So, it’s time for a long-overdue update on Cookbook. If you haven’t already, read Austin’s blog entry, where he offers his perspective: http://mydreamapp.com/news/post/377/.
Collaborating with Austin and John over the last two months has been very productive. As you can see, Cookbook has evolved dramatically. And while it may look quite different from the original screenshots, the concept is very much still there. I think we’re still some time away from an actual release, but much progress has been made.
The recipe management and editing portions of Cookbook are close to being completed, so Austin will be tackling other features soon, such as meal planning and all that other jazz. Because the current UI is quite different from the original mock-ups, the interfaces for meal planning and grocery lists will be redone as well, to work more intuitively inside the new wider window layout.
Speaking of which, I think the three-paned layout of the new window works much better. John and Austin pushed the idea, and I’m glad we went with it. Organizing and browsing recipes this way, as opposed to using one source list with disclosure triangles, allows for a more intuitive experience and also is much better suited for the widescreen displays shipping with all Macs these days.
As for the visual themes for different cultures that Austin talked about, I initially had reservations about it. The possible issues I saw with it was that not every recipe could be definitively classified, and the number of themes that needed to be designed to cover the range of world cuisines could be prohibitive. Lastly, I wasn’t sure if the concept could be pulled off well. (I had flashbacks of MS Word clipart from the ’90s.) But reconsidering the idea, instead of the typical tacky cultural elements such as flags and national colors, certain minimal touches could be incorporated, such as stone and unfinished wooden textures for Japanese recipes, and an earthen and sun-roasted appearance for Italian recipes. (Think of the walls of your neighborhood Olive Garden.)
As for the appearance of the application itself, we were toyed around with the idea that instead of a simple Aqua theme, the application could have certain kitchen appliance elements, such as an LED readout, which you can see in the mock-ups below. In this case, some non-Aqua touches could work well for this application without looking out of place on a Mac desktop.
Here are another two conceptual screenshots of Cookbook, of how certain UI elements such as clocks could look like and how the user could interact with them:
The window borders in these two mock-ups are also somewhat darker than in the ones Austin posted. I think a darker appearance breaks up the different parts of the window better. Borders were something John really pushed, and I agreed with him that they help separate content much better than a simple borderless design.
