Hello from our Kitchen to yours!
August is behind us, and September is looming up ahead. We've made some big strides in the short time since we announced the project (can you believe it's only been two weeks?), but we still have more to go. As always, we want to keep you up-to-date on all the latest!
Looking Back
August was a short month for us; we spent a lot of time that could have been pointed towards the KitchenSync project getting the parent company formed instead. That was time and money well spent, though -- having all the weight and power that comes with being a formally recognized LLC comes with a lot of benefits for us. It enables us to support this project in a much bigger way than if it was just two goofs throwing code together... Here's a list of all the things Little Fox Software has accomplished in our "short month":
- Chartered an officially-recognized LLC.
- Built a landing page for the project.
- Started our Early Adopters newsletter.
- Implemented secure sign up/login.
- Created an alpha version of the Pantry.
- Improve the Pantry API to make it more efficient and easier to work with when the time comes to add all the bells and whistles we can think of.
You read that right. The Pantry portion of our app -- at least the early alpha version -- is complete already! We estimate that puts us somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 of the way to a full alpha build... Which is when you'll have the chance to try it out! While we're (im)patiently waiting for that, why don't we take a peek at what we've got done so far?
Don't see anything here? Try pressing "Show Images" above.
That's what we've got going on for now. Remember, this is early alpha! Things are not how they'll necessarily be on release. If you have any suggestions or input, we welcome you to let us know! Just e-mail us at contact@littlefoxsoftware.com. Now that we've had a chance to see where things are today, let's have a look at how things might look tomorrow!
Leaping Forward
Our vision for the future is as strong as ever. We're chock full of energy and ready to go! In an effort to avoid burnout on this project (it's way too early for either of us to feel it, but better to be preventative than corrective) we're being conservative with our goals and planning regular time away from the work. Disappearing into the Matrix for 72 hours straight isn't good for anyone, no matter how much vim and vigor you have. That said, September is still jam-packed with big plans.
- Outline the remaining data structures for our alpha build.
- Hammer out the alpha version of recipe storage.
- Implement the ability to search for publicly share recipes on our platform.
- Polish the user experience for both the pantry and recipe book to make them as smooth as possible for alpha.
As you can see, big things are on the way. While we don't have anything to show off yet, we're hoping to very soon! (Mid-month update, anyone?)
In the mean time, we wanted to answer a few questions.
FAQ
- Who is "Little Fox Software?"
- When will KitchenSync be available to the public?
- What is a "minimally viable product?"
- Will KitchenSync be free?
Great question! You may have noticed our e-mails don't come from an "@kitchen-sync.io" address, but "@littlefoxsoftware.com". That's us!
KitchenSync is a project of ours, but the company itself is called "Little Fox Software."
Soon™. Jokes aside, we don't have a specific date yet -- we're taking our time to get everything right before we release to the public. What we can tell you is that there will be plenty of opportunities to interact with the product before it hits its first, official release. We're planning at least one closed alpha event for subscribers to this very newsletter when we get all the pieces in a minimally viable product form, so stay tuned, there are more details to come!
"Minimally viable product" is a programming term we use to talk about a barebones version of an app that may not have all the bells and whistles you want the final product to have, but all the core features are there and work. In other words, it's the "alpha" build. We're aiming for our MVP to be as stable and smooth an experience as possible, but it won't be much like the final product. It'll be an opportunity to see how the product works, and provide feedback to us developers so we can make the end product better for you!
The short answer is "no." As much as we might like to provide this awesome product for free, we need to keep the lights on and the server hamsters fed. We don't know an exact price yet, but we're working hard to make sure that no matter what the final decision is, its fair, equitable, and -- most importantly -- accessible.
Got a question we didn't answer? Reach out to contact@littlefoxsoftware.com and we'll get back to you as soon as possible!