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Smart Computing Magazine...
Spotlight on BigOven Recipe Software
Smart Computing Magazine, August 2006
"Some of the best apples in the online orchard are the free (or free to try) programs available for download. Each month we feature highlights from our pickings. This month, we spot a digital recipe box.
BigOven Deluxe
www.bigoven.com
The Internet is awash with mediocre recipe software, so we’re glad to see a program that gets it right. Big Oven has great features (including a rating system, detailed recipe-making and nutrition tools, and shopping lists), but it’s the program’s interface that really makes Big Oven shine.
Not sure what to cook for dinner tonight? Browse your illustrated recipes for inspiration. BigOven Deluxe supplies tons of recipes that include mouth-watering photos.
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Gone are the days of switching to a different tab to see a recipe’s picture: A large photo of your favorite dish appears above the recipe’s ingredients section. Thanks to handy toolbars that line the top and side of the main window, we found that we rarely bothered to browse the standard File, Edit, View, and Tools menus. Although you’ll recognize most of the buttons right off the bat, you can hover the pointer over any icon for a short description.
The main features are truly features. A star rating system lets you bury the bloopers and keep the keepers close at hand. Many of the included recipes already have ratings, but you can edit them with a few clicks of the mouse. The shopping list feature can create a shopping list from any recipe, complete with descriptions of the grocery store departments that most likely house the ingredients. You can also plan meals with the included Calendar software: Simply drag the recipe into your calendar and then choose the number of servings you’d like to prepare. BigOven automatically scales the recipe’s ingredient list so you won’t use too many (or too few) avocados in your guacamole. To top it off, the program offers nutrition information for each recipe.
BigOven lets you post your own recipes to its huge online recipe database. You can also search the database and easily copy entire recipes (including their pictures) right to your computer. Of course, if you’d prefer not to import recipes individually, you can also download free files that have thousands of recipes from BigOven’s Web site.
You can print any recipe, but if you haven’t yet put a computer on your kitchen counter, we suspect you’ll be shopping for one shortly after trying BigOven. Try BigOven Deluxe free or buy it for $34.95. You can also buy the Starter Edition (which has some feature limitations) for $9.95."
-- Smart Computing Magazine, August 2006