MacGourmet News

I got really great feedback on the question about adding a the widescreen option, so I thought I'd toss another one out there:

What do you like about the current recipe editor? What don't you like? Do you like that it can be displayed as a sheet, or would you rather it be a normal window instead of a sheet or modal window?

There are a lot of good reasons to make it just a normal window, though you'd still be limited to one editor open at a time, just to guarantee data integrity, but would you miss the "Editor as Sheet" option, which is the default right now, if it went away?

(Oh, and in case you were wondering, a lot of people DO want the widescreen option, so look for it to be added in a future update)

MacGourmet 2.1.1, a maintenance release, is now available.

This release fixes a bunch of minor issues. For a full list of changes, please see the release notes.

MacGourmet 2.1.1 can be downloaded from the MacGourmet download page.

Additionally, a web import plugin for cooksillustrated.com (paid registration required) is now available with a simple installer. Just download the plug-in installer, run it and press the Install button to put the plug-in into your MacGourmet Application Support plug-ins folder.

I play around a lot with prototypes of new ideas, and variations on themes to find new ways to improve my products. One of my most recent tests was to see how difficult it would be to add an optional "widescreen" mode to MacGourmet. Now, remember, this isn't necessarily going to be added, and what I've done so far is only a rough prototype with no polish, but is there interest in having a mode like this in MacGourmet? With widescreens so prevalent now, every new Apple display is a widescreen for instance, understandably people seem to want to use the extra horizontal space. Do you want this added as a new option? Post your thoughts or send an email message to me at macgourmet [at] advenio.com and if I get enough positive responses I may move forward with it for a future update.

Version 2.1, released on Tuesday, and is now Apple's featured Home & Learning download (Thanks Apple!)

Keep a watch on this space. I've finished an importer for cooksIllustrated.com and you'll be able to try it out before the next update if you desire. Stay tuned.

I'm pleased to announce that MacGourmet 2.1 is now available. Dubbed the "Import-Export Release," version 2.1 completely redoes import and export functionality and adds lots of new options for both.

MacGourmet 2.1 adopts an all-new plug-in system for import and export. What does this mean? Well for you, the end user, it means quicker updates for importers and exporters. For me it means that it's now a LOT easier to support new file formats, etc. It also means that 3rd parties, if they are interested, can add importers and exporters too.

Included in the list of new importers and exporters are plug-ins to export your recipes to your iPod, and to RTF and text files. You can also now import from CookWare Deluxe, Cook'n and Yum (see the User Guide or Help for more info). Exporting to your iPod, for instance, is as easy as selecting a list in MacGourmet, exporting, and then copying the resulting file or folder to the Notes folder on your iPod. It's now easier than ever to take your recipes with you!

And speaking of help, MacGourmet 2.1 adds Help in Apple's standard format, making it easier to find information on using the product. You can access it in the Help menu, or by using the command-? menu item.

MacGourmet 2.1 also adds a great new feature: a service to quickly import from a variety of recipe web sites in just one step. Supported right now are epicurious.com, allrecipes.com, food.yahoo.com, williams-sonoma.com, foodnetwork.com and cookinglight.com. Using this new feature is simple: go to a recipe page and either select the URL of the page in your web browser and choose "Import Recipe From Web Page" from the Services > MacGourmet menu, or drag and drop the recipe page URL from your web browser to your clippings list. Either of these actions will open a new recipe import assistant with as many values filled in as are possible taken from the page you specified. Import in just one step. It's easy!

Finally, version 2.1 adds the ability to open a library other than the default library, by holding down the option key while MacGourmet is starting. If you do this, you'll be able to pick an existing MacGourmet database other than your default. This has been useful for me, during testing, and is also useful if you want to maintain more than one library.

In addition to all of the above, version 2.1 also fixes a bunch of minor issues, and adds blog support for Blogger (I haven't forgotten you, WordPress users, I'm still planning to add posting support). To see the full list, please see the release notes page.

So, considering version 2 was just released in January, why was 2.1 released so soon after? Well, a lot of what's in version 2.1 was added during the beta period for version 2. It all came together pretty quickly, and it allowed me to get the bulk of the new architecture done before version 2 was even released.

Also, just as an update on nutrition, I've also spent a good deal of time on nutritional information support during all of this too (I keep VERY busy). In the latest internal development version, you can't do calculations yet, but you can view and browse the nutritional database, so I've been making progress towards getting this done as well.

Now with all of that said, just hurry on over to the download page and grab your copy!

Download MacGourmet 2.1