TPFC Awards or Top 10 Apps

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thepiney
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TPFC Awards or Top 10 Apps

#1 Post by thepiney »

Getting a bit nostalgic and went looking at some of the older programs I've used over the years. Some like IrfanView I started out using from a floppy in 1998-99 to convert BMPs to JPGs from many friends/family members scanned images or early digital cameras that didn't support many file formats. That is only one of many portable apps/programs I've used over the years but I still find I recommend it for batch processing of images although I have tried some others as well.

This got me to thinking that their are many programs on this site that deserve a bit more recognition, maybe a "Top 10" or "Awards" list. More than just a simple "Popularity" vote/rating but including things such as developer interaction with the users of the site like nikkho from FileOptimizer and John Haller from PortableApps (just examples), are they willing to implement changes in the sake of portability/stealthiness and I guess mainly is the app/programs really useful (Could you NOT live without it). I would even understand a doubled list with "Accepted as Portable" and "Stealth" just for both sides of that argument. If the vote/rating came only from more "seasoned" users (say 100+ posts) I would be fine with that as it may deter unethical devs from messing with the list.

I really liked this idea and couldn't find anything quite like it in searches so thought I'd just post to maybe start some discussion on the subject.

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webfork
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Re: TPFC Awards or Top 10 Apps

#2 Post by webfork »

It's a good idea. We have a "best new" every year:

2017: viewtopic.php?t=23674
2016: viewtopic.php?t=23253
2015: viewtopic.php?t=22414
2014: viewtopic.php?t=21850

... but it definitely wouldn't hurt to have something more.

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Andrew Lee
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Re: TPFC Awards or Top 10 Apps

#3 Post by Andrew Lee »

I was thinking, maybe we should put this list on the front page in the right sidebar.

Any objections?

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webfork
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Re: TPFC Awards or Top 10 Apps

#4 Post by webfork »

Andrew Lee wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 6:42 pm I was thinking, maybe we should put this list on the front page in the right sidebar.

Any objections?
Cool yeah, go for it. I'll be the first to admit if it doesn't really add anything.

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Andrew Lee
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Re: TPFC Awards or Top 10 Apps

#5 Post by Andrew Lee »

OK, will get it done by end of the week!

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Midas
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Re: TPFC Awards or Top 10 Apps

#6 Post by Midas »

All-in for a trial, too. 8)

Specular
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Re: TPFC Awards or Top 10 Apps

#7 Post by Specular »

Just curious, would this be an ongoing, periodically updated list? As I'm wondering, if the goal is to highlight hidden gems and work from standout devs vs the programs seen, say, in the Popular list it would seem to me beneficial to refresh from time to time the recommendations to give other programs some spotlight as well.

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Andrew Lee
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Re: TPFC Awards or Top 10 Apps

#8 Post by Andrew Lee »

Specular wrote: Wed Aug 22, 2018 6:26 am Just curious, would this be an ongoing, periodically updated list? As I'm wondering, if the goal is to highlight hidden gems and work from standout devs vs the programs seen, say, in the Popular list it would seem to me beneficial to refresh from time to time the recommendations to give other programs some spotlight as well.
I think the "Popular titles" and webfork's Top 10 list are totally different beasts. The former is more dynamic and algorithmic, while the latter is a more curated affair. Totally different perspective, I feel...

Specular
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Re: TPFC Awards or Top 10 Apps

#9 Post by Specular »

Andrew Lee wrote: Wed Aug 22, 2018 8:23 pmI think the "Popular titles" and webfork's Top 10 list are totally different beasts. The former is more dynamic and algorithmic, while the latter is a more curated affair. Totally different perspective, I feel...
Right, yeah. What I wondered though is whether the curated top 10 would change over time based on user feedback, since otherwise it might remain the same programs if nothing was updated with it (unsure how long it might be in the sidebar), when other programs might also be worth highlighting in the future.

Unless it functioned like a periodic top 10 awards consensus, which could be useful, like yearly/bi-yearly or whathaveyou.

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Andrew Lee
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Re: TPFC Awards or Top 10 Apps

#10 Post by Andrew Lee »

Specular wrote: Wed Aug 22, 2018 9:26 pmRight, yeah. What I wondered though is whether the curated top 10 would change over time based on user feedback, since otherwise it might remain the same programs if nothing was updated with it (unsure how long it might be in the sidebar), when other programs might also be worth highlighting in the future.

Unless it functioned like a periodic top 10 awards consensus, which could be useful, like yearly/bi-yearly or whathaveyou.
Hopefully it will remain a yearly thing, but seems like we forgot to do it this year!

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Andrew Lee
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Re: TPFC Awards or Top 10 Apps

#11 Post by Andrew Lee »

On second thought, I made the top-10 topics sticky to give them more visibility, instead of putting them in the front page, where the content is more dynamic. Hope you guys have no objections to this.

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webfork
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Re: TPFC Awards or Top 10 Apps

#12 Post by webfork »

> I made the top-10 topics sticky to give them more visibility

Wait so THIS thread is going to stay at the top of the Site Matters - Suggestions/Discussions forum?

thepiney
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Re: TPFC Awards or Top 10 Apps

#13 Post by thepiney »

@ webfork -> That would be the "Best New" links/threads that you posted previously I believe.

I suggest this site quite often when discussing "portable" apps/programs. Many of those people are not tech savvy at all and some (most) will probably not go beyond the front page and may be lost in a forum. Explaining how to add/adjust config files or whatnot to activate "portable mode" is hard enough and I usually lose the rest when explaining how to update UniExtract so they can extract the setup files. I generally just recommend PortableApps for these reasons but then they lose access to some great programs that aren't included in PortableApps. I have a few programs/apps that I've put on just about every PC/Laptop I've work on over the last 10-20 years and they include the usual Firefox (looking for a possible replacement), Notepad++ (more recently adding EditPadLite7 to the mix for large txt files due to TP109's tests/thread), PDF-XChange Viewer/Editor (replaced Foxit some time ago), LibreOffice, TeamViewer and numerous others that I'm sure many of you use as well.

The "Best New" is great for bringing attention to new programs but doesn't show the "Love" for all the apps/programs that many of us have used for years.

Just thinking that a link from the home page of those apps that we most highly recommend and/or praise would be nice especially for new visitors to the site.

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SYSTEM
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Re: TPFC Awards or Top 10 Apps

#14 Post by SYSTEM »

thepiney wrote: Sun Aug 26, 2018 12:23 pm I usually lose the rest when explaining how to update UniExtract so they can extract the setup files
Simply recommend Universal Extractor 2 instead, it's already up to date.
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webfork
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Re: TPFC Awards or Top 10 Apps

#15 Post by webfork »

thepiney wrote: Sun Aug 26, 2018 12:23 pm Just thinking that a link from the home page of those apps that we most highly recommend and/or praise would be nice especially for new visitors to the site.
Some good points. PortableApps has the advantage of a carefully curated, easy to access selection. PortableFreeware carries an advantage of a huge selection, but we don't curate our listings just because we're a directory site rather than a host. The idea is whatever is the best is your decision. That said, there are some programs that have obvious and clear advantages in terms of overall features, capability, and having been developed for the latest Windows version. I think you're right that a more robust "best of" approach would help people test out those programs.

In terms of giving a good introduction to new visitors, I've had a longstanding plan to get a video series posted that talks about the who, what, where, when and how of portable to hopefully pull more people into the project. I think that would help us keep visitors that would otherwise be put off by UniExtract instructions.

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