Help! Techy or User Comments/Suggestions Requested…

Hi everyone! As old-timers on this site may have noticed, the format, style, template, page, etc. for marketmanila.com has NEVER changed since the start of this blog some 5 years ago. I had a techy friend design this site for me (he customized a wordpress template) and I learned how to write posts and that was that. I have NO IDEA how to make any changes at all to the site, but finally, after nearly 5 years, I think we are going to revisit and upgrade some of the features if it is possible within the constraints of the wordpress template. Hopefully, I will be meeting up with my techy consultant tomorrow, and I just wanted to get your feedback on some of the things that might make the site better… I don’t think we will be able to do everything people suggest, but will cherry pick the more realistic and doable ideas from a system, cost, stylistic and aesthetic perspective.

Some readers have complained about the search function (it’s easier to use google) which is bogged down with so many posts in the archives. Others have asked for a forum of sorts, but controlling that or keeping it within bounds is an administrative nightmare. Others have asked that the identifying name for a commenter should be followed with their home city, so that readers can easily understand where they are coming from… Still others want updated and broader indexes of old posts. Some want youtube inserts of how to make a particular recipe (egads, bandwidth, bandwidth!), or god forbid, a rabid rant :) Should we show random old posts on the sidebar so people can more easily check out posts from the archives? Is the site too clean, too uncluttered? Is the poll function boring? Are there features on other food blogs you frequent that might make sense for marketmanila? If you are having problems with RSS feeds, twitter, etc. let me know now. I would really appreciate your comments and inputs, and will try and pick some things that we can implement in the weeks ahead. A huge thank you in advance for any comments and suggestions you may have. Salamat!

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116 Responses

  1. Hi MM,

    One thing i love about your blog is the clean look. it’s not distracting. Please keep your policy of no advertisement.

    If you can work on providing an index of the recipes or even just grouping it (i.e. chicken, pork, fish etc), this would be a great help. I agree it would be great if the search function can be improved. Taking one step further, if you can also provide an index of Betty Q’s recipes, that would also be great.

  2. I agree with portugalbear. It’s the clean look that is one thing that I love about your blog.

    You could also link new entries with old ones… I think there’s an automatic program for that…

  3. i also like the clean look, and yeah no ads please

    hmm other than that its ok…i have had no problem as yet with the search function, but i agree again with portugalbear, better indexing for the recipes :D

  4. MM, i like the clean look too but would like to see a better way how to locate any particular recipe… yours, betty q. and sister.

  5. Hi MM. Whatever change you contemplate, please KEEP THE CLEAN AND UNCLUTTERED LOOK. I cannot overemphasize this as I think it is one of your blog’s strengths. The blog is easy on the eyes and keeps the focus on the post of the day. Websites that look like a patchwork quilt are a turn-off for me.

    I would like to bring up again my previous request: kindly number the comments sequentially. When you have as many as 100+ comments, numbering helps people refer to a previous comment easily. This is especially crucial when there is an engrossing question-and-answer exchange on a recipe, or when a rant gives way to a spirited…ehem, free-for-all.

    Second, it would be great if, at the bottom of a particular post, there are links (with icons) to a recipe or related previous post. These 2 suggestions are best illustrated in Jessica Zafra’s blog, see below (hers has the featue “You might also like” at the bottom):
    https://jessicarulestheuniverse.com/2009/08/11/good-ideas-the-think-tank/

    Finally, YouTube how-tos! I actually learned to make apple pie from reading recipes and watching videos on YouTube and other foodblogs. If you are concerned about bandwidth, can’t you just post a demo on YouTube and provide a link here? Wouldn’t it be nice if you designate, say, the first Saturday of the month as demo day. You could show, for example, how you make your famous gingerbread houses (not that I will ever attempt such a complicated operation, but it would make for interesting viewing). Or you could invite bettyq to guest host a demo. But please, MM, no rabid rants on YouTube haha.

  6. kindly keep the clean, uncluttered look. your layout looks very professional to me that is why this is the first website on my list that i visit everyday. i hope you can maintain this as an ads free website because this is so rare nowadays.

    yeah, i can agree on indexing based on main ingredient(ala iron chef’s secret ingredient heheheh).

    lastly, if you can find a way such that all your replies under the comments section will be in a different color instead of just being in bold so that we can easily pick out your replies in the comments.

    again, my sincerest thanks to you MM for keeping this site and for sharing this to all your beloved readers.

  7. The clean look is great. Sites that want to play music and kill my eyes with a patchwork of all kinds of worthless garbage are quickly ignored by me.

    Regarding ads: up to you. I think you deserve some compensation for this.

    However, if you go with ads, NO FLASH ADS. :)

  8. oh, may i add, i think it’s about time you add another main section labelled as ‘video’. and from there, you can put the links to all those shows/videos presenting you as marketman. you already have a couple of videos from soho, bourdain, chin. people would appreciate it if they can easily follow these under one section. and links to articles highlighting your site would also be nice.

  9. I like the clean and uncluttered look so please keep it that way… would like a better/easier way of searching for recipes since i often check the site for that. :)

  10. yes, MM… I agree with all of them… keep it clean (no ads)and as simple as possible… and yes, an index to recipes if possible.. thanks :)

    are you going to take off the mangosteens? I’ll miss that for sure… :(

  11. I also love the clean look. The search function is a bit too much for me. One time I searched for the pan de sal recipe and the search returned a number of entries. I had to read several posts all mentioning pan de sal( =D) before I got the correct one. I agree with portugalbear’s suggestion of providing a recipe index, this would be really really helpful.

    I love your photos but adding videos would also be great.

    Thanks MM!

  12. Don’t go changing to try and please me. You never let me down before. Oooohhhhh… Don’t imagine you’re too familiar and I don’t see you anymoooooore.

    In other words, dear Marketman, I love you just the way you are.

  13. The present layout is lovely. I would go against the forum idea. But my only suggestions is to put a nice link at the bottom of the page that will enable users to click “Back for Older Posts”. :) I think you know what I’m talking about.

  14. Love the clean uncluttered look.

    Just make the recipe search easier (perhaps a marker if commenter’s recipe is included) and have a recipe index. Video reference would be great too.

    And if in Archives, would be nice to be directed, Back to Archives without having to go back to current or Main page.

    Thanks, MM.

  15. Hi! I’ve followed you since late 2005 (via feedreader) and I enjoy the minimalist look your blog sports. Whether you keep it or not, or perhaps tweak it just a little, put advertising blocks or banners, I wouldn’t mind a bit. Us readers come back for the content, the clean look is just a bonus.

    Anyway, have fun experimenting, Mr. MarketMan. :)

  16. would love it if the recipes were archived by category e.g. snacks, mains, appetizers, desserts, drinks. then further categorized under fish, poultry, pork and so on. with an additional category for mm reader recipes specifically from ms. betty q. other than that i like the clean, minimalist look of the site, it adds to the direct and sincere tone of the blog posts.
    how about a new mm logo? a caricature of you holding a copper pan? :p

  17. Please keep the clean, uncluttered look. I find the poll function both fun and informative. And if this is archived, probably a valuable source of data. The search function as you noted can be improved. Many thanks.

  18. Marketman, your categories is very broad. Can you make it a little bit more specific for easier search like category for meat, fish, fruits and vegetables,recipies, events like birthdays and weddings,etc.
    Otherwise if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…

  19. Hi Everyone, thanks for that rapid response. No need to worry on overall feel, it will remain clean, with lots of white space and NO ADS. I like the suggestions so far, more tweaks and slight improvements, as I had hoped, rather than radical changes. I have resisted a better index as I personally have to go through 2,300 posts and re-categorize them, an excruciatingly slow and painful task… will take me weeks to do that I suspect. Keep the suggestions coming… Thanks!

  20. Agree with keeping the look as it is, it’s part of the appeal.
    Nix on the forums, it will require too much work.

    Other suggestions, some of which have been mentioned by earlier commenters:

    – improved/more detailed categories and search
    – numbered comments, so it’s easier to keep track
    – a comment preview function

    Thanks for the great site, in any case!

  21. Actually I love the current format. It’s also easy on the eyes when I read it on my mobile (when I surf using my phone).

    As mentioned by the others, maybe a better search function. And I don’t know how one can do it but to index the recipes in the comments (especially by betty q and sister).

  22. An index of recipes would be very helpful, although I like your search function… works for me.

    Betty Q & Sister should have a small section on this website given that they have great recipes to share but sometimes a bit hard to find as they’re usually amongst the hundreds of comments and searching for them isn’t an easy task. Putting up something interactive would be fun, but not a forum- I think it would be daunting to try and moderate one given you’ve lots of readers!

    Apart from that, I think your website’s sweet as it is!!

  23. It would be nice to have sub categories for the recipes i.e, desserts, meat, vegetable dishes, fish. and category for posts with bettyq recipes on it.

  24. oh my gosh, this is so sooo nice to ask for our suggestions.. i really want to say even before to make the archives user-friendly.. it is very difficulty task to search for old recipes.. i just hope u make some improvement on that. but i like the nice clean look of the template. pls maintain the white background. very neat to look at. maybe if it is not too much to ask for, kindly make another index for betty q’s recipe.. and pls maintain the poll.
    just some minor revisions MM. we already love your blog as it is.. and thanks so much for the kind gesture to ask for our suggestions. i really appreciate it..

  25. I think the recipe index can be improved greatly. I check out other food blogs regularly and find that their recipes are easy to find. They are classified even by ingredients, type of cuisine, etc. Since this is a food blog and an incredible archive of your recipes and visitors at that, it would be great if they were easier to find. Except for this difficulty, it is still a fun and informative blog.

  26. It would be nice if the entire post showed up on Google Reader. Lots of people use Google Reader to view all their favorite blogs in one place. But in Google Reader, only a portion of your blog post shows up. No images either. :(

  27. Hi Marketman! I like this look a lot, uncluttered and not quite heavy for my browser. Hyperlinks are okay for you tube links but don’t embed it in the site, it might be too heavy to load.

    I think what needs to be improved on is the search function, or categories for recipes (chicken, pork, lamb, steaks) because results can be too broad. A good idea to archive Betty Q’s recipes too! :D

  28. i suggest that we can edit our post–because if we misspell a word we have to type a new entry to correct it–otherwise we are just sooo fine!

  29. Simply expanding recipe categories for quicker searches and with bettyq and sister having their own as well as other MM-fan’s recipes/suggestions. Others on travels, flower arrangements, etc.

  30. regarding searchability, maybe you can put subcategories. or you can add a feature to see entries which are the most read or which has the most posts.

    the look of the site is ok. i like it the way it is.

  31. Just retain the site feel no youtube etc add ons since it would mean accessing your site would take more time :)

  32. videos? only if its possible…and more interesting topics. keep up the good work, MM.

  33. I like the clean look of your site. One thing though, everytime you post something with pictures, the first picture ALWAYS never shows, don’t know if it’s just me.

  34. Here’s what I could think of for now:

    1. ‘Agree on the need to improve the indexing and the herculean task of ‘re-tagging’ your archives. Perhaps you can start with some of your popular posts first (ok, maybe they all get tons of hits :)). But yeah, you probably have to start somewhere. Take baby steps.

    2. Make use of a WordPress plug-in that allows for threaded/nested comments (maybe 3-deep even) in your posts so it’ll be easier for your readers to follow and reply to comments. Your tech support should be able to help you on this. I sure wish I can implement the same feature on my site but mine is a different monster.

    3. Not too sure about the bandwidth concern with regard to embedded YouTube videos on your pages. The videos are streamed in from YouTube servers and not from your host … so I think the concern would be probably for those readers of yours who don’t have a broadband connection to the net. They’ll get impacted by this. Maybe you can look at your Google Analytics dashboard and check your readers’ profile — i.e., how many users come in via a T1/DSL/Cable vs. Dial-up connection.

    4. The Search functionality. I personally prefer getting a list of clickable links (with an abbreviated desc of each) when the ‘search’ returns a result. Currently, your site returns long excerpts of each relevant posts from your archives and then they may have to scroll down the page and click the ‘next’ and ‘previous’ links if they don’t find what they’re looking for :). Then again, it’s just me. I prefer to see all the result (if they fit) in one page.

    5. Your RSS feed. Maybe you can make it more highly visible by placing it just below the ‘Search’ button. If people like your site, they most likely would want to click on that ‘RSS’ link immediately. They shouldn’t have to look for it :).

  35. Numbered comments so when we go back to the post, we know where we stopped and can read from the new comments onward. And perhaps a more organized way of searching/indexing. =)Although I’ve been a reader for a long time and have gone through all the archives and have copied things as I read them (i.e. your recipes and betty q’s). Love the poll; not boring. =)

  36. It can be quite a job to archive more than 2000 posts, so I suggest indexing from hereon and just indicate start date, unless there are some volunteers to help MM, hint, hint.

    However , a Betty Q index can be started from a previous post and then as readers search for other recipes/topics, they can send the particular post to MM thru his contact email so he can add to the categorized index as they come, to avoid duplication.

    Make sure what you send MM has not been added yet by checking what has been indexed if MM chooses to take this suggestion.

  37. I have a confession to make. When I stumbled upon your blog for the first time, I thought:
    1. It was written by a foreigner residing in the Philippines.
    2. It was written by more than one foreigner (like a group contribution) scouting the Philippines in search of things to cook and eat. (I didn’t find a lot of blogs updated once or twice a day.)
    3. The blog was very expensive to maintain because it looked so professionally done with clean lines and clear pleasant font.

    No other suggestions. I like it.

  38. Dear MM,
    I like the format of your blog right now because it is quite clean and easy to read. However I do suggest you add “tags” to each of your posts as this will facilitate easier searching. For example if you make a post on seafood paella your tags could be Spanish cuisine, Seafood and Saffron.

  39. i like it as it is right now … i may have had some difficulties searching for old recipes but i did manage to find it somehow … i even had the dates noted as to when they were posted in case i have to go search again : )

  40. Re-tagging all posts is a good way to achieve better search results. Right now, the keywords for each post are pretty much the same and do not necessarily reflect the content of the actual content. One look at the keywords meta tag should tell a search engine what the post is all about. If you search for lechon presently, you get results that are irrelevant like your post on BLT sandwich or Cebu Pacific.

    I know going through every single post for the past 60 months is a daunting task, but look at it this way: If you can find 15 people among your readers who you can absolutely trust (and provided they are willing, of course) they can each work on 4 months’ worth of posts in no time! Just issue some clear-cut guidelines and a realistic deadline to help them along. Talk to your tech guy about how to give the volunteers access to your database (limited to the months they are assigned to, if possible).

    Good luck! And oh, I like the site the way it is!

  41. I enjoy what you have right now, so I’m glad there won’t be radical changes. Maybe instead of trying to index the recipes under reader comments, provide space on the site for people to upload their recipes, and they can just link their comments to that page.

  42. Have a link at the bottom of the page to go back to older posts ’cause if I don’t get to visit the site for a week or two, there’s no way for me to catch up with older posts.

    Better search/index to recipes. When I use the search function or the current index AND the recipe is in the comments section, I have to scroll through and try to find it. (if the recipe is in paragraph form and not list form, it’s not easy to find. plus of course there’s tons of comments.) or use the ctrl+f to find key words. maybe Flag a comment if it has a recipe within?

  43. I was going to mention tabs, but Marissa beat me to it. A lot of blogs I find easy to navigate use tabs so any reference to similar posts can be easy to find later. The only thing I might suggest is that you could use a indented comment section, so that people can comment to related comments, and you can as well. I see it on a lot of blogs using livejournal, but I’m sure wordpress can do the same.

    Since you have a twitter account now, you could do a link to the your twitter feed on your site, unless your tweets are more about what you post here, and that would be a bit redundant.

    Perhaps hiring an intern to help you with the project might be worth the investment. I would like to nominate one of your fishpan awardees of the last two years hehehe.

  44. Maybe you can ask you tech consultant to find a way how you can autolink your post to facebook/twitter. There are more and more people spending more time in facebook and twitter.

  45. Blogspot has a feature where if one has scrolled to the bottom of the page (for example, right now, the bottom of the page on your blog would be the post on Ming Tsai and lamb chops), there is a button called PREVIOUS POSTS that will bring the reader to the previous posts. Right now, if I want to go there, I have to click on ARCHIVES, go to August 2009, then I see the button that brings me to previous posts. I’d love for that button to be on the home page, and not have to go to archives to get it. I would also love a recipe index. Thank you!

  46. I’m not too keen on nested comments as it has a tendency to side conversations that spiral out of topic pretty easily. It’s like being in a dinner where people have divided themselves into smaller groups, instead of the whole table having one big conversation. Hope that makes sense…

    As Mila suggested, tabs would be great or just a “previous posts” button at the bottom of the page would be helpful.

  47. I like the simplicity of this site, very neat.

    I also agree @esubijano for a “nested comments….it’ll be easier for readers to follow”

    How about the possibility of imbedding images from your followers. You still have the options of deleting them if you think they are inappropiate.

    Thanks for allowing us to make suggestions.

  48. like it as it is. . . but ohh- yes to a more detailed
    search function. otherwise, everything is great!

  49. @chrisb: MM has been pretty good at responding to his readers’ numerous queries and the sometimes rants … and just for ‘ease of use’, it would be nice to actually read the comment that he is responding to just above his — without us having to scroll up and down the screen trying to find it. As far as expressing the concern that the comments section might morph into a forum-like scenario, I think MM has been pretty good at screening and swaying the readers to stay on-topic most of the time — if not always.

    See … I would have posted this response just underneath yours but I had to make sure it’s directed to @chrisb :).

    Just my 2 cents.

  50. I love MarketManila’s clean (non-commercialized) look. Please maintain that. I would suggest adding small widgets on the side, like a twitter feed / facebook feed. You are right about the search function on the site, it is not very accurate. Adding Videos wont take up much bandwidth or server space if you upload the video to you tube and embed the videos on your posts.

  51. I like the clean look of your blog although a recipe index would help a great deal. Thank you so much MM for this blog.

  52. flip4ever and sunflowii brought up 2 great ideas: one, why not a feature that allows people to post their own recipes under categories that you set up yourself (as suggested by several commenters–meat, seafood, appetizers, mains, desserts, etc.) So the recipe appears in two places: the comment section, which then has a link to the recipe index. Then from hereon you will be doing very little maintenance work yourself as the contributors will be doing it themselves.

    Secondly, it would make for easier reading and tracking if all recipes (yours and other conributors’) are written in list, rather than paragraph, form. I understand that when you are writing about cooking something a few days ago, you write it in narrative form. However, for someone wanting to replicate it, the steps are easier to follow if written like a list.

    May I just say that your comment section format is one of the most easily readable I’ve come across. I like the alternating white /light blue background. Add numbering, and it’s perfect.

  53. Hey MM,

    Have you ever considered recorded blogs or uploaded videos of you making a particular recipe or dish? Typed words are nice but I’d wager regular devotees of this site would love to see you in action whipping something up.

  54. MM,

    There’s an old saying, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The layout of the site works for me. The colors are great. I’m colorblind so it really pisses me off when people use colors that make it hard to read text and are harsh on the eyes.

    There is only one thing I would suggest you update/change and that is the search function.

    Dew

  55. I’m a minimalist so I like the current format. No clutter and very functional. The sidebar has all the necessary info like previous posts, categories, etc. I’ve never had any problem navigating around your blog. I agree with others that a you tube or any kind of video interface would be nice if you can somehow work around the bandwidth issues. It would be great to see some hands-on videos or even video clips of your trips to the market or discovering new foods, fruits, resto, etc. If not, I’m sure your readers would understand.

    I think an updated look would be very good! Maybe some new colors and different fonts to give it an up to date look but overall I recommend not changing the format.

  56. Suggestions on your thoughts of a website revamp would be the ff:
    1.An official logo or icon for the marketman.
    2.Enhance the layout ( giving a fresher market look!)
    3.Organized user interface. or better content management ad function (categorized recipes, archives, search function..etc)
    4 But overall, maintain a readable layout.

    I think one factor that made you one of the most followed blog in the Phil. aside from your wit,great recipes,and food epiphanies is Marketmanila’s simple and straight forward readable layout.

  57. i’d like to correct..
    “3.Organized user interface. or better content management ad function (categorized recipes, archives, search function..etc)”

    its

    3.Organized user interface. or better content management And function (categorized recipes, archives, search function..etc)

    No ads! ♥

  58. i like the look of your site. I’m all for clean and uncluttered. And it is easy to find things. The only suggestion I may add if I may is if there is a way to shorten the view per comment so you don’t have to scroll down, down, down till you get to the end. I guess, if there is a way to limit the “view size” of each comment, then there’s a link that says “read more”, then you can “hide” it again so the page isn’t too long.

    Additionally, perhaps add to the sidebar links to “similar posts” so if you are looking for the same recipe of topic, it is easily accessible?

  59. I also don’t like threaded comments for the same reason as chrisb and the dinner analogy; numbering the comments will help because commenters can reply to someone’s post with, for example, “chrisb @46: I think that [etc]”.

    Another way of solving this would be to add a “reply” button to each comment, so that there will be an automatic linkback to the comment in question (since each comment already has its individual link); it would look something like this:

    chrisb: I think that [etc]

  60. I agree with a couple of points already mentioned.

    1) Have your replies in the comments area stand out in some way–either threaded beneath the post to which the comment is replying, or posted using a different coloured font (even having your name in a different colour would be OK). I often miss your replies because when the comment start numbering in the 100s, it’s easy to miss them when I’m skimming.

    2) Have a separate area where people can post their recipes (but ONLY recipes–no comments to the recipes). If I don’t copy a recipe as soon as I notice it, it’s a PITA trying to find it again, especially when (yet again) the comments number in the 100s.

    My own suggestion would be regarding reading multiple pages starting from the homepage.

    Currently, one can only read the most recent few posts from the homepage–there’s no way to go back further. In order to read back further, one must go to the archive, click on the appropriate month, then click through “More posts” from there. Then when finished each respective month, one must go back to the Archive *again*, and click on the next month, and start all over again.

    Why can’t there be a “More posts” button at the bottom of the homepage, so people can read the archives continuously from there?

  61. I’m not a techy guy so leaving it simple as it is is just fine with me.Although i agree with almost everybody about the search thing. I remember the first time i made a post here was when i was trying to look for a certain recipe and i really had a hard time looking for it until some of the “regulars” helped me to locate the said recipe.

  62. Hi MM. I just love the clean look of your blog. It’s easy to navigate and very reader friendly.

  63. Clean, simple, uncluttered. Love it as it is. Please, no flash ads ever! I hate those sites that are so magulo on the eyes.

    This is me dreaming but how about a “SHOP” section where we can buy betty q’s XO sauce, MM’s mangosteen jam, Artisan’s chocolates, etc. ;-) Yup, dream on, li’l me!

  64. I do like the clean look of your blog, but if you think you can improve on it, go for it. Monitors are getting bigger nowadays and your blog only occupies approximately 1/3 to 1/4 of my screen at any given moment, with the rest being just white space. What I do appreciate is the fact that the text of the comments with the green background no longer disappear when I scroll, something which used to be extremely irritating.

  65. bagito: where are you? if you live near the Arctic, no dried scallops! So, just like Doc…I will send you some. Do you have hibe where you are?

  66. I like your present format. The only thing I am looking for is a button for “older posts” to access immediate older posts and slightly bigger fonts (haha.. I really should wear reading glasses na).

    BettyQ: I think my email to you is still not getting through to you…… Can you kindly email me? My email is ireneuy@netzero.net or ireneuy@pticom.com

  67. My 2 cents:

    1. Set number of comments per page to a manageable number, say 16 or 25 comments per page, instead of all comments showing in one page. Comments can be numbered for ease of reference.
    2. Set blogger’s(Marketman) comments background to a different color so it will stand out from the rest.
    3. Recipe search with better if not accurate results would really be helpful, but I don’t know how this is possible with the current set up. The current categories are blog topic categories, not recipe categories which make sense. One possiblity is a link from marketmanila to a separate recipe site which will contain the recipes which can be categorized –
    meat, vegetable, poultry, bread, etc. The recipe site can have authorized contributors – all approved by you.

  68. I am with Dew, the format is great, clean and pleasing to the eye…nothing is wrong with the site as a whole; so there’s nothing to fix. Maybe just make it easier to search?

  69. about my comment…I meant to say the blog topic categories make sense. The way it was written could be interpreted differently.

  70. i love the clean look; minimalist appeal. maybe MM just on the indexing to be more easier for searching the archives.

  71. there is an interesting function in the BBC food site. all you have to do is type three key ingredients, e.g., chicken, garlic, olive oil. when you hit search, all recipes from their database using those ingredients are listed. they also have a “recipe binder” so that the user can easily compile their favorites on this for easy reference in the future. hope you can do something similar. it will be a great help especially when we’re scratching our heads for a good recipe :)

  72. As a new and avid reader, I can’t say enough about the clean uncluttered look or the crisp photos. The only thing thaat could be better for me is the search function. I searched “Anthony Bourdain and Travel Channel Episode” (without quotes)and had a pickle of a time getting to what I was actually looking for. Perhaps the keywords could be highlighted to make the seach a little faster.

    But I thik this is a teriffic site and have been talking about it to friends nonstop!

  73. MM your blog is classic and simply lovely. I don’t get lost inside your blog but I would suggest a wider subdivision of the categories if possible or an organized archive where things could be easy to find. I realized there are too many interesting things to read in your blog and it’s hard to sort them out one by one if i don’t have a general idea in mind. If I can see what interests me easily then I would be reading all day long, I guess.^ ^ Maybe cooking videos are also okay as a subcategory in the food section. I think it would help food enthusiasts in the kitchen. The polls and the lastest entries are okay, they do help.^ ^

  74. I may be the only person who’s against the video idea. I think an occasional video would be a treat, but a weekly thing seems too tedious. I also happen to think the faceless shots are somewhat of an endearing MM trademark, and i don’t know how easy or difficult it would be to workaround not having a face in the video. [Also, on a somewhat selfish note, my [and I think a lot of other readers] primary access to this site is at work, and having youtube videos might tag the site to be blocked] :P

  75. Thanks for asking for our thoughts :-)

    I like your current layout and am glad you’re keeping the white space.

    A share button (to share posts via Facebook, etc) or bookmark button (to link with Digg, etc) would be nice additions. Pretty sure it can be done so the buttons don’t clash with the overall design.

  76. I like the clean and uncluttered look although it is a bit difficult to do a search but overall a terrific site!

  77. I would like links to open in a new tab rather than take me away from the current page, I can always close the new tab rather than have to remember to go back to the page I was just reading …

    And it is just me or is could the post format be wider? Most of the text (like this box) only uses up the middle of my screen with so much empty white space on both sides.

    Otherwise, it is a very clean looking blog without the annoying clutter that many other blogs sport.

    Cheers

  78. @isagarch: That’s often a browser setting. You can set your browser to open new links in a new tab or new window instead. If that doesn’t work, simply right-click the link and choose “open in new tab”.

  79. MM, i completely agree with “bagito”‘s – This is me dreaming but how about a “SHOP” section where we can buy betty q’s XO sauce, MM’s mangosteen jam, Artisan’s chocolates, etc. ;-) Yup, dream on, li’l me!

    Would that be possible?…. It’s for us who wants to partake of betty q’s , MM’s, and artisan’s, delicious creations…he he he he…

  80. I like your site because it is uncluttered. The only thing that I would ask is for the ability to have a larger font size. You know how we older folks are.

  81. Dreaming,
    there is an easy way for you to increase you font size. Just press control + (shift +) until you get the size you can read. Then you press control – again to decrease size. No need for MM to increase his font.

  82. Isagarch, the wider post format would be harder on the eyes or neck for fast readers, ( with
    the volume of commenters) don’t you think? esp for skimmers or those who like to read every post.

  83. @esubijano: Yup I know what you mean, I just like that the comments section now is linear and chronological, maybe at most only the administrator’s reply can be nested. But that’s just my preference.

  84. @chrisb: I was just thinking about that earlier: ad admin page that MM can use that lets him respond to people’s comments in a nested manner. Either that or make nested comments, that is 2-deep at the most, available to anyone. Aesthetically speaking, anything more than that would probably be not as pleasing to the eyes.

    Someone recommended earlier that a ‘preview’ button be added next to the ‘submit comment’ button. I think that’s a really good idea … even though the comment box has a built-in spell-checker (misspelled words get a barely visible red underline as you type), previewing your comment for a final grammar/spelling check before submitting it may probably help in minimizing those ‘oops’ comments :).

  85. I love your site as is, clean and friendly, though I agree that the search function needs some work.
    Also, and I hope this does not offend anyone, the comments should be limited to some degree, to what is relevant with the post’s main topic. An occassional “out of topic” comment is fine, but a running exchange among some commenters about things totally unrelated to the day’s post sometimes gets a bit annoying. I’m not sure if any sort of control is possible though. Maybe its up to the commenters to just police themselves. My 2 cents.

  86. MM – I too do a lot of searching on your site and although I usually find what I am looking for, there are days when I have to sift through several pages before getting to the article I really want. Here is my suggestion if your techie can possibly accommodate… why not have an index page of all your posts categorized in different ways e.g. recipes vs. places/destinations or restaurants… maybe under recipes you have it by type eg. soups, salads, dessert. This way, you dont have to put archived posts in your homepage but get to provide everything in one page separate from it. You can just add a link or a navigation tab to your index page on your homepage. Hope that makes sense!

  87. I love coming here because it’s so easy on the eyes. I spend a lot of time online and I just love how clean your site is!

    One suggestion I have would like to add for the comments here is to add a feature that would expand “read more…” comments that are really long. Like the comments listed on news websites? just so you could quickly scan who had already made comments :)

  88. MM, since Betty Q and Sister have contributed quite a lot of great recipes, perhaps your new theme can add a new page (like your Categories now) or a page widget, which might be labeled “Betty Q and Sister’s Chest” which will open up to the posts where they wrote their recipes. There will be a lot of work though for your crew mining the posts where Betty Q’s and Sister’s recipes appeared in the comments.

  89. @bettyq: thanks for the offer, pero dyahe naman. don’t worry, i don’t live anywhere near the arctic. i’m in southern california where we have plenty of hibe. (hehehe) maybe next time i’m in vancouver visiting cousins, i’ll get in touch. thx again!

  90. MM i know!!!!!!

    pero random not related. make a book, a-la zaza in florence recipe book! i’ll buy it. :D

  91. I agree with everyone that your clean and uncluttered look is the best so don’t go changing it.Improvement on the search function will be very much appreciated.A separate link for readers’ recipe contributions will also be great so it will not be so hard to look for recipes contributed by betty q, sister and others!More power to you!

  92. MM – I just had a thought scrolling down through most of the comments here… I think since you have hundreds of comments and some if not most are in response to an earlier one, can you possibly have the reply to comment function or even threaded comments? Sometimes when I read a response to someone, I have to scroll way up to find out what the commenter is referring to so I can relate to it. :) Just a thought.

  93. It is a unique site, with an interesting range of topics aside from food. It is easy to use, but like some others I would really appreciate easier access to Betty Q’s posts.
    The site’s main strength is its honesty, not just onfood but other topics as well, with no evidence of any censorship.

  94. quiapo, unfortunately, I do occasionally censor. Posts that I deem totally unacceptable or a group of posts from a particular poster that I consider to have gone beyond a certain line, have been deleted. But in say 5 years or so, only 3 or so folks have been summarily dropped from the rolls of approved commenters. They still try to come in under other names, but if they seriously “misbehave” get “tedious” or don’t add to the site, they have been zapped. So while I would generally agree there is a minimum of censorship, there has been some. :)

  95. Hi Marketman. A “More posts” link for older posts right on the front page would be great. A couple of useful WordPress widgets too would be sidebars for most read or most popular posts and for the most recent comments. I also agree with the suggestion to have your comments formatted differently so as to stand out. The poll function is definitely not boring. Please keep it.

  96. Please keep the site’s appearance the way it is.. Easy on the eyes.. Crisp, clean and no ads.. And if I may add, more fishpan? :)

  97. i also prefer the clean, white and organize website. the rss feed is something that i enrolled but it didnt work well.

  98. keep clean and uncluttered look, and as the others have suggested, more specific categories on the sidebar to classify all your posts: food, recipes, betty Q, and others with significant contributions…if possible in your template, kindly just add “Labels” (or whatever you call it here) tag at the bottom of each post so it automatically categorizes by your entry, and you don’t need to seek them out individually, like in most traditional templates :)

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