4 ms·

Recipe websites are the worst of web design. To make things even worse they are mostly used on mobile where bloat/advertisements/janky loading is even more of a

Recipe websites are the worst of web design. To make things even worse they are mostly used on mobile where bloat/advertisements/janky loading is even more of a pain.

somehnguy 6y ago
Not to mention the 1200 word partial life story preceding every recipe. I could not care less what pivotal moment in your childhood led you to like chocolate cake. I just want to make one.
- batiudrami 6y ago
  gotta try and hide from the Google robot that you're just a content farm monetising other people's copyrighted content somehow. you'll note the recipes are always "adapted from" somewhere else with a minor change.
- ggop 6y ago
  Highly recommend BBC Good Food. Just the recipes without the fluff. They also have ratings but no review, which is great.
  - HenryBemis 6y ago
    Double edge knife here, but reviews can be very helpful, when the audience is positive they can provide good alternatives/substitutes, ideas to increase/reduce this or that ingredient to achieve a different flavour, etc.
  - silveroriole 6y ago
    Huh? Good Food does have reviews/comments at the bottom of the page.
- soco 6y ago
  This. Now imagine having a tool/extension/app to filter out this...
- newswasboring 6y ago
  >Not to mention the 1200 word partial life story preceding every recipe. Everyone I know balks at this, yet it exists. Can some explain why? Where is this tradition coming from? Does this drive page views? I know nothing about the cooking subculture. Is it some sort of normies vs "really into this" thing (and please excuse the phrasing, I could not come up with something better). Because that would mean the page is just not targeted at me. But then again that argument will make sense if the monetization was not through advertisement and view volume. I didn't realize how curious I was about this. Edit: just had a thought. Can it be something to do with SEO? Does google like bigger articles with lots of personal text? If this is the reason it would blow my mind. Without knowing it google algo would have made the internet a shittier place, this is very amusing to me.
  - twalla 6y ago
    It's mostly SEO and "engagement" but also possibly copyright law (at least that's the case with cookbooks that include non-recipe fluff content) From the US Copyright Office: "Mere listings of ingredients as in recipes, formulas, compounds, or prescriptions are not subject to copyright protection. However, when a recipe or formula is accompanied by substantial literary expression in the form of an explanation or directions, or when there is a combination of recipes, as in a cookbook, there may be a basis for copyright protection.”
    - gruez 6y ago
      Adding your life story into your recipe might make it eligible for copyright, but what's the point? Someone can simply strip out your life story and then they'll be allowed to copy it.
  - C1sc0cat 6y ago
    It does, I do work in that space (for a major brand) and for recipes those with 500-800 words rank better - look at the data from SemRush.
- blondin 6y ago
  such a hassle! i don't even google recipes anymore. when i do, i am specifically looking for an ingredients list. i find all my recipes on youtube now.
- wzy 6y ago
  With the amount of money an average recipe blogger can make from display ads inserted in those stories, they really and truly don't care if it annoys John Q. Public.
C1sc0cat 6y ago
You might think that - but those pseudo news sites with random "one trick" type crap whose page elements keeps moving around are worse. I have the opposite problem trying to get more text on our recipe pages - I am sure some designers would design a recipe e page with no text if we let them.

Recipe websites are the worst of web design. To make things even worse they are mostly used on mobile where bloat/advertisements/janky loading is even more of a pain.

somehnguy 6y ago

Not to mention the 1200 word partial life story preceding every recipe. I could not care less what pivotal moment in your childhood led you to like chocolate cake. I just want to make one.

batiudrami 6y ago
gotta try and hide from the Google robot that you're just a content farm monetising other people's copyrighted content somehow. you'll note the recipes are always "adapted from" somewhere else with a minor change.
ggop 6y ago
Highly recommend BBC Good Food. Just the recipes without the fluff. They also have ratings but no review, which is great.
- HenryBemis 6y ago
  Double edge knife here, but reviews can be very helpful, when the audience is positive they can provide good alternatives/substitutes, ideas to increase/reduce this or that ingredient to achieve a different flavour, etc.
- silveroriole 6y ago
  Huh? Good Food does have reviews/comments at the bottom of the page.
soco 6y ago
This. Now imagine having a tool/extension/app to filter out this...
newswasboring 6y ago
>Not to mention the 1200 word partial life story preceding every recipe. Everyone I know balks at this, yet it exists. Can some explain why? Where is this tradition coming from? Does this drive page views? I know nothing about the cooking subculture. Is it some sort of normies vs "really into this" thing (and please excuse the phrasing, I could not come up with something better). Because that would mean the page is just not targeted at me. But then again that argument will make sense if the monetization was not through advertisement and view volume. I didn't realize how curious I was about this. Edit: just had a thought. Can it be something to do with SEO? Does google like bigger articles with lots of personal text? If this is the reason it would blow my mind. Without knowing it google algo would have made the internet a shittier place, this is very amusing to me.
- twalla 6y ago
  It's mostly SEO and "engagement" but also possibly copyright law (at least that's the case with cookbooks that include non-recipe fluff content) From the US Copyright Office: "Mere listings of ingredients as in recipes, formulas, compounds, or prescriptions are not subject to copyright protection. However, when a recipe or formula is accompanied by substantial literary expression in the form of an explanation or directions, or when there is a combination of recipes, as in a cookbook, there may be a basis for copyright protection.”
  - gruez 6y ago
    Adding your life story into your recipe might make it eligible for copyright, but what's the point? Someone can simply strip out your life story and then they'll be allowed to copy it.
- C1sc0cat 6y ago
  It does, I do work in that space (for a major brand) and for recipes those with 500-800 words rank better - look at the data from SemRush.
blondin 6y ago
such a hassle! i don't even google recipes anymore. when i do, i am specifically looking for an ingredients list. i find all my recipes on youtube now.
wzy 6y ago
With the amount of money an average recipe blogger can make from display ads inserted in those stories, they really and truly don't care if it annoys John Q. Public.

C1sc0cat 6y ago

You might think that - but those pseudo news sites with random "one trick" type crap whose page elements keeps moving around are worse. I have the opposite problem trying to get more text on our recipe pages - I am sure some designers would design a recipe e page with no text if we let them.