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Geek Culture / A new cooking site I'm launching

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bitJericho
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Joined: 9th Oct 2002
Location: United States
Posted: 1st Oct 2012 14:18
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Hey all, I just wanted to get some opinions on a new website I'm launching with my wife. She's doing all the writing and I'm managing the site and server.

I'd love your opinions: http://www.learnhowtocookit.com.

It's updated daily. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Speaking of which, I also launched my own new blog:

http://www.canales.me

It's a photoblog which I'm launching to show off all my new neat photos I'll be taking with a Nikon D3100 DSLR my wife and I bought for the food site. There's only one image so far (and a few planned but not yet written). Feel free to check it out too.

Visit my blog http://www.canales.me. Also yes I changed my name. It was time for a change.
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Indicium
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Posted: 1st Oct 2012 15:06
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Overall I like it, but I think you need to fill the spaces where you don't have anything. At the top, you have the logo on the left, social links to the right, and a big gaping space between. I'm not sure what you could put there but I think it needs to be filled with something.

There's a little gap on the bottom right, too.

On the blog page, I think the articles should have some sort of divider, even if it's a 1px dotted faint gray line, it might sound like I'm just nitpicking but in my experience it's really helped.

I also think it would look better if the margins on the boxes were smaller, but I'm not sure. Hopefully what I've said is of some help.

It looks great though, nice work.


They see me coding, they hating. http://indi-indicium.blogspot.co.uk/
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Neuro Fuzzy
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Posted: 1st Oct 2012 15:22
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At first, because of the picture of close-up grains of salt on the front page, I thought this was just a giant pun for meth ._.

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bitJericho
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Posted: 1st Oct 2012 15:41 Edited at: 1st Oct 2012 15:42
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lol, I'll change the front pic asap

The top is blank, not sure what I should put there. I know what'll go there in the future though, so I'll perhaps leave it for now. (It's a surprise!).

At the bottom, that's where those icons would normally go, but I moved em to the top. I'll have to figure something out for there too.

Visit my blog http://www.canales.me. Also yes I changed my name. It was time for a change.
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Libervurto
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Posted: 1st Oct 2012 17:24 Edited at: 1st Oct 2012 17:31
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You're lacking two important things: colour and food. When going to a food site I expect a bountiful harvest of colourful imagery; being greeted by a pile of salt is hardly appetising. The two dishes are also not particularly photogenic, they're quite dull and colourless. If you're displaying something like mashed potato (that's boring to look at) try to liven it up with some attractive crockery and accompany it with some sausages and cooked tomatoes or whatever posh people have with their mash! Even if you're just focusing on the mash, that doesn't mean the photograph has to be zoomed right in on it. Mash is never the star of the show, even when it's the subject. The same goes for the risotto.

Look at http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/ it's very simple but still there's dashes of colour all over the place and it looks really nice. I think the white backdrop accentuates the colours in the photographs. You'd have no problems immitating this style, it's quite similar to your layout already. I really like the berries in the top right, they burst out of the screen but aren't distracting.

Shh... you're pretty.
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Kevin Picone
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Posted: 1st Oct 2012 17:41
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I like the layout, It's not trying to pack too much information into a small space, hate that. Have to agree with Obese that the photography could be a little more colourful. Obviously it's easy to imagine the inclusion of cooking videos in the future.


Mobile Platforms Are Coming
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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 1st Oct 2012 19:39 Edited at: 2nd Oct 2012 21:39
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I think Obese is spot on about the design, it looks good, but it needs more to make it appealing as a cooking site. However, I am always looking for new ideas of things to cook, so I might check out some of your wife's recipes, I've never thought about putting extra incredients into mash or that it's a good idea to flavour the potatoes using the water you cook them in. Dunno if I can convince other folks in the house to eat modified mash, but worth a shot.

However, Obese's comments of photogenic food just reminds me of this.

[edit] Idiotically used image tags.

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bitJericho
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Posted: 1st Oct 2012 19:43 Edited at: 1st Oct 2012 20:04
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Cooking videos are definitely planned.

Obese, thanks for the comments. I'll continue to improve my photography skills. I just learned all the photography basics a week ago, (ISO/Aperture/Shutter), and learned how to use them this last few days So as you can see, I'm still a photography newb! Expect the pictures to get much, much better over the coming months. We're also working on a lightbox so we can stop taking so many closeups! (We don't have the space/nice things/lighting equipment to take pics in natural settings)

Quote: "Dunno if I can convince other folks in the house to eat modified mash"


They are the best mash ever, trust me. They put my own to shame.

Visit my blog http://www.canales.me. Also yes I changed my name. It was time for a change.
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The Wilderbeast
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Posted: 2nd Oct 2012 01:28
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ISO you'll normally be leaving on auto (unless you work with a lot of film stuff too, in which case I usually leave it on 400 / 800). Usually the kit lenses are a bit slow - so depending on lighting conditions you'll want to open the aperture up as much as possible as DOF is a great way to direct the viewer's focus to the highlight of the food. Your lighting rig sounds cool - natural light is so important!

Also consider capturing elements from the background, especially if they contrast or compliment the colours in the food. Always shoot in RAW and don't bother with any of the built-in filters - use something like Aperture or Lightroom (Picasa is a good free alternative) to modify the colour curves afterwards and apply any other post-processing.

Looks great though!

You get 500MB extra space on Dropbox... I get 500MB extra space on Dropbox

Everyone's happy!
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JRH
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Posted: 2nd Oct 2012 11:21
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In my opinion this is awesome; firstly because there are never enough cooking websites, and secondly because it makes me proud to be human when I see people being creative in such a way.

Good one guys
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Kezzla
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Posted: 2nd Oct 2012 11:43
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I like it. I look at it as an end user rather than developer. it is the sort of site I would use, I have very limited skill as a cook but don't mind giving it a crack and trying a new recipe.

Instructions are simple and clear. nicely condensed.

good job guys, bookmarked.

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Insert Name Here
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Posted: 2nd Oct 2012 19:25
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I'd say the website looks very clean a professional, but also something a tech developer rather than a cook would make. Your logo is very square and neat, but it's not really related to cooking in any way, and there's not many photos of actual food!

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bitJericho
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Posted: 2nd Oct 2012 19:45 Edited at: 2nd Oct 2012 19:52
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Thanks for the feedback. The logo design is from Jesslyn actually

The logo I think looks really cool in it's own right. It is a bit on the hardcore, sharp, side though. That said, Jesslyn's committed to it, so that's that I guess

I was thinking of leaving the social icons up top, moving the menu bar below that and have the logo below it along with some sort of banner or something and then the content. I'll play with the design some more, the empty space seems to be the most off-putting to people.

As for the pics, we have tons of recipes and pics made up. But we're doing slow and steady (one new article/recipe a day) update schedule rather than just plop everything in at once. So check back in a couple months and you'll see dozens of recipes, articles and pics.

Visit my blog http://www.canales.me. Also yes I changed my name. It was time for a change.
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xplosys
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Posted: 2nd Oct 2012 20:02
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The empty space on top looks like a good place for more food pics, perhaps in a design like on the bottom left below "Recent Pins". Otherwise, the design is clean and effective. I like the logo too, though I might use two colors. (accent some word/words)

Brian.

!retupmoc eht ni deppart m'I !pleH

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MrValentine
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Posted: 2nd Oct 2012 21:22
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I like both of them... minimalistic... just the way I like to design my sites too




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Libervurto
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Posted: 3rd Oct 2012 18:25
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Woah that front page picture is much better!
I've seen on some cooking sites that you can search by ingredients and find all the recipes that contain that ingredient. Are you going to do something like that? I personally think the logo will look great when there's a bit more going on on the page. It's understated and I like that, it goes along with the idea that anyone can cook, if you went for a really fancy logo people might be intimidated.

Shh... you're pretty.
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bitJericho
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Posted: 3rd Oct 2012 18:57
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Quote: "Are you going to do something like that"


Should be possible, search pulls any words from the post. But maybe I can find/make a plugin that will search only the recipes for specific words. Also, we use tags to mark the major ingredients. Thanks for the idea!

Visit my blog http://www.canales.me. Also yes I changed my name. It was time for a change.
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