What's Next? April 2nd, 2016

Now that The Beer Cellar v2.0 has finally launched, I thought I'd outline plans for what's next.

Data improvements are first on the list. The site is now more than three years old, and the largely user-generated database of beers and breweries could use some cleanup. The initial duplication is understandable in light of the previously strict matching algorithms, but the much improved fuzzy search for beer and brewery names introduced in version 2.0 should reduce the number of additional duplicate records created once we clean up the data that's there.

To that end, I've begun building a number of community reporting and moderation features to identify duplicate beer and brewery records, and to flesh out missing data on existing records. With the next release, users will be able to report duplicate or erroneous beers and breweries, and those reports will populate an administrative backend that will let me merge or correct records appropriately. In addition, missing data on beer and brewery records—e.g., URL, style, ABV—will trigger prompts for users to supply that data on existing records.

Trading upgrades will be next on the list (though part of a separate release—the data improvements take precedence). The new Messaging feature introduced in version 2.0 makes it possible to get in touch with other users, but trade discovery is still difficult. To address this, I plan to introduce a variety of features around trading to make discovery and trade proposals much easier and more visible.

In addition to the current searchable content under the Browse area, I'll be adding complex search options for beers listed For Trade or In Search Of. I also have plans to move ISO beers into their own area (i.e., not listed in your main cellar), as keeping empty records around for ISO purposes is less than ideal. This will let users maintain a list of the beers they're after, linkable to the external world, and powered by the same database as the rest of the site. Lastly, I want to implement a trade proposal interface that will allow users to manage a sort of "shopping cart" of beers when setting up trades with other users.

A mobile version overhaul is also planned, though the timeline here is less clear. I'd like to ditch jQuery Mobile and roll a customized, much nicer mobile interface, but as this will take a good deal of time I'm not sure when to expect it. I'll be sure to post updates as I have them.

And of course, I'll continue fixing bugs and remedying smaller issues as they come in. On that note, if you have any feedback, suggestions, or bugs to report, please hit me up via email, on Twitter, or with an in-site message. Cheers!

How Many Beers Have You Drank? April 4th, 2016

To celebrate both the release of version 2.0 of The Beer Cellar and reaching 3,000 users, here are some fun numbers about your beer. Thanks for contributing!

  • Over 3,500 breweries are now in the database
  • Among those breweries, users have added over 23,000 beers
  • More than 240,000 bottles are currently cellared
  • On top of that, more than 56,000 beers have been consumed
  • Put another way, users have imbibed over 950,000 fluid ounces of beer
  • Over 26,000 bottles are currently listed For Trade

You can find some of these stats (updated live) on the About page. A big thanks to all the folks using the site! Cheers, and feel free to say hello, as your feedback and suggestions are always welcome.

The Beer Cellar v2.0 is Live! March 28th, 2016

Welcome to The Beer Cellar v2.0!

You'll notice that things look a bit different, but there should also be a good deal that's familiar. The aesthetic has received a much needed overhaul, existing features have been improved, and a number of new features accompany this release. Details are provided below, but first, a quick disclaimer.

This is a big release, and there might be bugs, so let me know if you have any problems! While I've had a number of beta testers checking out the preview version of the site over the last few weeks, this release touches a lot of code and there could be edge cases that no one discovered during testing. If you have any issues, please hit me up on Twitter or via email and I'll look into it ASAP. I'm releasing on a Monday night to ensure I'm available throughout the week to deal with any issues that are reported.

Also, please log out then log back in to ensure all new site features are properly enabled.

With that said, below is some information on what's changed, what's improved, and what's new for The Beer Cellar!

What's Changed?

  • The site has received a visual overhaul, with a new color palette and some new design cues here and there. However, the general user experience remains very intuitive, and basic cellar management tasks should be familiar to existing users.
  • Cellar management is now entirely asynchronous, meaning no more full page reloads are required when adding or editing cellar entries. As a result, quick cellar updates will be quicker and bulk management tasks can be accomplished much faster than before. This was a big part of the new release, and is by far the most prominent change.
  • The application has been refactored almost from the ground up, which means new features and improvements will be much easier to add. I have a number of additional improvements already planned, which I'll detail in a later post.

What's Improved?

  •  Thanks to a new Elasticsearch backend, beer and brewery searching is now much improved! Non-exact queries will provide correct results much more frequently, and there should be far fewer duplicate entries created as a result.
  • On a related note, the CSV import now leverages the Elasticsearch index for initial matching and fixing unmatched entries, meaning the the matching process can now be completed in a fraction of the time. This won't affect existing users much, but new users should have a much easier time importing existing data into the site.
  • Despite the addition of new features, cellar load times should be slightly improved over the previous release, with bigger cellars seeing the biggest improvements thanks to low-level application adjustments.

What's New?

  • A number of new account settings are available, including default sort order (beer or brewery), the ability to disable the In Fridge column, and note and tasting note public visibility.
  • User messaging! Any user that has the feature enabled (all users are opted-in by default) can be messaged in order to facilitate trades, discuss beer, or generally shoot the shit. If you'd like to disable this feature, do so in the My Account area.
  • A new Drink By field is now available on all cellar entries, and a corresponding indicator will be displayed on all entries that have this field populated. You can control the public visibility of this indicator in the My Account area.

That covers the big items, though there are a number of smaller improvements sprinkled around the site that are not covered here. I have a lot of improvements planned for the coming months, and I expect far less downtime between releases given the improved code-base.

I'll detail those planned improvements in a later post, but in the meantime, enjoy the new site! And, as always, if you have any bug reports, usability issues, or feature requests, please let me know at @BeerCellarMe or via email at josh@beercellar.me.

Upcoming Release: Beer Cellar v2.0 March 22nd, 2016

I'm happy to announce that The Beer Cellar v2.0 will launch next week on Tuesday, March 29th!

Thanks to those who volunteered to help beta test, the new site has come along quickly, and I'm excited to get it into the hands of users. It's a big revamp and, while it's been rebuilt almost entirely from the ground up, the core functionality has been retained and improved. In no particular order, here are some things you can expect in the update:

  • Speed: all primary cellar management actions are now performed asynchronously, meaning no more full-page reloads after each add, edit, or delete operation. Existing entries can be edited inline, and new entries can be added dynamically.
  • Accuracy: thanks to a new Elasticsearch backend, searches for Beers and Breweries now handle "fuzzy" matches without issue, ensuring you can find the information you're looking for. As a result of these changes, the CSV import process should also achieve more accurate initial matches, and is much quicker when it comes to fixing unmatched entries.
  • Features: a bevy of new features will accompany the update, including but not limited to: sortable Drink By dates for entries; user toggles for default sort order and tasting note visibility; the ability to hide the "In Fridge" column; and user messaging.
  • Usability: in addition to the improved cellar management flow, the entire site has received a visual refresh utilizing darker tones for increased readability and, I hope, a more visually pleasing experience.
  • Security: when the new version goes live, the entire Beer Cellar site will switch to the HTTPS protocol, meaning all traffic will be encrypted.

I'll provide more details on launch day. You can expect the site to be down during the upgrade period on the evening of Monday, March 28th as I move things live and ensure everything is working as expected. In the meantime, I'd suggest holding off on any major cellar updates or imports, as everything should be much easier come next week!

Lastly, I'd like to thank my core of beta test users one more time for volunteering their free time to help ensure the upcoming version is up to snuff. Without your help, I'd be much more nervous about releasing the new version into the wild. Cheers, and if you're ever in town, I'll buy you a beer.

Beta Invites: Want One? March 8th, 2016

Beta invites for the the revamped Beer Cellar—might as well call it version 2.0—are going out this evening! I'm really excited to get this new work out there as it's a vast improvement over the current state of the application, but I'd like the help of any users who are willing in testing things before they go live. Ideally, we'll be able to work out any remaining kinks before deploying the new site to the entire userbase.

Some details follow, including info on how to receive an invite at the bottom.

  • The beta site is being hosted indepent of the live site so as not to interfere with normal site usage during the testing period. It will utilize a duplicate of the live database, but no live data will be affected—the beta environment is sandboxed.
  • While the entire beta site is up for grabs testing-wise, in particular I'm hoping for testers to focus most on a few specific areas:
    • Cellar Interface: the main cellar interface was rewritten from scratch and can now be managed entirely ascynchronously, meaning no more full-page reloads when adding new entries or working with existing ones. I've done a lot of testing here, but I wouldn't be surprised if users uncovered a bug or three.
    • Data Integrity: related to the main cellar interface, I'd like for testers to make sure those changes they make are being accurately reflected and maintained across uses. Things like beer/brewery/unique totals, in fridge and in cellar counts, etc.
    • Messages: this is a brand new feature allowing users to have threaded conversations with others on the site. It's a relatively self-contained feature, but some testing would nonetheless be useful.
    • CSV Import: while the underlying matching logic hasn't changed much, the Import interface was also rewritten using the new Add Entry flow. And thanks to improved beer/brewery searching with Elasticsearch, the final Fix Import stage can move a lot more quickly.
  • Some other new features to look out for and test:
    • A Drink By date can now be set for any beer entry, with a corresponding days remaining status displayed in each row
    • The Add Entry flow has been revamped so that you can still browse your cellar in the background when making an addition
    • Default Sort can now be set to Brewery instead of Beer, in the My Account area
    • There are additional My Account settings as well, including: an In Fridge toggle, a Drink By and Tasting Note public visibility toggle, and a toggle to enable or disable Messaging

With those testing caveats in mind, if you're interested in helping test version 2.0 of The Beer Cellar, I'd greatly appreciate it! You can either email me at josh@beercellar.me (please hit me up from your Beer Cellar address), or reply with your email address at @BeerCellarMe. You'll receive a response from me with further details.

Thanks in advance to all willing to help out, and for everyone else, I'm hoping to launch version 2.0 within the next couple weeks. Stay tuned.

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