local_cafe Hospitality
translate Bilingual
backup Backup on every save
Soul Café OKC: a site that is not afraid of its owner
A café in Oklahoma City needed to change its menu without calling anyone. The design decision was to remove dependencies and make sure no user mistake is irreversible.
Tech stack
2 npm dependenciesEditable contentAutomatic backup
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Context
Soul Café OKC is a café in Oklahoma City with English and Spanish-speaking customers. The site had to be bilingual and, above all, editable by the business itself: menu, prices and availability change far more often than any redesign.
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Judgement calls
- • Two npm dependencies on purpose: fewer pieces to update, fewer ways to break over time.
- • An automatic backup on every save, so an unlucky edit is never final.
- • The «flip the switch, don't delete the product» pattern: what leaves the menu is hidden, not destroyed.
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What I learned
That for a non-technical user, the most important feature is being able to make mistakes without consequences. A delete button with no way back turns every edit into a stressful decision, and the result is that the site stops being updated.