Web version of the culinary android application SystemCook
I'll immediately give you links to download what we'll be talking about, so that nothing gets lost and no one bothers me about what and where to look for/download (free and ad-free Android app):
Direct link (if download from Google Play is not available)
Vkontakte link to the video review of SystemCook v14.0 (if you have problems with YouTube)
I have already written about SystemCook on Habr in two previous articles here and here. I know that many Habr users tried old versions of the application during the development process, because I keep statistics and my database is full of “dead” accounts (by the way, if anyone has lost their password, write to me by email, I will remind you, just tell me what email you registered with). Now I will summarize what I ended up with, tell you my future plans and will wait for your feedback in the comments.
Progress over three years of development, since June 2021:
More details in the videos:
Some statistics
1200+ recipes
387 products
15 categories of recipes
63 wines on the wine list
54 cuisines of the world
134 cooking channels (chefs)
1000+ registered users
The main ideas that emerged during the evolution of SystemCook (System Cooking)
Mobile application, because you can take your phone with you to the store for shopping and to the kitchen when cooking
All search categories are by images, you don't have to type anything in text, just click on the desired images and start the search, but the standard text search (for example, by name) is also present
The shortest possible description, i.e. from the set of pictures under the recipe title it is immediately clear what is required for it and how to cook it, a minimum of text and no clickbait titles, which many bloggers love to use
Search by keywords, so that it is clearly clear that bell pepper and sweet pepper are the same thing, and “garlic” is “garlic”, which is the same for a product image and a search by garlic, no matter what language the video is in (yes, I also collect imported recipes)
Search not only by products, but by anything at all, namely: by food categories, by kitchenware (I haven't seen anything like this anywhere else), by world cuisines, by chef bloggers, and also in exclusion mode
Quick access panel to products and categories (killer feature of the app, in my opinion)
Voice control – we name products and they are selected immediately
A single standardized external database, which is updated separately from the application itself
Favorite recipes and grocery baskets for users – of course, as well as a “compare with fridge” function so you don't have to remember what you're missing for this recipe
Search by possible products, such as recipes that contain either beef or pork, or in “nothing but” mode, such as onion and garlic and no other vegetables
Menu – sets of recipes united by one idea
Built-in product compatibility chart
Wine list and enogastronomy – automatic selection of wines to dishes and vice versa
Automatic selection of sauces and seasonings for recipes
User reviews and rating system
Built-in timer with voice control
I'm really going crazy, I'm scared myself. Yes, all of this is already in the app and it works. It's easier to say what's in the plans, but not implemented yet: a calorie and BJU calculator and a wine cellar.
SystemCook and YouTube in Russia
I have to touch on this topic, because 99.999% of the links in my recipe database go to YouTube, and in August 2024, problems started with it in the Russian Federation, and it is not yet clear how it will all end. What I want to say is that SystemCook is an international project (English translation has already been completed) and foreign recipes and users from YouTube will not go anywhere, which means I will add them. YouTube has a very good API, by video ID you can quickly and conveniently get all the necessary information, for example, a preview or description, 99% of other sites with recipes do not have such functionality. In fact, this is the only technical problem, because I can add any links to the database, but there will be difficulties with recipe previews and descriptions if the link is not to YouTube. Nevertheless, if Russian users do not stop having problems watching YouTube, I will have to add some links to other culinary sources one way or another – no problem, I am ready and all the corresponding functionality has long been added to SystemCook. In addition, there are a number of life hacks:
The video on YouTube doesn't play, but you can watch the description, so if the ingredients and process are listed there, then you're in the bag. Among Russian bloggers, Alexander Belkovich is a handsome guy in this regard – he has it all written out for each recipe.
A number of bloggers add links to the text version of the recipe on their websites – no problem, for such recipes I will make it possible to choose where to go – to the website or to YouTube.
If the problems with YouTube don't stop, bloggers themselves will re-upload their videos to other video hosting sites, so see the previous point – I'll just have to add an alternative link.
The “show SystemCook description” functionality has existed for a long time, it has been added for the first two dozen recipes for sure, this description is essentially a recipe in text form authored by me, it can be done the same for the rest of the recipes, if there is a need, desire and time.
In short, all the problems with YouTube are not critical for SystemCook, I won’t panic and I don’t advise anyone to do so.
The main problem is different
A few technical details – SystemCook was initially developed on MIT App Inventor 2, a visual programming environment (“children's” constructor) for mobile applications from Google, its advantage is that development is very fast, and its disadvantage is the complexity of creating large applications, dynamic interfaces, interaction with users and other things, which is what I have actually gotten to now. I have already had to rewrite a huge part of the code in HTML + JavaScript and the further I go, the less visual programming and more website building there is. So why wait if sooner or later I will have to remake the entire system in the website format anyway. Moreover, now only owners of Android smartphones and some literate “PC boyars” can use SystemCook, and iPhone owners have long been pressing me with requests “do something nice for us too.”
In short, no matter how cool SystemCook is at the moment and no matter how sad I am to admit this fact – it is just a prototype or as it is fashionable to call it now an MVP product and due to the limitations of the programming environment I will not be able to scale it further in its current form in accordance with my Napoleonic plans. And the plans are to make it a universal culinary platform so that every culinary enthusiast can store recipes that he found on the Internet, because I am not the only one who cooks “from videos”. And I am tired of adding recipes by myself. This is the idea, no more and no less, because I believe that I am getting an “iPhone” among culinary applications, and I am not going to stop until every modern housewife knows about SystemCook. Of course, it sounds a little pretentious, but I am a developer, I can afford it.
And to implement this whole global plan, I will have to make a site with adaptive layout from SystemCook (so that it opens on any device), implement MySQL instead of Google Sheets and rewrite all the logic in PHP plus some framework (I will most likely choose Yii2), in short, this is again a lot of time and fuss out of nowhere and I do not like to embark on this thorny path on sheer enthusiasm. Therefore, I decided to launch crowdfunding in order to, on the one hand, probe the culinary public for interest in the SystemCook project as a whole, and on the other hand, get funding and speed up development, because working, knowing that you are making something that people demand and are willing to pay for, is much easier and more enjoyable than working for free just for your idea, even if the idea is great and you are doing your favorite programming.
There are no built-in ads or paid content or anything like that from me in the app. The ads are only directly in the cooking videos, which are added there either by the authors or by Google (the videos are taken mainly from YouTube, but they can be taken from anywhere), and I personally do not earn money from the app and cannot earn money, even if I wanted to (and I want to, of course), because AdSense accounts are currently disabled for Russian developers, and links in the app to any third-party paid or advertising service will lead to the ban of the app and the developer in Google Play.
This is another reason why I am forced to make a website, and not a new version of an application on some Flutter, in order to be less dependent on Google and mobile phones and not have restrictions on my own paid culinary content in the future (if I decide to make it, of course), and I do not intend to feed various advertisers, especially if the crowdfunding project is successful.
Link to the crowdfunding draft on boomstarter, if you are interested, please read it, the project is still NOT LAUNCHED:
https://boomstarter.ru/projects/1143047/216566?token=186e5f5d
In the comments I am open to discussion on all issues, I am especially interested in other people's experience of building sites of similar systems, whether I chose PHP+Yii2 correctly (I just already had experience with PHP), maybe someone will be able to convince me to Python+Jango or some other technology, I showed all the necessary functionality, we need to find the simplest way to remake all this into an adaptive site, so I am waiting for technical specialists.
