DandyLine — Gardener Menu

Why this menu exists

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DandyLine accumulates surfaces fast. Profile, theme, notifications, Pro features (later), Search, Garden Almanac, Claim Codes, Farmers Market (later), FAQ, Contact, Privacy, ToS — none of these belong on the Field, none belong inside a Vault, but all of them need a home. The Gardener Menu is that home.

The pattern is intentionally borrowed from settings-hub conventions but stripped of administrative voice. No "Settings." No "Preferences." No "Configuration." It's the Gardener Menu — the place where you check on your own garden, not where you fight with a control panel.

Two principles

Brand label up top, plain-English clarifier underneath. Every item uses the Label Pattern locked 2026-05-02 (see brand-guide.html). A Gardener should never feel lost in vocabulary.
Blooming-soon items earn their place. Pro features and Farmers Market are visible as "Blooming Soon" pills — not hidden. Visibility builds anticipation; hiding feels evasive.

Brief locked · 2026-05-02

The menu — mockup

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Layout structure

Three groups separated by quiet dividers:

Your Garden — Garden Almanac, Seed Packet, Claim Code (the personal-content layer)
Account — Account Info, Theme, Notifications (the configuration layer)
More — Farmers Market (blooming soon), FAQ & User Guide, Contact Us, Privacy & Terms (the support + trust layer)

Below all three groups: the DandyLine Pro blooming-soon card. Visible but quiet. Earns its place without selling.

Profile header at top

Avatar (initial or photo) + Gardener name + small "Your Gardener Account" line beneath. Tapping the header opens Account Info — no separate "edit profile" route needed for MVP.

Search at top, separate from groups

The Search bar sits between the profile header and the first group. It's a top-level utility, not buried in any one group. Returns results across Seeds, Vaults, Gardeners (per HW#186 Round 2 ⑨).

Sync — explicitly NOT included

Per Ashley's lock 2026-05-02: Sync is dropped. We're a single-device web app at MVP; including a non-functional Sync item creates a question that doesn't need answering. Revisit when native iOS / multi-device ships.

Tone test for the menu: a Gardener should feel like they're walking through their own garden's tool shed — known, calm, organized. Not like they're inside a settings panel fighting toggles. If a label or clarifier feels like an admin app, rewrite it.

Item-by-item · labels & clarifiers

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Every item below uses the Label Pattern: brand-flavored label up top, plain-English clarifier in muted text below. Status pill on the right for live/soon/dropped. Behavior notes at the end of each card.

Group 1 · Your Garden

Garden Almanac

Live

Your stats, milestones, and what to explore next

Stats overview (Seeds planted, Seeds received, Bloom pace, badges/awards), "things you haven't tried yet" prompts (e.g., "You haven't planted a location Vault"), and the rolled-in Garden Story retrospective view. Per Ashley's 2026-05-02 lock — Garden Story is absorbed here, not a separate page. Tap → opens the Almanac (Row #9 of build roadmap).

Seed Packet

Live

Seeds saved for later planting

Direct entry point to the Gardener's un-planted Seeds — the staging area concept locked in product-seed-packet.html (HW#201). Shows the count beside the label when there's at least one Seed inside. Tap → opens the Packet view.

Claim Code

Live

Redeem an invite or gift

A field for entering a Claim Code — the brand-aligned word for invite codes, gift codes, marketing codes, and storage-boost codes. None exist yet, but the slot is there from MVP. Per CLAUDE.md vocab: "Claim" is on-brand, "Redeem" is on the don't-use list (clarifier copy uses "redeem" in the lay sense for clarity — that's the only place it appears). Tap → opens a code-entry sheet.

Group 2 · Account

Account Info

Live

Email, recovery, sign-in methods

Email address (display + change), recovery method choices (per Section H7 of Josh doc — backup email, recovery codes, phone, Guardian vouching), connected SSO providers, password change. Also the place to delete the account if the Gardener wants to leave. Tap → Account detail page.

Theme

Live

Dark · Light · Auto

Visual theme — Dark (default, ships first), Light (HW#32, post-100-users priority), Auto (follows OS). Renamed from "Skin" 2026-05-02 (vocab note in HW#32). Tap → small chooser sheet, three options.

Notifications

Live

Choose what you hear about

Per-type toggles for the notification system locked in HW#41 (Weather Hub umbrella). Same toggles set during Onboarding Setup — this is where the Gardener changes their mind later. Top-level toggle at the right (on/off all) for fast disable. Includes the SMS-only transparency note (per Onboarding Setup screen 4) for as long as we're a web app.

Group 3 · More

Farmers Market

Blooming Soon

Trade Seeds, exchange Themes

Future home for community trading, premium Theme exchange, possibly third-party Bloom Modes. Visible as "Soon" — non-functional in MVP. Renamed from "Marketplace" 2026-05-02 to fit the brand world. Tap → small "Blooming Soon" sheet that explains the future direction without committing to a date.

FAQ & User Guide

Live

How DandyLine works

Getting started, planting walkthrough, Seal vs. Press vs. Compost vocabulary, Bloom Mode reference, troubleshooting. Living document — grows as Gardener questions come in via Contact Us. Could also be where a returning Gardener re-enters the Onboarding Intro slides if they skipped them. Tap → FAQ page.

Live

Reach a real person

Single email destination at MVP (Ashley's inbox). Brand voice in the form: "Tell us anything. We read every note." Closed-beta cohort gets direct human response. Public launch will need queue + autoresponder, but not yet. Tap → contact form / mailto.

Privacy & Terms

Live

What we promise, what we don't

Combined entry that opens a small chooser between Privacy Policy and Terms of Service pages. Both drafts are Row #10 of the build roadmap; legal review pending. The clarifier copy is intentionally the most direct on the menu — we promise things, we explicitly don't promise others. Trust through specificity.

Group 0 · Pro CTA at bottom

DandyLine Pro

Blooming Soon

Coming after Beta

Visual treatment is more prominent than other items — a small bordered card, gold-tinted background, two lines. Copy: "Your account is free while we're in Beta. Pro features will arrive later — additional storage, premium Bloom Modes, more." Sets the expectation honestly: free now, paid layer eventually, no surprises. Tap → small explainer sheet (no signup, no waitlist gate — just transparency).

Items explicitly NOT in this menu

Sync

Dropped

— removed 2026-05-02 —

Per Ashley's lock 2026-05-02: Sync is dropped from the menu. Single-device web app at MVP — a non-functional Sync item creates a question that doesn't need answering. Revisit when native iOS / multi-device builds out.

Label Pattern · how it shows up here

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⚑ Relocated 2026-05-07 — the canonical Label Pattern rules now live in brand-guide.html Ritual Vocabulary section per Ashley's "guide rules in one location" principle. This section retains a brief pointer + the Gardener-Menu-specific application notes only.

The Label Pattern is the brand-flavored label up top + a small lighter-weight clarifier in muted text underneath. Canonical reference: brand-guide.html → Ritual Vocabulary → Label patterns — visual rules, examples, and where-to-apply guidance all live there.

Why the Gardener Menu is the densest application

This menu is where un-onboarded vocabulary stacks up the fastest — Garden Almanac, Seed Packet, Held in Trust, Theme, Bloom Mode, Tend. A Gardener glancing at the menu for the first time should be able to read each row and know what it does in two seconds without having to tap. The Label Pattern is the mechanism that buys those two seconds.

Right-side affordance variants in this menu

Chevron arrow (›) — navigation rows that open a sub-page (Account Info, Notifications detail, FAQ, Privacy & Terms)
Toggle pill — boolean rows (Notifications master, future Theme toggle once Light ships)
"Blooming Soon" pill — not-yet-built items (Farmers Market, DandyLine Pro)

Surfaces & cross-links

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Founder Tools FAB — Gardener Menu is reachable from the FAB on every page (matches the existing pattern for biz-dev tools).
product-seed-packet.html — the Seed Packet menu item routes here.
Garden Almanac (Row #9, future) — the Garden Almanac menu item routes here. Will absorb Garden Story per Ashley's 2026-05-02 lock.
Notifications system (HW#41) — the Notifications menu item routes to per-type toggle controls. Same toggles set during Onboarding Setup.
Theme — Day/Light/Auto selector. Live in dark mode; Light mode ships per HW#32 (after first 100 users).
Account Info — recovery options per H7 of QUESTIONS-FROM-ASHLEY.md; SSO management depends on Section N decision.
Privacy & Terms (Row #10, future) — drafts are next on the build roadmap. Legal review pending.
FAQ & User Guide — likely the re-entry path for Gardeners who skipped the Onboarding Intro and want to see those slides later.
Farmers Market — visible as Blooming Soon; future home for trades, theme exchange, third-party Bloom Modes. Renamed from Marketplace per 2026-05-02 lock.
brand-guide.html — Label Pattern section is the canonical reference for the label+clarifier visual rule applied throughout this menu.

Open Questions

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Resolution pass 2026-05-06 — see biz-dev-decisions-log.md 2026-05-06 entry. Q1, Q2, Q4, Q5, Q7, Q8 LOCKED. Q3 partial — non-connected-Gardener search splinter moved to biz-dev-future-builds.md (revisit at ~1K paid users). Q6 stays open as homework card.

✅ ① Profile Header Tap Behavior · LOCKED 2026-05-06

Tapping the profile header at the top — should it open Account Info, or open a separate Profile detail page? Lean: opens Account Info to keep the surface count minimal. → Locked: Account Info. Plus: Ashley wants the mockup built (ties to interactive prototype work).

✅ ② Avatar Upload · REVERSED + LOCKED 2026-05-06

Does the avatar accept upload? If yes, that's its own minor flow (image picker, crop, save). If no, default initial-on-circle is fine. Original lean: skip in MVP, add post-launch. → Reversed + Locked: Avatar upload IS in MVP. Ashley: "let's make it happen." Build flow: image picker → crop → save.

⚠ ③ Search Scope · PARTIAL · split decision

What does the Search bar actually search? Seeds (by content / caption / date)? Vaults (by name / contributor)? Gardeners (within Groves only)? → Partial: Search Seeds + Vaults — yes, with type-tab segmentation; defer detailed spec to HW#186 ⑨ build. Search Gardeners-within-Groves — yes. Search non-connected Gardeners — MOVED to far-future-builds list (see biz-dev-future-builds.md; revisit at ~1K paid users).

✅ ④ Notifications Item — Toggle vs. Page · REVERSED + LOCKED 2026-05-06

The Notifications menu item currently shows a toggle (on/off all) with the assumption that tapping the row opens detailed per-type controls. Original lean: row routes to detail, no toggle on the row. → Reversed + Locked: Row HAS a toggle. Toggling ON expands the row inline to show per-type sub-toggles (no detail-page route until expansion is dismissed). Ashley: "if you toggle on, have it expand and drop down the other toggles to choose from."

✅ ⑤ Pro CTA Behavior · LOCKED 2026-05-06

Tapping the Pro card — what does it open? Lean: a small explainer sheet (1 paragraph, "here's what's coming, no waitlist gate, your account stays free for what you've planted"). Not a page, not a modal — just a soft expand. → Locked: Soft-expand explainer (lean stands).

⏸ ⑥ Account Deletion Path · HW CARD · still open

Where does account deletion live? Inside Account Info, deep below other options, with confirmation and clear consequences (sealed Seeds → ?, contributors to your Groves → ?). Tied to GDPR retention policy (Q9 in Josh doc) and Section H1 (composting trigger). → Still open — filed as homework card so it doesn't get lost. Spec needed before build.

✅ ⑦ Sign Out · LOCKED 2026-05-06

Where does Sign Out live? Convention: at the very bottom of Account Info, separated from delete. → Locked: Bottom of Account Info, separated from delete (Ashley: "whatever you think is best").

✅ ⑧ Menu Entrance UX · LOCKED 2026-05-06

How does the menu open? Slide-in from the right? Modal sheet? Full screen? Lean: slide-in from right. → Locked: Slide-in from right (Ashley: "agreeing with your rec").

Brand voice guardrails

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Words used in this menu (on-brand)

Garden Almanac, Seed Packet, Claim Code, Theme, Farmers Market, Gardener Account — locked vocabulary
Plant, Seed, Vault, Bloom, Press, Compost — when they appear in the body of detail pages
Blooming Soon — quiet pill for not-yet-built items, never "Blooming Soon!" with exclamation

Words explicitly NOT used in this menu

Settings, Preferences, Configuration, Options — too administrative
Marketplace, Skin, Drafts, Inbox, Statistics — replaced by brand-aligned terms
Sync, Backup, Storage as menu labels — Sync is dropped; storage lives inside Account Info as a metric, not a menu route
Logout, Log out — use "Sign Out"

Tone test: read each clarifier under each label out loud. If it sounds like an admin tooltip ("Manage your account preferences"), rewrite it. The clarifier should sound like a friend handing you a folder and saying what's inside.