easyCook - a tutor for cooking

easyCook could also be a tutoring program.  Where u start as a beginner and each week(or each time you log on) it has new recipes to choose from that progressively get harder.  It starts off teaching you the basics, then further along hte line it’ll take for granted that u already know the basics and just demand you to do things, rather than instructing you through them.  There will be levels users can aim to better in as well, from beginner, to novice, to intermediate, to expert, to professional, then finally to head chef! and different little cartoon characters will guide you through the recipes depending on what level your on.

Also! a possibilty of a rating system

i was also thinking of maybe, once users are done with using the application and have copmpleted wateva they were cooking, they could then rate the recipe and quality of their meal.  Then when other users are searching for recipes they can look at the rating system and what other people who’ve cooked the same meal before thought of it.  A similar application of this can be seen on www.ultimate-guitar.com.

possibility of voice interaction

after my presentation some feedback from georgie suggested the use of voice interaction.  I had thought actually thougtof this as an idea before but didn’t look much into it, i feel some research behind this is needed.  More on this soon…

a new addition

a new addition to the application to make it more interactive was to allow all users of Easy Cook to submit their own recipes, they don’t have to be members, so if one of your friends submits a recipe all you have to do is type their name into the submitted category and their recipe will come up..

bettering my application’s navigation

a fault i found with the Allrecipes.com’s searching method, backed up with some user feedback, was that if u advanced search and selected several categories for refining your search often their would be no recipes to result, just a message saying how to better your searching ability, and i believe this produces user frustration.  To eradicate this issue i thought, based on the initial base ingredients the user has chosen, i would only show inside the categories options that still actually exist.  For example, if chicken is your initial base ingredient, and there are no chicken recipes for breakfast, breakfast won’t show inside the course category.  Also if there’s no recipes with both chicken and beef in them, beef won’t show in the main ingredient category, etc.  Thus no time will be wasted trying to search for recipes that don’t exist.

Final categories for refining recipes

Difficulty level: easy, intermediate or professional

Main Ingredient: beef, chicken, fish, pasta, rice etc…

Cuisine: Chinese, Thai, Italian, East European, Irish, USA, UK, french, indian, mexican etc.

 Course: breakfast, lunch, dinner, desert, light meals and snacks, starters and nibblies, etc.

Dish Type: appetizer, beverage, salad, bread, soup, cake, main dish, side dish, sandwich, pie, etc…

Preparation method: Bake boil fry grill poach roast saute simmer etc.

Preparation time: 10, 20 30 mins etc.

Ready In: 10, 20, 30 mins etc.

Special considerations: vegetarian, dairy free, low fat, nut free, gluten free, pregnancy friendly, food for children, etc.

 Season: Autumn, Winter, Spring, Summer, chistmas, easter

submitted by: better homes and gardens, hugh’s cooking adventures, jamie oliver, light and tasty magazine, etc..

iPhone protection cover

also with the stand i need a suitable material to cover and protect the phone (this will be attached to the stand).  It must be transparent, waterproof, good longevity, unaffected by grease and grime and easily washable.  I believe a durable and scratch resistant polycarbonate plastic similar to that of the Clear Hard Case Crystal Cover fo Nokia N91 N-91 and B45 would be most appropriate.

Its features are:

Made of high quality plastic

Compact, Lightweight, & Stylish

All ports are accessible

Custom made to fit your phone perfectly

Offer all-around external surface protection without compromising usability.

Easy snap-on, no tools needed

mobile phone stand

I’ve decided for the mobile phone stand to make it 45 degree angle adjustable as well as 360 degree rotational.  So when users need to scroll down the page to continue reading their recipe, all they have to do is adjust the angle of the phone in the upwards direction.  (i thought i’d put it so the top of the recipe is displayed at 10 degrees, and the bottom of the recipe at 55 degrees).  When users do this the tilt-sensitivity device in the phone will allow the page to scroll in the desired direction.  The 360 degree rotational feature of the stand will allow for ease of use from where ever user’s are in the kitchen, where each user’s unique kitchen won’t effect the usability of the Easy Cook application.  I planned on designing my stand similar to the Dazec Electronic Company’s DZ-MHCZ08 PDA Holder.  Its features are:

Universal PDA holder with adjustable padded arms

Adjustable padded arm’s width: 39-10mm

360-degree rotary

With vent mount and dashboard plate (for suction cup)

From this design i think the manouverability and shape are all good design features.  However, the suction cup seems a bit flimsy, so i might implement a heavier material for the base (so it won’t slide along the bench top), with a felt bottom to avoid scratching the bench surface.  (cause to manouvre the rotational qualities of the stand will require a stationary base, but by making the stand reasonably heavy/sturdy, having a wide base so it can’t tip over, and making the hinges require little force to manouvre the phone, i think i can ahieve this)

Further solution solving

some ideas:

 after users have found their recipe and want to start cooking, i feel they shouldn’t have to touch their screen again. so no adjustments or going to different pages on the iphone should be necessary.  however users will need to scroll down, so to do this i was thinking of implementing a tilt sensitive scroll system.  Where users tilt the phone in the way they want to scroll. The phone will still be on the stand ( a tiltable stand) and will still be in a protective cover, so users will manually tilt it. 

Also for the language barrirer, when users are refining their recipes and they choose either easy, intermediate or professional, depending on what they choose will be the language their recipes will be presented in.  For example, for the professional setting it will take things for granted, assuming they no how to poach an egg etc. this will make the page alot shorter for experienced chefs, meaning less reading. Also, for the easy setting, users won’t get frustrated at not knowing how to go about doing things as everything will be thoroughly explained, meaning no confusion.  Intermediate user’s will hit a happy medium. 

Some solutions to user feedback