A CS.com cookbook?

[Whiskey]

What, Whiskey, do you think you're the only mixologist here?

okay fine ill share my section. i need someone to help me with the tasting

you know, so we can ensure only the tastiest, best drinks get in the book.

[emax4]

I have about 6 recipes or so I can submit, and I can do the Word formatting, proofreading, some editing, etc. I do volunteer technical writing for Macinstruct.com so I do have a background in this. I have done artwork as well, but I'm not so good with Illustrator and better at Photoshop. If there's just one graphic style that we all agree too maybe someone else can do that, but I can do rough drafts. If you want to do an online version of it as well, I can help with that. I have both a Mac & PC and can test it out on various browsers on each platform.

[Whiskey]

Its not going to be done in word/open office, yall. that would be an epic pain in the ass. itd have to be done by some type of database.

[emax4]

Ok, Mac's TextEdit? I can save it into a PDF format

[emax4]

Database? Well, I can put it into Excel, but if it's a cookbook, I don't see how a database is necessary.

[Pedersen]

Actually, I spoke with Raps today about the cookbook, and proposed some things to do for this that will make for some nice options as regards the whole cookbook.

As I noted earlier, we should have a cookbook that appears in multiple formats. To that end, I've set things up on a basic level. And, by basic, I mean basic.

What I've built supports three different formats right now, and plenty more can be easily added. It can handle showing making static HTML files, a .epub file (should be compatible with most ebook readers). and PDF. I've made the empty samples of these, and have uploaded them to the server.

Before I give the URLs, I want to stress this: If you're expecting more than a blank page, you're going to be disappointed. What is there right now is empty.

URLS:

• HTML
• ePub
• PDF

So, since they're so empty, why show them at all? These files are all produced from the exact same source files. This means that all three formats will have exactly the same information, in exactly the same order, presented in (as closely as possible) exactly the same way. No one format will ever become the preferred or default format, they are all always equal.

Speaking from my own experiences, if that is not done right up front, then sooner or later, one format will become the preferred format, and all the others will simply fall by the wayside. In addition, somebody will become upset because their preferred format didn't become the default. Doing this avoids hurt feelings on that count.

The templates that are in use for all of those files are simply the defaults that came from the tool I'm using (called Sphinx). They are completely customizable, so don't feel like there's any attachment to them. I want to hear what people want to see there. Even better, show me HTML that shows what you want to see. Hell, maybe we can have a design contest.

Next up: What should go into each recipe? I'm leaning towards a contributor name, an (optional) pic of the prepared dish, a blurb from the contributor about the dish, the ingredients, and the instructions. What else do people want to see in the recipes?

What about non-recipe elements? I think there should be a contributors page where people can be named, (optionally) pic'ed or avatar'ed, and a blurb about them along with links/lists of their recipes.

Finally, technical babble for those who are interested. Note that if you are not interested, that's okay, you can skip the remainder of this post. If you want a recipe included, we'll be working out how to format it in the thread and notifying me so I can include it in the output files.

I'm using a tool called Sphinx. It uses a text format called "restructured text". This is a plain text format, and very readable even without Sphinx. Sphinx just makes prettier files out of the input.

You can also check out the source for the files currently in use over on bitbucket (for instance, the main index page is a small example). I use a tool called Mercurial to manage that link. You can (if you're so inclined) fork the repository there, make changes in your copy, and send them back to me to be pushed up onto the server. If none of that made sense to you, don't worry. You don't have to do any of that to contribute.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I can offer proofreading services, too.

[Jester]

I have a highly guarded cookie recipe I developed over many Christmases. ;p

I question what to use as a title. Since "Flavours That Make The Hurting Stop" isn't that appetizing.

"Painkiller Cookies"?

Can I use my recipe, with the tweaks to make it "mine" ?

If you have changed the recipe, the new recipe IS yours.

Hell, most of my "original" recipes are nothing more than a modification of some other recipe. Most recipes are nothing more than theft and modification.

Of course, your tweaks are very minor and really don't change a thing in the recipe (13 chocolate chips instead of 12), I would say that that is not an original recipe. But common sense should tell you if that is an original recipe of yours or basically the original one. My guess is that it's yours, but having seen neither recipe, I can't really say. (This is not a subtle hint to share the recipe with me, as I Don't Bake.)

okay fine ill share my section. i need someone to help me with the tasting

you know, so we can ensure only the tastiest, best drinks get in the book.

Naturally.

[Rapscallion]

Been pondering this. It's a pretty good idea and we've had recipe threads before. A recipe resource is going to be interesting.

Proceeds? This is a community event, so the benefit should be to the community we have. As far as I'm concerned, we can host it electronically on this server and it's got negligible impact on the service. Should be free to all.

Rapscallion

[MaggieTheCat]

Next up: What should go into each recipe? I'm leaning towards a contributor name, an (optional) pic of the prepared dish, a blurb from the contributor about the dish, the ingredients, and the instructions. What else do people want to see in the recipes?

I was wondering if there could be a line in the recipe somewhere (probably below the title and contributor name, and above the ingredient list) that listed certain categories that the dish fell under. Assuming that we break the book down by course (breakfast, appetizer, entree, dessert, drinks, etc.) then we could have subcategories that each dish would fall under, like vegetarian, gluten-free, budget, etc. A lot of recipes also have some kind of "prep time" line and a "makes XXX servings" line, although sometimes those aren't entirely accurate.

So, how/where do we want to start contributing recipes? Raps and Pedersen, are you guys thinking that making a subforum somewhere would be the best/easiest route?

[emax4]

A way to put the food into categories is a good idea, but instead of separate chapters related to gluten-free, sugar-free and others; perhaps we can put a small color code next to those special dishes, or just list them to the side of the recipe close to the page edges.

At the same time we can put a special table of contents or index for just those specific types of dishes that fall into a specific category for special diets.

I really like the budget idea as well. The hard part may be getting an average of the cost of ingredients from around each part of the country.

[NateTheChops]

Well, if we go with the subforum idea then all we'd have to do is include an extra section telling people what the prices of certain ingerdients are in their home countries/states/providences/homeworlds/dimensions/time periods/etc.

I see what Raps is saying about being a free service to all. There's also the difficulty associated with trying to sell the book, even if you went with a print on demand format.

Probably one of the two downsides to marketing the book is that not everyone here obscures their workplaces, which can get someone into trouble if say, your boss were to go to the website after reading the cook book.

There's also the irony in that most of us are generally tired of dealing with sucky customers and yet it's those same customers that would likely be buying the book.

[Pedersen]

I was wondering if there could be a line in the recipe somewhere (probably below the title and contributor name, and above the ingredient list) that listed certain categories that the dish fell under. Assuming that we break the book down by course (breakfast, appetizer, entree, dessert, drinks, etc.) then we could have subcategories that each dish would fall under, like vegetarian, gluten-free, budget, etc. A lot of recipes also have some kind of "prep time" line and a "makes XXX servings" line, although sometimes those aren't entirely accurate.

Okay, I've done a fairly significant update to the blank pages this morning. You'll see what my current list of things to include in the book is, proposed order of inclusion, and you'll also see what I'm suggesting for what to attach to each recipe. If nothing else, it should make for some discussion.

http://www.customerssuck.com/cscookbook/

So, how/where do we want to start contributing recipes? Raps and Pedersen, are you guys thinking that making a subforum somewhere would be the best/easiest route?

Actually, my suggestion is to simply post recipes right in this thread. Since critiques and suggestions can come in, I would also prefer to have the submitter PM me once they are happy with the final result. Simply including a link to the post(s) for their recipe would be sufficient, so that I know they feel it's ready for inclusion. I'll deal with the reformatting issues into restructured text.

perhaps we can put a small color code next to those special dishes

Color coding is a bad idea for one reason: The PDF is meant to be print ready. I intend to get it submitted to lulu.com (or other print on demand service) once we're ready. Therefore, as much as possible, the contents of the book should be black and white.

At the same time we can put a special table of contents or index for just those specific types of dishes that fall into a specific category for special diets.

Actually, as you'll see from the link, I've suggested including a couple of separate tables of contents. It will help people find recipes in at least a few different ways. I liked the idea, so I put it into the blank template for now, and will be figuring out the actual implementation shortly.

I really like the budget idea as well. The hard part may be getting an average of the cost of ingredients from around each part of the country.

The budget idea is a good one, though it's not just a country-wide budget: It's world wide. For instance, if someone from Maine posts a recipe for fresh Maine lobster, it's definitely budget for them, while a different reader in Australia would probably either be unable to obtain it, or would find the pricing to be exorbitant.

As such, for the budget tag, all we can do is try to apply common sense. If the item is something very commonly available, then we can label it as budget (for instance, here in the US, peanut butter, jelly, pasta, these are all common and fairly cheap). Other dishes? We'll just have to do our best.

[purplecat41877]

I've posted recipes in the recipe social group. Feel free to use those.

[Rapscallion]

Just bought some pork fillet (tenderloin) and have loads of sage growing in the garden. Suggestions?

Rapscallion