Why are restaurant web sites so bad? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why are restaurant web sites so bad?

#91

Post by Erwin » Tue, Dec 28, 2010, 10:41 AM UTC

chunkyslink wrote: post #69

We've been quite successful at cracking the UK market and we run the sites for a few of the UK's biggest chains down to some smaller brasserie style companies. I'd like to present some work which I think is good for a change (there are a lot of bad examples on here) So here we go http://giraffe.net http://www.chezgerard.co.uk http://www.brasseriegerard.co.uk Some of our older ones http://www.strada.co.uk http://www.c…

At the gourmet high end, my favourite is http://www.squarerestaurant.com/ -- I love the big, big pictures of food, and of course all the other information being available. They use the same format at Pied a Terre.

The annoying ones are e.g. http://www.wildhoneyrestaurant.co.uk/ -- useless use of Flash, this could be done in pure HTML and not force me to scroll a tiny frame with a menu. It could be much worse though, el bulli's website has a "virtual city" you have to wander through in order to select a wine from their menu -- "easy and fun" they say: http://vins.elbulli.com/elbullivi.php?lang=en

Re: Why are restaurant web sites so bad?

#92

Post by dfhjtyjty » Tue, Dec 28, 2010, 11:04 AM UTC

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Re: Why are restaurant web sites so bad?

#93

Post by edanm » Tue, Dec 28, 2010, 11:20 AM UTC

Interestingly, here in Israel, there's a standard layout for restaurant websites that is almost always used, and it's pretty good.

I'm not 100% clear on the history, but afaik, a website called Rest.co.il (a restaurant directory), offers restaurants a service for creating a website for them. I'm guessing that initially, most restaurants that didn't have a website just created one through Rest. Nowadays, 80% of restaurant websites I visit are Rest-operated sites, with a very decent standard layout, including quick-info for getting their number, quick info on average prices of meals, maps, and detailed menus.

More and more restaurants are creating "unique" websites nowadays, but I think because the level was so high initially, they're doing a pretty good job of it. Pretty funny considering for other things in Israel, there is much less web-awareness than in the States.

If you want examples (sorry, they're in Hebrew, but you can see they look the same). Bottom-left is the quick-info, including information on accessibility for people with disabilities, whether the food is Kosher, hours that they're open, etc.:

http://www.rest.co.il/sites/Default.asp?txtRestID=1796

http://www.rest.co.il/sites/Default.asp?txtRestID=7775

Re: Why are restaurant web sites so bad?

#94

Post by roel_v » Tue, Dec 28, 2010, 11:30 AM UTC

Ogre wrote: post #87

SquidLord wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So ... why NOT be a dentist website designer, at least part-time? You know the business needs, you know the lingo of both (you're here, anyway) ... It sounds like a job that fills a needed niche! Better sites == more hits due to easier searching; there's a business case. I say go for it.

And while you're at, write some better X-ray and tooth-photo database UI for them. I cringe at the program my dentist plods through every time she takes pictures or X-rays of my teeth. Its been at the top of my list of software I have basically no interest in working on yet feel like I could do a hell of a lot better at anyway. Of course, I haven't researched what's out there, there may already be much better options…

Maybe she's just using an old version. I've seen quite a bit of medical equipment the last couple of months (pregnant wife), in a well-funded academic hospital, and most of that is top notch. The solo practitioners don't have money to upgrade every couple of years.

Re: Why are restaurant web sites so bad?

#95

Post by tk999 » Tue, Dec 28, 2010, 12:31 PM UTC

lowglow wrote: post #58

lowglow wrote: post #32

http://www.onebigmenu.com I'm working on this site right now, and I understand your concerns because I feel them myself. I'm hoping I can bridge the gap between dining and diner. :) (Please excuse the design, since I'm the only developer :P)

One last thing, If any developers want to join forces, that would be cool too :)

What is your email? I am interested.

Re: Why are restaurant web sites so bad?

#96

Post by angdis » Tue, Dec 28, 2010, 1:43 PM UTC

known wrote: post #75

No need for sites . Use twitter.

Indeed. I went to a fabulous tiny restaurant in philly recently. While chatting with owner, she mentioned that a reservation had just canceled and then proceeded to tweet that there was an open table. Within literally 2 minutes, she filled the reservation.

Who says restaurant owners don't get computers!

The saavy ones know their core competency and don't try to get fancy. The restaurant I mentioned has a super simple website done with inuit sitebuilder. It does the job, but with places like this the most important thing is what others say about the place and the clout the owner cultivates with their customers.

Re: Why are restaurant web sites so bad?

#97

Post by augustiner » Tue, Dec 28, 2010, 1:46 PM UTC

I once built an online dish ordering website with interface similar to digg and reddit. It showed dishes in your area sorted by the number of times they have been ordered online. I still host a short video demo of the site: http://video.eatlista.pl/ (it's in Polish language, but still, could be inspiring for someone).

Anyway I ditched the idea after talking to restaurant owners, they were mostly older people, having hard time grasping the concept of the site (and even the Internet itself) and I didn't enjoy the idea of educating them.

Re: Why are restaurant web sites so bad?

#98

Post by smackfu » Tue, Dec 28, 2010, 1:48 PM UTC

Volscio wrote: post #66

jasonlbaptiste wrote: post #28

I think there are a few things here that cause this: a) You're going against the worst kind of incumbent- the 15 year old nephew or kid next door. He's cheaper, good enough, and "trusted". He is competition that exists a million times over. b) Even if your system is better, they just can't be bothered to even get a good demo. You definitely need to build something so usable and good it's frightening, but good luck ge…

I wonder how well food truck businesses stack up in this category. I'd expect them to be more nimble, more accessible, with better web sites.

Even there, it tends to just be a twitter feed.

Re: Why are restaurant web sites so bad?

#99

Post by dfhjrtjty » Tue, Dec 28, 2010, 2:19 PM UTC

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Air jordan(1-24)shoes $30;

jordan air max oakland raiders $34a€“39;

Ed Hardy AF JUICY POLO Bikini $25;

Christan Audigier BIKINI JACKET $25;

Tshirts (Polo ,ed hardy,lacoste) $15

coogi DG edhardy gucci t-shirts $18;

gstar coogi evisu true jeans $35;

coach chanel gucci LV handbags $36;

Sunglasses(Oakey,coach,gucci,A r m a i n i) $15;

==== ( http://www.etradinglife.com ) ====

Re: Why are restaurant web sites so bad?

#100

Post by jdavid » Tue, Dec 28, 2010, 2:41 PM UTC

lowglow wrote: post #80

earino wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This interests me. What's the plaform?

Simple lamp stack using codeigniter. Nothing fancy. Runs on MediaTemple's VE Server.

why didn't you choose kohana? http://kohanaframework.org/

it's based off of codeigniter, but it's fully OO. are you using some sort of ORM like active record? if you are, you should look at the tables and see how many joins the ORM layer is doing so you know how much work it's going to be to scale.