It’s been a very exciting few weeks around the Kitchen Monki office. In short order, we got some great media exposure while we were continuing to tweak our beta web site. In its small way, our user base “exploded” and we got to learn a ton about what users value about the site.
First, thanks to all the new users who have already jumped in with a ton of new recipes. As we’ve always said, Kitchen Monki was going to raise our cooking game, and that has proven true as we try new recipes and learn new types of cuisine. Thanks also for the direct feedback we’ve gotten on bug/enhancement reports.
Concurrent with this post, you’ll see two new pages. The page users see when they log in (which we call the “Dashboard”) has been redesigned. We learned that during a time when recipes were being added rapidly, that the “Latest Recipes” listing of 10 recent recipes aged very quickly. A user that hadn’t been the site in a couple days would miss a lot of activity. And let’s face it; the flow of new recipes is entertaining. So the new Dashboard makes it easier to see all the recipes that popped up over the last day, day before, and longer.
Also on that page, you’ll note that we’ve added some statistics about recipe views and added a way to indicate that “I Like” the recipe. Comments and ratings naturally follow after you’ve cooked a recipe, so we wanted to add something spontaneous for users to appreciate a newly added dish.
Second, we’re releasing a new home page for users that aren’t logged in. For most of you members, you never spend any time on this page, connecting and proceeding to the Dashboard. We think the new home page for “non-logged-in” users catches up to the design themes on the main site.
We continue to work on some sections of the site, including those that got some pointed feedback. We’ve got work underway on the meal calendar and the community/profile pages. Stay tuned.
Sam Kinney
CEO and Top Banana
KitchenMonki.com