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My shopping list

By: Qwaider

On:Monday, December 01, 2008 6:54:03 AM
In:Thoughts
Viewed: (5008) times

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When I was single, shopping was really a bunch of guess work. For some reason, I always thought I was running out of soap. And ended up with few tens of soup bottles under the sink. But all of that is gone now. Shopping is no longer guess work, and indulgence of all the unneeded senses. Now, there's something new, a long list of items that the house needs. Or a shopping list

Ever since I started following these shopping lists (neatly organized, and prepared by my lovely wife) things have changed dramatically. I'm only getting what the house needs and not what's (a) on sale, or (b) had a hot chick next to it or (c) had a hot chick promoting it.

My shopping skills became completely domesticated and focused on pleasing the hot chick at home :). Alright, alright, no mushy stuff! I know.

Anyway, today I felt amazingly impressed as I finished my shopping list in an hour's time to get to do other more interesting stuff. Like ... My Shopping List, an online tool that is going to help people exactly like me.

There's probably some other online tool similar to what I'm creating right now. But I decided that I'm going to do it anyway. So, I'm spending some time right now over engineering it because I'm thinking of making this an open application for anyone who wants to use it.

But right now, I'm still collecting requirements and I'm working on a little prototype which I would launch as a beta soon for people, like me, who are starting to get some organization in their life.

Now, someone might say I shouldn't let people know about my project ... but why not? I don't care if someone copied the idea. It's totally OK. But allowing this project to be open would actually help me collect ides from people with better organizational skills than ... yours truly :)

The second issue is, why would I bother with a shopping list when places like Safeway and Amazon are providing delivery services for produce and groceries? Well, simply because there's no joy in having things delivered. Takes away from the whole shopping experience.

So, how would you like your shopping list to look like?

So far I have:

List has Owner, reader and "Getter"
List has contents
Each item in the contents has additional properties like price, brand,if it was obtained or not, and location it was bought from. (for historical comparison)
All the lists are going to be confidential, only people who are allowed to see it, will see it (Reader, Getter, and Owner). They have to be explicitly specified (in other words, Reader isn't always there, he's there only when he's added)
Reader, and Getter are allowed to see the list, and content
Getter is allowed to Cross items off the list, and add new ones (like, for example if he found something on sale and thought he would get it)
The list is marked done when all items are done
The Getter can optionally add the price, brand, store information for each item while he's crossing things off the list
The application will be accessible from any web browser (phone ..etc), the list can also be printed out for people who like it a little bit more old school

I'm trying to keep it simple, but functional ..

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#1
za3tar
Said
On: 12/1/2008 8:19:34 AM
SpamScore=[-1.67]

Sounds interesting.

But if you want my advice, i think you are over engineering it .. too much. I built many such tools before, and my experience has been that people would rarely take the time to do extra work after getting the job done. For example, it seems you rely on people to specify the price and store from where they got the items (after they get them), and from my past experiences few people will actually take the time to do that after they have done the shopping.

Also, the concept of owners, readers, and getters is overly complex for a simple application such as a shopping list. My personal advice would be, if you were to build such a thing, just have a simple app where users belong to groups. Users can sign in and create lists of things in a group, and all the users in that group can access the group content.

My philosophy in these things has become: build the simplest thing that works first. Then, if i find it useful (or other people start using it), then expand it. But it is your call after all.

(I have created online apps for sharing expenses between roommates/co-workers, and for restaurant suggestion/planning if you're interested)

#2
Qwaider
Said
On: 12/1/2008 8:46:27 AM
SpamScore=[-46.23]

Thanks Za3tar, I really appreciate the advice.

For starters, I'm doing this for my use. The thought you mentioned crossed my mind, but I am going to have two different modes. Regular, and advanced. These values are going to be presented optionally to the user who asks for the advanced options

By the way, I'm sticking to simple. What I mentioned above is mostly in the background. Users will not even know about most of them. As for the Owner (creator) it will take that person filling only one field to create an empty list. Having others on the list is optional (because the owner can be all the above)
But once the user creats the list, he can "assign it" to a getter. Who will only see a list of items and a checkbox (or additional field if they're trying to keep historical data) Especially for people on a budget.

I'm not used to designing things this small, that's probably why I'm over engineering it. But, most likely I'm going to start prioritizing items, and only essential functionality is going to be inthere first

Thanks again for the wonderful suggestions. I'm not sure if I made this clear or not, but this is going to be completely open and free for anyone who's interested. Anywhere around the world. So a little over-engineering goes a long way I think

#3
Hani Obaid
Said
On: 12/1/2008 9:27:42 AM
SpamScore=[-5.16]

"there's no joy in having things delivered. Takes away from the whole shopping experience"

<------- never ever found joy in shopping. I used to love having groceries delivered in Canada, and can't wait til a Jordanian Megamarket (Safeway, Cozmo, C-town etc..) actually offers online grocery shopping with delivery.

I used to make up a grocery shopping list even when I lived alone and carry a calculator with me so that I'd know what my total would be even before I hit the cash, but I only did the calculator part as a student.

Since my parents moved back in with us a few weeks back, whenever I go to the store, I just get what mom asked for, and still I always get 5 or 6 calls on my mobile while in the store to get things she remembered in the last minute.

#4
jessyz
Said
On: 12/1/2008 9:53:32 AM
SpamScore=[0.24]

Ah the joy of making the perfect shopping list. I have two suggestions
1. Is that it would be great if you could make it mobile phone friendly, I usually keep my lists on my phone anyway but if i have an online copy it would be nice I guess.
2. You should consider having a checklist like a reminder for staple items. For example you know that each month you will need soap, toothpaste or whatever items that u need to check if your supply is running low or not.

#5
Batoul
Said
On: 12/1/2008 9:54:54 AM
SpamScore=[-0.33]

As OCD as this all sounds to me, I wouldn't use it :S
To me, its more of a hassle than to get me through those lines quicker.

But, as a "project" its a job well done to you :)

#6
Qwaider
Said
On: 12/1/2008 10:11:07 AM
SpamScore=[-46.25]

Hani
If you manage to create perfect lists on your own. I'm sure you would love this. Imagine, just punching in the item, and the price ... and Tada... the total is ready for you. No surprises at the register
I personally never liked deliveries for these kinds of items. You see, it's REALLY easy to judge a Digital camera by looking at specs and reviews. But it's IMPOSSIBLE to pick that perfect pound of tomatoes online. It just doesn't work

Jessyz
For your item #1, TOTALLY, that's a primary objective. I want to be able to access it from my phone while I'm shopping and check off the items in real time. While dear wify would be checking online to know what I picked up first, The Apples, or the Eggs :)

Batoul,
Imagine if you didn't have to fight with your brother every time he forgot something! You just fill up the list, Assign it to him, he receives an Email and Tada.. He's got a list of what's on your mind.. Maybe then you'll use it. Maybe never :)

#7
KJ
Said
On: 12/1/2008 12:05:55 PM
SpamScore=[-0.18]

What happened to a good pencil and paper? Or walking down the aisles and get whatever seems pretty (ie has a hot chick on the label) ;)

#8
Maioush
Said
On: 12/1/2008 7:12:03 PM
SpamScore=[-2.3]

You know! I’m really proud of you for doing this Husbandy, I truly love the idea, and what I love even more is your excitement shopping for the house, you know that most men don't really like shopping, awal wa7ad is my dad, that's why I was so impressed that when you went shopping you got the exact thing we needed :)
Love you ana (jakar b KJ) :D