Texas Garden Exchange and clicking it will take you there. However, the posts for the Ft. Worth Trinity Park and San Antonio plant swap originally posted there have somehow ended up on the 'main' forum. Oh well ...

Anyway I inquired to Houzz why I could not edit my 'plants for swapping list' on the "WANTED: San Antonio Plant Swap" thread and received this reply:

"Thanks for reaching out. Just for clarification, original posts can be edited
for up to one hour to allow for typo corrections, but comments can be edited for
up to one week. Sorry for any confusion!"

The one hour thing includes editing the subject line. I just tried it on the 'defunct' Texas Garden Exchange.