Coffeeshop Menus

[Free Ben]

……Sometimes I get menus embedded into messages rather than as attachments, which might marginally reduce quality but is perfectly useable. Could this be an indication of the interface these people are using to send pictures as emails?

I’m a PC user at heart but have an iPhone and this is how it defaults when I send photos by email. I’m not a huge fan as I prefer attachments but I’m not sure if there’s a way to change this as the default method.

I am quite sure that if I haven’t looked into it (and it bothers me) then most people will send in the default setting and so the mails you see with embedded photos are most likely from phone users

[Lemming]

Thanks @Free Ben. I wondered whether it might be something like that.

I've got an Android phone but I rarely use its camera and I don't think I've ever sent an email from it. I even do WhatsApp on my PC far more than on my phone.

Enough about my weird habits though, I want to understand how everyone else does it so that I can help people get menus to me by the easiest and most familiar method.

A menu sent embedded into a message is much better than one not sent at all. That's why I'm concerned that my attempts to help people might actually be hindering.

So, on your iPhone, do you take a picture and then press a button within the camera app to email it? In that case, presumably you then have to type in the email address and so on (unless you have the email address in your contacts and a means of using that)? Or, do you go into your email app and press a button to take a picture, much like you would in WhatsApp?

Please excuse my ignorance and try to educate me. Any info and advice appreciated.

[Free Ben]

@Lemming both options are available and as you describe.

I would say it is far more common for people to use the first option however.

The more intuitive option on iPhones would be to open a photo and select to send. You are then presented with a number of options, generally ordered by your most recent/commonly used (certain WhatsApp groups or messenger contacts) there is a sub group of apps one of which will be email

When you select email it will automatically open a new email with the photo embedded, you need to then add the address and subject

[Lemming]

Thanks for the info @Free Ben. I will make some changes when I get time.

[Lemming]

Fresh batch of menus added yesterday.

[Not_the_monk]

Another new thread for a directory link...

viewtopic.php?t=38153

[Lemming]

Thanks for your work, @Not_the_monk. I've updated Moby Dick now.

[Not_the_monk]

Does anyone have a strong opinion about the frequency of menu posts in individual coffeeshop review threads?

Obviously not re. ones that haven't had one posted for a good while, but some shops have multiple menus submitted per month to coffeeshopmenus.org and even if there's a few strain changes etc pricing structures etc tend to stay the same & I don't want to go spamming up the threads with every update when people can just go check the menus site. Feels like they're good to have here as representative of what the shop offers rather than trying to keep up with exactly what they are selling?

Does one every idk, ~3 months for the more frequently submitted ones seem right?

[HitTheNorth]

Does anyone have a strong opinion about the frequency of menu posts in individual coffeeshop review threads?

Obviously not re. ones that haven't had one posted for a good while, but some shops have multiple menus submitted per month to coffeeshopmenus.org and even if there's a few strain changes etc pricing structures etc tend to stay the same & I don't want to go spamming up the threads with every update when people can just go check the menus site. Feels like they're good to have here as representative of what the shop offers rather than trying to keep up with exactly what they are selling?

Personally I love perving on menus even when I have no trip planned. I visit the menu site pretty much every day anyway. Spam as much as you like for me, others may feel differently. Thanks for your efforts @Not_the_monk and keep up the good work.

[Tokeing tom]

I like it man

[Not_the_monk]

Its just a bit of copying & pasting when I'm browsing anyway so all good, but thanks!

Ok I'll kinda just use my discretion for now & add repeats here at reasonable intervals as my mild ocd dictates - always happy to change it up whenever if people want though.


Edit. Also. Just had another thought. Its been quite fun really noticing while doing this when the occasional shop pops up that hasn't had a menu update in many years, or even a completely new one. Which has made the completionist in me think...

Would it ever be an idea to like make a list of the rarest shops menu-wise, just in case when people are in town they fancy helping fill in some blanks? I imagine there's still some not keen on pics so refusals would have to be noted and removed so as not to be annoying to them I guess, but it also does feel like menu pics are more widely accepted now than ever.

Is there any particular reason why not to make that a tiny project? Or any interest in it etc?

[Not_the_monk]

Guess not lol.

One other thing @Lemming that occurred to me this evening while on the menus site. I have no idea how much work any of this would be, but as a possible future update?

When looking at the main list of all shops, and all Amsterdam shops specifically, I kinda think it would be good to be able to have some sort of filter, easier marking of, or other greater potential visual separation of just the shops that are still open.

It is obviously amazing & important to have the archive of old menus and record of old shops that have been lost, and the locations that are outright closed are almost all noted as (closed), but there are a lot of entries too for places that are still open either with other names or even as bars that aren't really marked as such until viewing the page.

At the least I wonder if it would be good to have those ones also marked as (bar) or ~(new name) if not an actual division of pages or whatever? Or possibly merged into their new identities (given some shops change ownership but not name and they stay the same) but idk about that idea.

I may have missed some, but from a scan there's the following which have different identities now without marking until you go into their page:

420 coffeeshop
Andalucia
Barentsz
Barneys Lounge
Betty Too
Dampkring 2
Doors Palace (bar)
Dutch Flowers
't Geirenest
Globalchillage
El Guapo
Happiness
Hugo de Groot
Kabouter
Noon
Old Amsterdam
Pink Floyd
Route 66 (bar)
Sanementereng
Sevilla
Softland
Stix
Tops
Tuintje



Oh and also. Have you noticed this page? https://www.coffeeshopmenus.org/OtherCities.html

[Lemming]

Lots of good suggestions there. Thanks.

I have a long list of improvements that I'd like to make to both sites when I get time. My priority is always adding new data rather than working on the presentation and there's been quite a lot of new stuff coming in recently, which must be a good thing. (I'm still trying to write more of my April travelogue in between too!)

Regarding indicating shops that have changed names or function, part of the issue is how to write that succinctly in the lists. Any suggestions?

I've had other requests for city listings like the ones that are no longer updated so that's high on my to-do list. One idea I've been considering is a listing of all shops in each city showing what is available on ACD and FBN about each. This would probably be more along the lines of the text lists on the ACD and displayed on both sites. It would have to be quite condensed so that people can use it on a phone.

Creating lots of different lists based on existing ones is quite easy but then they have to be incorporated into the site(s) and their navigation systems, which are already a bit creaky! Filters that show or hide items in lists are also possible but all of these ideas would work better within a new structure, which requires some thought.

All suggestions appreciated, including sketches of how the first page of each site should be laid out and how everything should flow from there.

[Not_the_monk]

Regarding indicating shops that have changed names or function, part of the issue is how to write that succinctly in the lists. Any suggestions?

Yeah agreed that's a bit tricky.

- One solution, but by far the most effort, would be a shop specific "now x"
- I don't know if there's a way to actually merge pages together just where they've been renamed? Or if that's desirable?
- A tag like "old name" would be ok
- An image a bit like the *new* one, say in the top corner, showing *open*?
- A longer term solution, unsure of the practicality though, could be some sort of shading of the individual boxes. So closed shops get kinda greyed out a bit?

Just some thoughts, no doubt there's a bunch of other options.

I've had other requests for city listings like the ones that are no longer updated so that's high on my to-do list. One idea I've been considering is a listing of all shops in each city showing what is available on ACD and FBN about each. This would probably be more along the lines of the text lists on the ACD and displayed on both sites. It would have to be quite condensed so that people can use it on a phone.

That's a pretty good idea imo.

Creating lots of different lists based on existing ones is quite easy but then they have to be incorporated into the site(s) and their navigation systems, which are already a bit creaky! Filters that show or hide items in lists are also possible but all of these ideas would work better within a new structure, which requires some thought.

All suggestions appreciated, including sketches of how the first page of each site should be laid out and how everything should flow from there.

Yeah for sure I can imagine that implementing any major changes would involve a lot of work.

I'll have a think about sketch layout stuff but I have a terrible eye for visual design, be cool if other people had any ideas?

[Lemming]

There's been quite a flood of new menus recently. I've just about caught up now.

We also have a brand new coffeeshop in Amsterdam. The Point in Oosterparkbuurt has reopened with the rather bland name 'Oost'.
Reminds me of the equally rubbish-named (IMHO) CoffeeshopAmsterdam, which will always be Pink Floyd to me.
Can't hold a crap name against it, I guess. It might be a good shop.