Food database hard to navigate
 

You know what would really make a difference? Listing all the foods in precise alphabetical order. When you do a search for, say, beef stew, you end up with a huge list starting with "game meat, beefalo" followed by "soup, Lipton..." followed by "game meat, beefalo" again... It's a mess to navigate.
And you can't even specify your search by using quotation marks. Surely this is a very simple problem to solve for any database expert.

I know that beef stew was just an example, but was there something that you couldn't really find? As for beef stew, I would make that as a custom food b/c the database has no way of knowing what you put into it. Stew would be something that could swing wildly in many directions, depending on the content. If you were seriously referring to beef stew, stew is listed as the 6th one down, beef stew meat (cooked) & beef stew canned entree are also listed on the 1st page.
If you go : food browse > meat > soups, broth, extracts > stew is also listed there.
It isn't in alphabetical order, but it's easy to find. I think the database groups thing together as "like items" which is probably better for some people.

I didn't start this thread, but I'm also bothered by this problem. When I search "egg", I would prefer to have "egg, whole, raw" appear at the top of the list rather than 11th after 2 different types of eggPLANT, 2 types of egg BREADS, soup, dip, salad, etc. I imagine I'm not alone here!

If I search "beef", only 5 results are displayed - none of which are quite right - beefaroni, 2 types of beefalo, and 2 types of beef flavored dry soup powder.

Lest you think I'm just a complainer... I have tried a lot of other food tracking sites and applications and Fitday is the BEST. I sincerely appreciate you and your colleagues for that.

Original user of Fitday
 

Pros.... After using this program over 5 years now....it still is a great platform for a serious food nutrition advocate.....but has been slow to make changes and adapt with other newcomers and phone Apps....finally after a2 year request ,iPhone App is added but why not a blackberry and android app... Again,slow to adapt with demand....charge for the Apps if need be:(:)

Cons... The only reason that would prevent me from using this platform daily would be the FOOD SEARCH tool and database... The worst iv seen ....pathetic to say the least..... Attn. Developer.... Look at (removed) Amazing food search ability and database is the best yet.... Challenged your developers to make changes 5 years ago and has taken this long.... Hope the best it doesnt take 5 more for this change....:eek:


*Edited by Mod... omega60 please read the http://www.fitday.com/fitness/forums...rum-rules.html

Trying to update food list
 

I'm using a desktop version I downloaded in September 2008. The food lists have been greatly updated online since then. How do I update my PC lists???? I am not able to upgrade to a newer version.

This is frustrating since I don't know how to copy a food I find in the "online" list to my desktop food log. Because I have severe shoulder problems, I cannot spend a lot of time entering everything as a new custom food. Help, please.

I find this to be a problem too. It would seem to me to make the food in its natural form be at the top of the list. I've been trying for the past 15 minutes to find white flour pasta, but the only options for PLAIN pasta is "corn" ... corn? I've never even heard of corn pasta. But this is just my own most current example.

Crazy bad
 

I've been trying find a non fat yogurt item in the database, that doesn't have fat! Really, - with the other site that I've been looking at, I zap the barcode on my package of yogurt (with my Android based phone!) and BOOM, it's entered into my food journal.

I doubt many people have the time or patience to wade through the food database, I don't mean to be harsh, but you are charging people for using this site. Why would I ever pay for a premium membership?

You might want to contact the other diet site (I'm sure you know who I mean) and see about licensing thier food database and thier android app.

FitDay is entirely free, if you don't mind a few fairly unobtrusive Google ads. I agree the database could be better, but it's not that bad and many similar sites are much worse. In only takes a couple of moments to add a custom food if you can't find what you're looking for.

Regards,
Michael

I agree with every post here. I think what we want to hear is that the food database is being improved. It will have to be in order for this website to survive, because there are competitors out there doing a much better job. I'll stay optimistic for now, but it would be nice to see some 'news' from the developers that they are working on improvements!

We've been informed that some changes (don't know which, exactly) are being rolled out very shortly. They are doing this by groups of users (randomly) so stay tuned!

Regards,
Michael