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A new feature enabling users to host their favourite You Tube videos has been created. It's very simple to implement. When you get to your profile page insert the following code
wNLHXwk2Ud4 ( replace the alphanumeric value with that of the clip you want to insert ) and presto you tube on your profile page...

Map Yourself....

A new feature called "Map yourself" is up.. it's a simple way of creating a link ( on a map ) to your profile page. This allows fellow members to get in touch with you a lot faster than before... Here is how you go about doing it..... As with everything on this site you might have to read the manual before you switch it on... in a matter of speaking... Hope you like this new feature.

Navigation - Revamped....

Ok, spent the weekend going over a few changes to the stucture of the site.... this new structure create s a navigation structure as follows ( Country > City and then you can get to your restaurant by selecting cuisine, rating or price ) . This should make navigation a little simpler for you guys. As always any suggestions would be welcome...

As always check the site and let me know what you guys think....
cheers,
AJ

Google Maps goes live......

well it's finally here...... google maps on The Good Food Guide the tags on the map act as launch points to different pages on the site... Adding a map to your restaurant page is pretty simple. When you get to the edit page you should see a "show map" link just above the formatting characters list ( bold, italic, hyperlink etc ) clicking this should bring up the map ... zoom, pan till you get to the country / city / location you want.... A single click on the map should place a tag with 2 options.

1) insert map centered here : This is the first link you need to select. It will place a code snippet in the edit area ( make sure the cursor is blinking on a fresh link before you do this )



2) Add a point here : This will place another bit of code ( 44.33956524809713,59.765625,label goes here)... here again ensure that the code is place between the 2 google tags, so it looks like so.....


44.33956524809713,59.765625,label goes here


you can place as many tags as you want.. replace the "label goes here" with a link to your restaurant or city.. eg [[:Category:Paris|Paris]] or [[The Cafe, Paris]].

Hope you guys like this new feature....

Cheers...
AJ

Voting has been restricted to members......

right, when the voting system was first setup everyone had access to the voting system. Now this has been restricted to members only . This prevents people from voting mutliple times and decreases the chance of "vote rigging".... Hope this change makes the info on the site a lot more credible.. welcome any comments / suggestions on this change....

cheers,
AJ

Google Maps on the Good Food Guide...

Hello again, ... from the feedback we've recieved tests are being done to integrate google maps on to this site... this will allow you to navigate to your restaurant of choice relatively easily.... We've had a few problems with the initial integration but that's behind us right now.. will keep you updated on any progress made....

Once again, looking forward to your contributions to the site...

cheers,
AJ

Categories....

Creating a navigation structure using categories can be a little confusing at times, i think i've managed to get a relatively simple structure in place. The drawback of this however is each restaurant has close to 9 categories associated with it. They are as follows... I know this is confusing but the end result is navigation becomes a whole lot easier....

* Cuisine : Insert the type of cuisine the restaurant serves ( [[Category:Cuisine]]) . In the case of multiple cuisines use on category grouping for every type.

* Location : Insert the location or area in the city where the restaurant is located ( [[Category:Location]]) .

* Cuisine & Location : Insert this tag to enable users to search restaurants by cuisine once they've gotten down to the location level( [[Category:Cuisine_Location]]) .

* Price Range : Insert the price range of the restaurant.( [[Category:Price range]]) . This could be Inexpensive/Moderate/Expensive/Very Expensive.

* Price & Location : Insert this tag to enable users to search restaurants by Price once they've gotten down to the location level( [[Category:Price_Location]]) .

* Star Rating : Insert the star rating of the restaurant ( [[Category:star rating]] ). This could be 1 star/2 star/3 star/4 star/5 star.

* Star Rating & Location : Insert this tag to enable users to search restaurants by Rating once they've gotten down to the location level( [[Category:Star_Location]]) .

* Index : Insert the index category at the end of every article to ensure it features in the site index page ( [[Category:index]] ).

* Type : Insert the type at the end of every article to ensure it features in the site Type page ( [[Category:Type]] ).This could be Restaurant / Bar / Fast Food / Coffee Bar / Bakery.

Rankings on The Good Food Guide...

back again, it's time for another one of those boring updates...... have added a "polling" feature to all the restaurants currently on the site. The 3 categories users can rate the restaurant on are Food, Sevice and Ambience... This dispays the results of voting real time allowing users a general idea on what sort of an impression the restaurant made on the raters. The Discussion page associated with each restaurant is the place to voice your opinions on the restaurants NOT the main page itself... Will try adding new features when i get the time... suggestions are most welcome....

Cheers,
AJ

your Profile page...

i understand the headache that a sign-up process creates when you log into a site... the reason this feature has been put in place is 2 fold... 1) it prevents random users from logging in and messing up information on the site and 2) it associates each contribution you've made to your account.

A profile page ( a link with your login ID on the left panel ) is created automatically when you log in.. this allows you to keep track of articles you find interesting, articles you've contributed to and serves as a platform to voice your thoughts.... This profile pages also allows other users to get in touch with you so once you've signed up dont forget to populate your profile page... There is no template, you can make it as creative or mundane as possible... ;-D

Looking forward to seeing more of you online...

cheers,
AJ

Navigating through the site...

right, back to the basics..... As some of you probably know this site uses the Wiki platform. So creating a traditional navigation structure is a little bit of a challenge. I've done the following, using Categories i've created groups for Pricing, Rating, Cuisine and Country. Generally when a user starts a search for a restaurant he/she takes the following route , Country > City /State > Location ( I'm assuming ) so iv'e created another category for cuisines under specific locations ( so an example would be Thai_Newyork ) . Yeah i know it's a little confusing but if you guys have any ideas on improving this structure i'm open to suggestions......

Though the best way to look for a particular restaurant is to run a search for it, or if you are looking for a restaurant with a particular cuisine in your city then run a search for "Thai + NewYork".

...AJ

And in the Beginning there was nothing..

Ever wanted to read up on new restaurants in your city? or a city you plan to visit in the near future? Well, i have. While there are sites out there that do allow you to do a bit of this and that there isnt one ( that i know of ) which allows you to actually write an article on the restaurant yourself, have a discussion with other members, host a profile page to meet other "foodies" like yourself.

Enter The Good Food Guide a pet project i started a short while ago, hoping to address the deficiencies that i mentioned earlier. Now the only question is will it gain traction?? this is where you, my fellow users come in... I know this site is a long way from what i envision it to become, but like all good things you need to be patient.

So, if you are a foody , sign up and start posting information on the site ( i welcome any comments on the site , we are always looking to improve it ). As a member you automatically have a voice in the direction the site takes..... We'd also appreciate it if you could spread the word... The more people we have on board the better the site gets...

Looking forward to seeing you onboard...


Cheers,
AJ