Fun+Cooker+User+Needs

Fun Cooker!

Matt Orlove @Chris Carmel Jen Gorski

__STEP ONE__ - Expected Users / Initial List of Tasks
Fun Cooker is a tool to help young adults easily search for recipes that they would feel comfortable cooking. While there are many recipe websites currently available, the majority of these sites are over-cluttered and intimidating for people with little experience cooking. Even though many people, of all different ages, do not know how to cook, we are focusing on young adults (18-25) because this is the age most people become independent and have to learn to cook for themselves. To aid in this process, our goal is to make a simple recipe website for novice cookers that enables easy sharing, browsing, and searching for recipes.

With our fundamental goals in mind, we talked to several potential users to gather their opinions and determine the tasks users would like implemented. Below are three of the users we talked to that each had varying levels of skill and reasons for using Fun Cooker.


 * User 1**: Male undergraduate student with limited cooking experience

This individual eats most of his meals at his University’s diner and rarely cooks for himself. He has used Google to search for simple recipes, however, this leads to an overwhelming number of options to choose from. Also, the cooking appliances this user owns are limited because he lives on campus. This forces him to look through each step in a recipe to make sure he has all of the supplies required. Even though this user is interested in learning to cook, he has found it too time consuming to filter through recipes to find something he is comfortable and interested in making.


 * User 2**: Female undergraduate student with moderate cooking experience

This student is a part of a group of friends who partake in Iron Chef-esque competitions. Three theme ingredients are chosen and the two participants must create an appetizer, entree, and dessert based around them in a limited amount of time. Because these events are timed, finding quick, easy food to prepare is crucial. She currently searches various cooking websites and reads through the popular recipes to find one that fits the criteria. Once she determines a set of recipes that are applicable, she relies on the images presented to choose the most appealing dish. If an image is not presented, she rarely chooses to create that dish.


 * User 3**: Female undergraduate student with substantial cooking experience

This individual cooks most of her own meals and mainly cooks from memory. Sometimes she uses recipe sites such as Epicurious for new ideas, but she isn’t always satisfied. The main problem she encounters is not knowing the name of a dish. For the sites she has tried, a name is the only search option that is available, limiting her results. This user also has food allergies which forces her to check the ingredients of each recipe to see if she can eat it. On occasion, she has substituted an ingredient or completely taken it out, unaware of how the final product will taste. Usually the dish turns out fine, but when it doesn’t she is frustrated with the time and food wasted.


 * Initial List of Tasks:**

After conducting the preliminary interviews, we developed the following set of general tasks based on the various actions and needs of users. They are sorted based on how specific the task may be and thus the amount of people that would utilize and benefit from the implementation of that task.

Frequent Tasks: -Search for recipes and filter results based on name, ingredients included or not included, appliances used, preparation time, and the difficulty level of the recipe. - Create a new recipe to share with other users - Browse available recipes and view pictures of that entree

Infrequent but Important Tasks: -Create an account with Fun Cooker -Rate and comment on recipes used

Rare Tasks: - Include possible substitutions for a recipe

__STEP TWO__ - Task Validation
After completing our initial tasks list, we asked other potential users of their opinions on the plan thus far. With their tips and some brainstorming we were able to come up with a more sophisticated and specific updated tasks list. Above all, the one complaint that was consistent with most food and cooking related websites was the clutter of their design. The websites' overload of options and information became intimidating and turned users off, instead we've found that focusing on the recipes and ease of use is more favorable. We received positive feedback on the different ways of sorting and searching available recipes, and especially the kitchenware and appliances search restrictions for users with less than a full kitchen at their disposal. Here is a list of revised tasks that potential users found pertinent and useful.

Recipes - Users upload photos of their cooking outcomes to post to the recipe - Appliances/cookware necessary for recipe featured - For browsing, tags, more picture based than text - Feature possible ingredient substitutions and other user variations

Ability to search recipes based on different criteria: - Ingredients, Kitchenware, Recipes, User - Ability to sort by simplicity, calorie count, time involved, highest rated - Advanced search - Ingredients to include or exclude - Names of recipes - Different criteria or dietary restrictions (lactose intolerance, gluten allergy, vegetarian, etc.)

Specialized sections for specific categories - Holiday themed recipes - Healthy recipes - Basic recipes - Cheap recipes - Personalized sections for schools - Connect with local users - Learn more about the local produce and recipes

Users - Each has their own page/profile - Recipes they like - Comments they've made - Personal recipe box - Personalized recommendations based on response to recipes - Common personal ingredients - Common style foods - Generalized recommendations - Menus, collections of meals that go well together - Top rated recipe

Tips and tricks for new cookers - Ingredients for on hand - Common cooking supplies and how to use them - Information on ingredient substitutes - Simple cooking tutorials

__STEP THREE__ - List of Requirements
Through our interviews and task validation, we determined it was better to completely focus our attention to making this a college student's recipe website (ages 18-22). With individual pages for schools all around the country, user can share university themed treats, foods, beverages, etc while also seeing what other students at their school are cooking. The ability to search for recipes based on appliances and cooking supplies they have will be extremely helpful to college students who generally have incomplete kitchens and can't complete certain recipes that assume your have access to all cooking tools. Once we determined our key users, our list of requirements grew into the following:

Absolutely must include:

1. A simple, clean, uncluttered layout that encourages new and inexperienced cookers to get involved. 2. Recipe tags (#easy, #chicken, #dinner, etc) and advanced search options that will aid with recipe finding - by recipe title, ingredients to include or exclude, or user who uploaded the recipe. 3. Visual image based browsing (rather than textually based) with many sorting options such as by simplicity, time involved, calorie count, and highest rated. 4. Extended filtering for dietary restrictions (allergies, vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, etc) and for cooking appliances owned.

Should include:

1. Specialized sections for different cooking categories (i.e. holidays, healthy eats, affordable, 15 minutes or less, etc). 2. Users should be able to interact in the following ways: share recipes with each other, can follow one another (when a new recipe is uploaded by a followed user, the user who is following will be notified), recipes can be rated on, users will be grouped based upon the school they belong to. 3. Individual pages for each school. Example: for the University of Maryland page - the colors will shift to the school's colors, other UMD users can find one another, there will be a section for UMD foods, etc). 4. Personalized recipe recommendations based on the user's activity on the site (selected "favorite" recipes, either positive or negative ratings for recipes, which other users they follow, commonly used ingredients, common styles of food, etc). 5. Tips and tricks to help new/inexperienced cookers such as how to use common cooking appliances, ingredient substitutions, and simple cooking tutorials.

Could include:

1. Generalized recommendations in certain sections based on high ratings or popularity. 2. Users will have simple profile pages - a user picture, about me section, school affiliation, favorite recipes, uploaded recipes, and their other interactions with the site.

**__REFERENCES__**
We couldn't find any academic papers on recipe/cooking websites so instead we reviewed our competition. We determined what we believed to be the best and most used cooking websites and looked over each of them intensively to determine what worked and what didn't:

This site is a collection of homestyle recipes for current University of Maryland students to use. It is the only recipe site I could find that features a UMD theme, but it isn’t designed with students in mind. It does not feature pictures for students to view, descriptions of the entrees are not included, and the recipes themselves are uploaded by parents.
 * Dining @ Maryland**. //University of Maryland Dining Services - Recipes From Home//. Web. 03 Oct. 2011. <@http://dining.umd.edu/menus_location/value-meals-menu/recipes-from-home>.

This site has a wide range of recipes as well as articles, videos, and a store. While all of these features aim to help users, the pages are too overcrowded with information. The social aspect of this site is very successful. The site offers recommendations for users and the ability to comment and rate recipes. They also use tags and pictures to help users easily browse recipes.
 * Epicurious**. //Epicurious - For People Who Love to Eat//. Web. 30 Sept. 2011. <@http://www.epicurious.com>.

The website of the popular television channel. Celebrity chef recipes are shared along with video tutorials and user comments. Offers many helpful tools such as separated sections for special occasions, many sorting options while browsing recipes, and extensive food suggestions. Their vast recipe database is a huge draw, but the inability for users to post their own recipes seems to be ignoring an extremely useful social aspect.
 * Food Network**. //Food Network - Easy Recipes, Healthy Eating Ideas and Chef Recipe Videos//. Web. 30 Sep. 2011. <@http://www.foodnetwork.com>.

Of course Google allows for a recipe search. The search bar that can do anything is loaded with the ability to search via recipe title or a list of desired ingredients. The results pull from recipe websites from all around the web, but helpful sorting options based on simplicity or popularity or highest ratings are nonexistent. Additionally, there are no recommendations or browsing - a search is necessary in order to find anything. Fast, simple, and easy to use but lacks advanced functionality.
 * Google**. //Google Recipe Search//. Web. 01 Oct. 2011. .

A cooking blog offering many unique recipes with updates 2-4 times a week. Offers high resolution pictures for each step of the recipe which is a huge help to inexperienced cookers. A recipe archive index is included to allow simple searching for previously uploaded recipes. About as helpful as a cooking blog can be - doesn't give recommendations or allow any user interaction beyond commenting on posted recipes but has a helpful, image based browsing that makes finding a good recipe easy for anyone.
 * Picky Palate**. //Picky Palate Blog - Original Family Style Recipes For Even Your Pickiest Eaters//. Web. 01 Oct. 2011. .

Weight Watchers is an online tool for people trying to loose weight. Because of this, a membership fee is required and the site does not focus on recipes alone. Even though the site is centered around weight loss and nutrition, the layout is very clean and successful. It offers recommendations in a rolling menu so the page is not cluttered and each link features a picture with a few quick facts about the recipe. The site also allows the user search for recipes based on ingredients included.
 * Weight Watchers**. //Weight Watchers Online//. Web. Web. 25 Sept. 2011. <@http://www.weightwatchers.com/index.aspx>.

A popular online recipe sharing community and resource. Has immense amounts of useful cooking information, but much is restricted to members with a special paid upgrade. Offers recipes, menus with similar dishes, and holiday themed eats. A big part of the website is the community involvement, users can submit their own recipes, rate others on the website, and the website offers a very helpful "Tips & Tricks" section focusing on helping beginner chefs.
 * AllRecipes.** //AllRecipes.com.// Web. 01 Oct. 2011. <[]>.

A less sophisticated recipe indexing site. Offers a search bar to search the index, featured recipes, and many navigators to recipes by section. The homepage is jam packed with links to recipes and other destinations in the website, but not much organization seems present, and virtually no images can be found. The website also offers a forum for members to converse about the foods they are making, but the forum is external and is a template to which little to no customization has been made.
 * Cooks.com.** //Cooks.com - Recipe Search and More.// Web. 01 Oct. 2011. <[]>

A more cookware purchasing centered website. Features sectioned portions pertaining to shopping, values, gifts, recipes, and a community. The recipes section has search and categorical navigation bars, as well as a browse by ingredient area, and pulls recipes from various external sources (which are cited). The community section is a forum for food related queries, the values section is the featured deals available for purchase of various cookwares, and the gift section is a guide to finding the right cooking related gift based on the user's desires.  code Cooking cookware, bakeware, cutlery, recipes and recipe ideas code
 * Cooking.com.** //Cooking cookware, bakeware, cutlery, recipes and recipe ideas.// Web. 01 Oct. 2011. <[]>