
I Built a Social Network for Food and Here’s How I Did it - 204NoContent
http://blog.yumhacker.com/post/74733516768/yumhacker-i-built-a-social-network-for-food-and-heres
======
lee
The most impressive thing I find about the creator of yumhacker is that she
just does what she wants to, even if she doesn't know "how" to do it she
eventually figures it out. From her 180 websites to 180 days challenge, to
this.

That kind of "Just F*$king Do It" attitude is so rare to find.

~~~
jenniferDewalt
Thank you! Getting over the fear of failure has been a huge lesson for me in
the past year.

~~~
rajbala
What are your thoughts on how to attract users to your projects?

~~~
jenniferDewalt
That's the next thing I get to explore and I'll definitely be asking for
plenty of advice. One thing I plan to do is go out and talk to people who love
exploring new restaurants. Bloggers, critics, chefs and just people who
generally love food. I'm also thinking about different features that could
help provide value while the site is still small, such as custom lists. But
mostly, I expect it will be a lot of trial and error.

~~~
lowglow
Come out to [https://next-step-growth.eventbrite.com](https://next-step-
growth.eventbrite.com)

Literally the best place to chat with people about this topic.

~~~
jenniferDewalt
Awesome! Thanks for the tip!

------
kadabra9
I really, really enjoyed the 180 websites posts. I checked this site out
earlier (this week I believe?) when you shared it to HN and thought it was
pretty slick. It was great to get a sort of post game review of this
particular app, detailing your battles in the trenches with Backbone, Places
API etc.

Really inspring stuff for anyone sitting around with the itch to throw a side
project together on a rainy day. Respect.

~~~
jenniferDewalt
Thanks! I'll probably write more about my learning process as well as the
technology in the future.

------
bpeel
Ah, when I saw the title I imagined a homeless hacker who wrote code in
exchange for food. That would've been a really interesting article :)

------
wehadfun
Since you are into making random websites I have one.

SkinProblem.com

Let users upload pictures of there insect bites, infections,... Make them
categorize their problem by race/skin color, location, time of the picture
since the bite, Source expert opinion on cause of problem List treatment
options

~~~
kkoppenhaver
Something like [https://www.dermio.com/](https://www.dermio.com/)?

~~~
nathancahill
Woah.. is this like Rule 34 of startups? If an idea exists, there is a startup
doing it (and has a .io domain name)?

~~~
prostoalex
"Best, Most Original Idea Man’s Ever Had Returns 114,000 Google Search
Results"

[http://www.theonion.com/articles/best-most-original-idea-
man...](http://www.theonion.com/articles/best-most-original-idea-mans-ever-
had-returns-1140,35025/)

------
AznHisoka
Nice! Technical question:

I type "Elmhurst, NY" and it converted it to "Elmhurst, Queens, NY 11373,
USA", how did you do that? I'm looking to do something similar!

~~~
jenniferDewalt
I use the Google Maps Javascript api for geolocation. It takes a string and
returns an array of places that match. Each place object includes a formatted
address which I put in the search bar in place of what was initially typed.

------
papasmrf
Interesting on a few levels. One, the learning curve by Jennifer is
impressive, going from a site to change background color in the beginning to
yumhacker. Yeah there is a ways to go in functionality, but that is a cool
start. (of course Facebook probably sucks the air out of other social
networks, but that's really not the point.) But what I really find more
impressive is that yumhacker seems to have a good amount of initial users.
I've found the easy part in launching a webapp is building it, but the getting
of users is really the hard part. That is the testament to the power of a
unique marketing idea (which probably did not start as marketing) of deciding
to learn web design and throwing up a blog with a catchy title, ie, 180
websites in 180 days. Now that she has raised her profile a bit and has some
eyeballs on her, she is able to make something a bit more worthwhile and
attract users to it as well.

------
hansy
What I really like about this approach is that people don't review a location,
like they do on sites like Yelp, and instead "endorse" places they really
like.

What this effectively means is that while browsing, I no longer need to
mentally balance the positives with the negatives of a place. Instead, I can
quickly see which places have received more endorsements, which in my mind,
loosely forms a hierarchy of best to worst.

Plus, I don't care what Cindy from the Mission says about a spot. If my
buddies all like it, good enough for me to at least check it out.

Side note: If possible, I think a ratio of endorsements to check-ins would be
hugely awesome.

~~~
jenniferDewalt
That's a great thought on endorsements vs. check-ins. I'll have to think about
including more metrics.

------
tiatia
Wow. I and my friend have build a similar project (similar technology, not
topic). I will announce it here in NH, I am just afraid the tiny server won't
be able to handle the traffic.

It just took him two days to build it. But I realize that we don't have your
"Redo search when map moved". I realize that it is annoying that we don't have
this feature.

Great work.

------
it_learnses
this person is amazing! I remember the 180 websites in 180 days project and
it's so encouraging to see how far she has come.

~~~
jenniferDewalt
Thank you! Some days I can't believe it's been less than a year.

------
deevus
Great work Jen.

One question. How do I set my default location? I've signed in and it has my
location as "Newcastle, New South Wales" but the homepage still goes to San
Francisco, CA.

I see that I can share my location, but that only seems to run a single search
query.

Once this issue is resolved I will suggest it to my friends, so you can get
some more users down-under :)

------
hammad999
It's great and congratulations for your accomplishment! 1 question though, are
you planning to make money out of it? If so how? Because I too am a beginner
developer, learnt and made a website all by myself www.gccfishing.com and I
was looking for ideas on how to create income from it.

~~~
jenniferDewalt
Thank you! My focus for YumHacker right now is for people to try it out and
figure out how to make it better.

------
wheaties
Well done.

Be careful, though, Yum Brands (trading symbol YUM) is a well known brand
associated with... food? Well, maybe in other parts of the world they're
associated with food but here, I'd say if this seriously takes off you might
hear them come a'knocking due to trademark infringement.

------
brickcap
Very nice. I love the idea of specific social networks where people can
connect based on their interests.

I really like the UI as well. The top 10 represented on the map, it's so
convenient. I hope you keep working on this.

I think you should include a link to github on the main website it might be a
good endorsement?

------
trifu
@jenniferDewalt, can you describe your typical day of working on this project?
For example, there are many threads about not being able to find time to get
side projects off the ground, how did you do it? what did you have to give up
to get it done? example of daily schedule? Thanks!

~~~
jenniferDewalt
When I first decided I was going to learn to code, I saved some money and
organized my life so that I could quit my job and tackle the challenge full
time. I knew being fully immersed in learning would help me get through the
rough patches and discouragement.

I spent about 8 hours a day, every day working on YumHacker, with the
occasional day off or half day around the holidays. Things were kind of slow
going at first because I was still doing a lot of learning and I wanted to get
a better understanding of what I was doing. After I got the hang of things,
the pace picked up and I started producing much faster.

The crazy schedule I've been keeping this past year has definitely cut into my
social life. Weekends are my favorite days to work because the office is quiet
and I get my best work done then. My friends have gotten used to me carrying a
monitor around on trips.

The thing that works for me is to make a habit and do whatever it takes to
stick to it. I bit the bullet and got a desk in a co-working space which means
I eat more ramen noodles but allows me stay super focused and productive. I
tend to stay up really late working but then I let myself sleep in so I can
come back fully charged the next day. Finding a personal groove is crucial.

------
joeframbach
Wow, the title link actually links to the product home page, and not uselessly
back to "blog.product.com"! Bravo! It's sad that I need to commend you on
that. It's just a trend for product blogs to link back to the blog, and not to
the product.

------
silverballs
It seems that you learned backbone along the way but if you did make an
educated decision btw that and angular I'd love to know why you picked
backbone over Angular. Awesome job thanks for all the great responses below
too cool to read

~~~
jenniferDewalt
A lot of my friends use Backbone and I poked around at it during the 180
Websites project. Despite the somewhat high learning curve for me in the
beginning, Backbone felt like a natural extension of how I was already
thinking about JS and frontend dev. I haven't really worked with Angular but
I'd like to play around with it (and Ember) at some point.

~~~
silverballs
Awesome thanks for the feedback and shared it cleverly on my fb via two
sisters.last_name("yum") :)

------
dougjoe
I like the idea...but I wish the site did more. What features are you adding
next?

~~~
jenniferDewalt
I'm going to add more advanced filters so you can sort by things like price,
category, etc. I'm also going to make a mobile optimized front end so it will
be easier to use on fly. Some other thoughts I've had are adding the ability
to make custom lists (i.e. My Fav Taco Joints) and promoting people who are
active on the site.

~~~
17thcamel
+1 for the lists. Looking forward to it.

------
trifu
@jenniferDewalt, Great job on the site, I also found your original 180
websites inspirational. I was wondering if you could speak to the technology
stack you used to create your site frontend/backend?

~~~
jenniferDewalt
Thanks! For the backend I use Rails as an api. Rails responds to the initial
request with the assets and a barebones html doc with header, section and
footer tags. From there, Rails responds to subsequent requests with JSON.

The restaurant search feature uses the Google Places api to get restaurant
data (including things like hours and price) for places that aren't already in
the database. YumHacker uses Postgres with PostGIS for the database and devise
for authentication.

The frontend magic happens with Backbone.js. Backbone latches onto the
skeleton html sent over by Rails to render the views. Whenever you request new
data, it sends a request to Rails which sends back JSON. The learning curve
for Backbone was kind of high but now that I've got the hang of it, it's
pretty awesome.

I plan to write something more in depth about the technology in the near
future.

~~~
trifu
Thanks for giving me a more in depth answer and not just telling me to go read
your blog (which I should have done in more detail in the first place).
Looking forward to seeing more good stuff from you and YumHacker.

------
thinkdevcode
I added some restaurants to the Miami, FL area. I can add a bunch more to the
fort lauderdale area as well, but would be nice to get some sort of reward for
participating :)

~~~
jenniferDewalt
Thanks for adding restaurants! I've got a couple of ideas for rewarding active
engagement. One thought I have is awarding people something like a 'Super
Hackers' status and their endorsements and profiles promoted. Another idea
I've been tossing around is giving people the ability to make special lists
which could also be featured.

------
zamalek
The massive accomplishment that this is aside; the website is elegantly
minimalistic in a way I haven't seen since the early days of Google. Good job!

------
pm90
The website is wonderful, and is an inspiration for people like me who are new
to webdev. Congratulations and thank you!

------
frncscgmz
This is great!

As someone who is currently diving into Rails it's certainly really helpful
and inspiring.

Extra kudos for the Github repo.

------
lucidrains
Just wonderful, congrats!

~~~
jenniferDewalt
Thank you!

------
imperio59
Why does it default to SF? This is really irksome :(

~~~
jenniferDewalt
Sorry about that. Saving the search state is on my to do list right now.

------
ratsimihah
This is so snappy! What a banging job you did :)

------
twobits
a) You are amazing and inspirational. Congratulations!

b) As a person struggling with procrastination, and goal setting/choosing, I
would like to ask you some qs about the 1 site / day for 180 days, thing. It
seems to me as an interesting "reach your goal, without setting hard
(sub)goals in between"(?)

If I understand correctly, you set out to code one site per day, without
specifying beforehand what you would do each day? Every day you said, "ok,
today I'll do this"? Was it difficult to choose between possibilities, and how
did you address that? Where there end conditions for the day's goal? Or you
just went as far as you could? How did you manage to stay focused on the day's
project, without branching off to various tangents? Were some days under- or
overwhelming, in their difficulty?

..Sorry for the wall of text, but any experience/advice/insight, would be
greatly appreciated. ..Congratulations, once more.

------
teaguy
A cute site. What it lacks in functionality it makes up for by being made by a
woman. Pro-beginner-tip: Don't make social networks.

~~~
jh3
Well, you seem like an asshole. Pro-commenting-tip: Don't shit on people's
accomplishments.

~~~
teaguy
Instead I'll just join with you all in never-ending self-congratulatory
ecstasy. Why aren't we all in Paradise?

~~~
kovalkos
You don't have to join "self-congratulatory ecstasy", but you also don't have
to be a condescending dick.

Instead of making vague and shallow insults, you should try to politely
explain what's wrong with OP's website.

In your 1-sentence insult, your main grudge seems to be that the website was
made by a female. Your point might have been that women's work should receive
equal praise (and criticism) as men's. But instead of discussing that
(possibly valid) point, your sexist remark only feeds the fire (and makes you
look like a dim-witted fool).

In a latter comment, your metaphor compares making social networks to gold
rush. Again, possible valid point, burried behind a condescending sarcasm.

We shouldn't read between the lines to understand your point of view -- either
make it POLITE and CLEAR or GTFO.

