A better user interface

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Have you been to the Canada Post Postal code lookup site recently?

 

Go ahead, check it out.  I’ll wait.

 

From a developer perspective, this form makes perfect sense.  Each box is a part of the data to ask for, then you check for mistakes, combine it all up check what the postal code is for that location.

 

But to me, that’s an old way of thinking about it.  Why can’t I just have a box that I type stuff into?  Websites are smart enough to figure out what we are trying to write.  Find the province, figure out if I wrote “street” or “crt” or whatever, and present me the two or three likely options.

We Can Eat Here is trying to do better where we can.  Drop us a line if you have suggestions.

 

Food allergen detector – not there yet

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I found a great “design concept” (read — brainstorming idea) of a Food Allergen Detector (via Laughing Squid). The concept here is a little device you carry with you to restaurants.  Red: bad.  Green: good.  Couldn’t be simpler, right?


Personally, I can’t wait for such an idea to develop, but I’m not convinced it ever will.  I worry that any company that would consider building such a detector couldn’t cover the risk of being sued in case the detector failed, even once.
Consider that: if your tool makes one mistake, it could be all over.  That’s the risk with allergies and sensitivities.  And would people ever fully trust such a tool?  I suppose a glucose-monitor is a similar analogy.  As more people get more information and learn about how to cook for allergies, we all win.And until the day that a silver-bullet allergen detector can be made (if at all?), we all need to continue to be vigilant.

The Problem with Gluten…

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The problem with certain allergies is that there’s more to it than just the allergy.

Wings via flickr (@TheDeliciousLife)

What does that mean?  Well, for people with peanut allergies, it’s (more?) commonly known that if something-that-touched-peanuts comes into contact with the person, Very Bad Things can ensue.

But it’s the same for Gluten as well.  Did you know that if you deep-fry something with gluten and then fry something gluten-free, then it’s no longer gluten-free?

Be careful out there.  If a store says “gluten free” and you’re not sure, ask the kitchen to see if it’s ok.

 

What I always said would be my first post — Improved Searching in GMail

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We all have this problem: the person who sends an email without enough information to search on it later.  But you know you’re going to want to find this email some other time.

 

Searching for this later will likely prove fruitless, especially if you have many emails between you and your pal Jim.  Solution?  Forward the email to yourself with a bunch of keywords:

 

When you send yourself this email, the thread now has the keywords you would expect to use when searching for this email.

 

Cheers!

Jim

Hello world!

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Well, we’re starting up the beta, and that means welcome to our first blog post.  We Can Eat Here is a site dedicated to helping those with food allergies and sensitivities know where to eat.

  • where’s the best Dim Sum if you can’t eat shellfish?
  • where’s the best pizza if you’re having your sister up who is Gluten-Free?
  • where’s the best pad thai if you’re allergic to peanuts?

Come help us find the restaurants that understand what it’s like, and appreciate what those with allergies worry about.