I'm working on a volume-to-weight conversion webapp and I'd love your feedback!

Hey all!

My name is Chris and I'm a web developer by day, amateur cook by night.

I'm sure most readers here understand the benefits of weighing your ingredients, but for cooks making the transition from volume, it can be rough given just how many recipes out there are geared toward US consumers.

To help bridge this gap, I've created a volume-to-weight conversion webapp that lets you choose specific ingredients, enter volume amounts, and convert them to weight based on the density on that ingredient. Introducing: volum.io!

I should note that this app would not be possible without the work of several others, most notably Martin Lersch, who created the original spreadsheet on which I based my work, but apart from that, I'm doing this on my own in my free time.

This is where you come in!

I need feedback, ideas, and mostly, someone far better at front-end design (especially with mobile/responsive) than myself. All of the code for this is open-source on GitHub, so anyone can contribute.

So please, try it out and let me know what you think! I welcome any and all feedback.

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Comments

Jack_Mayer_85396

Hi @Chris, what a great idea! I'm challenged, but will assist if/where I am able ...

Tim_Sutherland_52834

Great idea.

Just allow the app to convert from US volume AND rest of the world volume. A US cup is 240ml while the rest of the world it is 250ml. Tea and Table spoons are different as well.

Chris_37479

Thanks, Tim! I was unaware of those differences. I did some googling and ran across this chart. Does this look accurate?

Source: http://www.foodgeeks.com/resources/conversion_charts

Johan_Edstrom_5586

I only see the pint difference there?

Tim_Sutherland_52834

Australia also has a dessert spoon size which is 10ml.

Pints and above need to be split into imperial and US customary.

To be pedantic or the oz in the table fluid or weight?

Believe me after living in the US for more than 10 years I am still amazed this nation functions with the archaic measuring system. This is why things like this happen though.

ejf12009

One suggestion: if the user types something non-numeric in the amount box, make it obvious. Otherwise you can have the following situation:

- I decide to convert 1 cup flour to weight

- Use the app to get 140 grams

- Decide to double the recipe, change the 1 to a 2

- But mistype and actually enter 2q in the quantity

- Hit enter, thinking the result will update

- Still shows 140 grams

Chris_37479

Thanks again for the info, Tim, I'll keep researching.

And thanks, Evan! There's supposed to be some basic validation that happens in those cases, but it seems to be broken -- good catch!

Chris_37479

The validation for amounts should be fixed now.