About the Online Journal
Online Journal Staff

Positive comments about the first three issues of the AHS' Online Hosta Journal continue. The Hosta Journal solidifies the AHS in the electronic age, with the third issue each year being online via the AHS website at www.hosta.org. The OLJ is printable for those who still wish to curl up in a cozy chair or read it while traveling. Anyone choosing to print all the text and all of the photo enlargements should anticipate a document of several hundred pages. The OLJ staff continues striving to meet or surpass everyone's expectations. Feedback let us know that our first three issues did just that. Convention coverage is more complete than we have ever been able to provide in our paper publication, due to the inherent costs. Our OLJ team encourages you to make suggestions for improving our product. We consider every idea and will continue to bring you the best publication that we can. Notes on how to use the Online Journal are below to assist navigating this issue, whether this is your first time, or if you just need a refresher. Enjoy this edition of The Online Hosta Journal.
 
The Online Hosta Journal Team
Contact us by clicking HERE

To use the new Online Issue of The Hosta Journal there are a few simple things to learn:

1. Begin by clicking the photo on the cover. This leads you to the Contents Page (right), from which you can choose an article to read. Instead of turning pages, you simply click the article of your choice.
2. On an article page, some of the pictures can be enlarged. To do this, click the picture. Doing the same thing on the big version will take you back to where you left the article.  Again, instead of turning pages you just click once.
3. When you have finished an article, at the bottom of the page you can choose to go to the next article, the previous article, or return to the Contents Page. At the top of each page the word "CONTENTS" in the upper left will also return you to the Contents Page with one click.
4.  Convention coverage can be reached by clicking on the bar in the middle of the main Contents page. There is a bar at the top of each article page in the Convention Section, which you can click to return to the Convention Contents page. This year, you can also click on “Convention Contents” at the bottom of each article to return to the Convention Contents page.
 
5. On every page you will see the AHS logo. Clicking on it will open the AHS website in a separate browser window.
6. At the bottom of some articles there is a box wherein to type comments.  These will be displayed publicly below the box. Please observe common civility in your comments. Offensive comments will be removed and their writers may be banned.

Learning as We Go...How Fast Is Your Internet? 
When you see a photo that you like, and want to see it even larger, we encourage you to click on it and the full size photo magically appears.  Well, it's not magic.  In some cases it will eventually appear.  The duration of "eventually" depends on the speed of your link to the internet.  Most of the full-sized photos in the Online Journal are around 1/2 megabyte.  The PDF files are larger and the Page-Flipping files are even larger (see below for a brief on page-flipping).  So check the image below and be aware of your link.

Learning as We Go...Page-Flipping 
We are continuing something new to most within this issue. You are familiar with scrolling through an article on the web, and you know how to read and/or download a PDF file.  A third option is the use of "page-flipping" software.  People (and children) with a smart phone or iPad can be observed making a brushing motion on the front of their devices, turning pages or moving to the next photo.  There are a couple of places within this issue where you will be offered a choice between PDF and Page-Flipping.  Try both; then tell us how it works for you.
 

 
Learning as We Go...Bookmarking Long Articles 
One request we had after last year's launch of the Online Journal was whether there was some way to bookmark a place in the middle of a long article.
 
There are many different browsers that AHS members use such as Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Safari and others. And now there are many different devices of various sizes that members use, such as desktop computers, laptops, tablets, IPads, and smartphones, all capable of accessing the Internet and The Online Hosta Journal. It turns out that the different devices and the different Internet browsers each have their own little quirks that make it difficult to make bookmarks that will work in all browsers and on all devices.
 
That said, here is a way to bookmark the Online Journal mid article, without having to return to the Contents Page and try to remember where we were....
 
This will work in any article that has a photo that enlarges. If the URL line contains a pound key symbol (#), it can be bookmarked in this way:

If you use Internet Explorer as your browser, you can use FAVORITES to make a bookmark spot anywhere there is an enlargement page or a page that has a pound sign # in the URL address.
 
On an enlargement page, go up to the IE toolbar and left click on FAVORITES. Left click on ADD TO FAVORITES, left click on ADD FOLDER, type in OLJ Bookmarks, click CREATE. Click ADD and your first bookmark will be in your FAVORITES folder within the folder called OLJ Bookmarks.
 
To return to your place, open Internet Explorer, open FAVORITES, click on OLJ Bookmarks Folder and from the pop out menu left click on the Bookmark you created.
 
MAC users who browse using Safari:
From a page you wish to bookmark
1. Go to Bookmarks in toolbar at top of screen and select Add Bookmark Folder
2. Name the folder OLJ 2013 or something simple like this
3. To add a new Bookmark visit a web page you want to add, such as http://www.americanhostasociety.org/onlinejournal/olj13//JS01.htm#pic
2. Single click Bookmarks in the toolbar
3. Select Add Bookmark
4. In the window use toggle switch to select the folder OLJ 2013
5. Select add

Each time you wish to revisit a page that you have bookmarked it will be listed in the folder that you created.
1. Click on the open book icon located under the back arrow in the upper left corner of the Safari window
2. Click the twisty in front of the folder name to open it
3. Double click the bookmark to open the page you wish to return to

Hope this helps!

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