This is just a small peev on my part...
This collection is really nice and not too small. I'd love to have more elaborate search capabilities in the database.
Things like searching for an app by date, popularity etc...
Also it would be nice to have a rating system to help us small users decide if an app is really worth having.
$0.02
PortableFreeware site request....
...you know, theres two cents and two of you, 
but, anyways, to get in on this,
i dont think a rating system would be such a bad idea, mebey have it tied to forum users so that some random person cant up their Fav. program 30+ times or so,
and it shouldnt influence those of us that go "ohh, that program sounds/looks nifty *downloads*" ^-^
but, anyways, to get in on this,
i dont think a rating system would be such a bad idea, mebey have it tied to forum users so that some random person cant up their Fav. program 30+ times or so,
and it shouldnt influence those of us that go "ohh, that program sounds/looks nifty *downloads*" ^-^
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Andrew Lee
- Posts: 3064
- Joined: Sat Feb 04, 2006 9:19 am
- Contact:
Search by date:
Nah, don't think this is useful. The date field is meaningless anyway, and merely indicates the chronological order of the entries, not how old the app actually is.
Search by popularity and rating system:
There is already some kind of natural rating system in place, measured by the click-through counts (with IP address checks to prevent rigging). It is not perfect, but I think it beats an artificial "Rate This" function, since it measures user behaviour directly.
BTW, that's how the "Popular apps" table in the sidebar is derived.
I am not sure if a "search by popularity" (i.e. sort search results by popularity) function is useful at this stage. I mean the database is not that big, so most searches will yield only a couple of entries. With so few results, if you want to know which app is better, it will be more useful reading the comments for the individual entries.
Nah, don't think this is useful. The date field is meaningless anyway, and merely indicates the chronological order of the entries, not how old the app actually is.
Search by popularity and rating system:
There is already some kind of natural rating system in place, measured by the click-through counts (with IP address checks to prevent rigging). It is not perfect, but I think it beats an artificial "Rate This" function, since it measures user behaviour directly.
BTW, that's how the "Popular apps" table in the sidebar is derived.
I am not sure if a "search by popularity" (i.e. sort search results by popularity) function is useful at this stage. I mean the database is not that big, so most searches will yield only a couple of entries. With so few results, if you want to know which app is better, it will be more useful reading the comments for the individual entries.
...how about...
when people click on on a category in the "All" listing, it could have like a 'Top 3 programs from this section' thingy on the side,
...could prolly do it for searches too,
that way, theres no reason make things searchable by how popular they are, but, if its there, people would prolly want to check them out,
or mebey only for the top searches to keep file size down,
when people click on on a category in the "All" listing, it could have like a 'Top 3 programs from this section' thingy on the side,
...could prolly do it for searches too,
that way, theres no reason make things searchable by how popular they are, but, if its there, people would prolly want to check them out,
or mebey only for the top searches to keep file size down,
Well here's my philosophy on the whole damn thing. Prepare popcorn and buttery substance with large drink. No bathroom breaks.
The driving force behind portability is the desire for personalization, as you all well know. Being able to keep YOUR settings, YOUR high scores, YOUR bookmarks wherever you go, that's what makes portable app-ing so darned attractive. For others like me, portable apps also have the added benefit of (usually) being a lot easier to install and update as well as modify my settings (sorry folks, but I find an .ini to be much more user-friendly than the registry), but what it all comes down to is getting apps to work the way you want them to work every time, regardless of what computer you're on or if you've just reformatted due to screwing around with your operating system a little bit too much and, since you never could stand that blasted system restore in the first place, you're at the point of no return.
Cough.
Anyhow, while pointing people towards the "higher quality" applications through a popularity system might be a nice idea, it also encourages folks to just "go with the flow" and pick what everyone else picks simply because it seems like the right thing to do. Now me, for instance, I try a dozen different apps that do the same thing and then pick the one that fits ME the best, which isn't always the most popular one. A good example would be how I don't even touch VideoLAN any more due to the fact that I find KMPlayer or rulesPlayer to be just what I need.
Perhaps it's just me, but the point of having a large database of applications is not just to catalogue as much as possible, but also to encourage folks to try new things and find out what fits them the best. After all, you're committing a great deal of your personal information to these applications - you might as well make sure you've found the one that you like the best as opposed to what everyone else likes the best. Everyone loves Winamp, but perhaps you'd like the ability to easily manage many playlists like you can with foobar2k. Everyone loves OpenOffice, but maybe you just want a simple word processor like AbiWord or Tomahawk PDF+. The overwhelming majority of users would also probably recommend Firefox, while some stand by Opera, and still there might be one soul on the planet that actually likes that dreadful OffbyOne browser.
That's my fifteen cents. Slackers.
The driving force behind portability is the desire for personalization, as you all well know. Being able to keep YOUR settings, YOUR high scores, YOUR bookmarks wherever you go, that's what makes portable app-ing so darned attractive. For others like me, portable apps also have the added benefit of (usually) being a lot easier to install and update as well as modify my settings (sorry folks, but I find an .ini to be much more user-friendly than the registry), but what it all comes down to is getting apps to work the way you want them to work every time, regardless of what computer you're on or if you've just reformatted due to screwing around with your operating system a little bit too much and, since you never could stand that blasted system restore in the first place, you're at the point of no return.
Cough.
Anyhow, while pointing people towards the "higher quality" applications through a popularity system might be a nice idea, it also encourages folks to just "go with the flow" and pick what everyone else picks simply because it seems like the right thing to do. Now me, for instance, I try a dozen different apps that do the same thing and then pick the one that fits ME the best, which isn't always the most popular one. A good example would be how I don't even touch VideoLAN any more due to the fact that I find KMPlayer or rulesPlayer to be just what I need.
Perhaps it's just me, but the point of having a large database of applications is not just to catalogue as much as possible, but also to encourage folks to try new things and find out what fits them the best. After all, you're committing a great deal of your personal information to these applications - you might as well make sure you've found the one that you like the best as opposed to what everyone else likes the best. Everyone loves Winamp, but perhaps you'd like the ability to easily manage many playlists like you can with foobar2k. Everyone loves OpenOffice, but maybe you just want a simple word processor like AbiWord or Tomahawk PDF+. The overwhelming majority of users would also probably recommend Firefox, while some stand by Opera, and still there might be one soul on the planet that actually likes that dreadful OffbyOne browser.
That's my fifteen cents. Slackers.
Actually, Fluff,
im in the:
(i have like 100 megs not used for portable apps on my 1G stick, ...and like, all, but Clamwin and 2-3 others are all under 5 megs, ...i have a problem, /cry
...but thats for some future post, im sure,
)
...AND, OBO is the only bowser on my USB stick,
(but, Ghost looks tempting, ...and it only takes up 20some megs,)
Anyways, my point,...
is here, ...somewhere, ...ahh, yes:
The rating thing is just Neat,
but i was mainly thinking about random-person-#5839 that just passes by the site, dont Really want to bother trying out 4-5 programs, would see the 'theses 3 have been visted more then the rest' thing, and Poof, trys the first 1-2 of them, ...never to be seen again.
/broke
im in the:
crowd, ^-^"ohh, that program sounds/looks nifty *downloads*"
(i have like 100 megs not used for portable apps on my 1G stick, ...and like, all, but Clamwin and 2-3 others are all under 5 megs, ...i have a problem, /cry
...but thats for some future post, im sure,
) ...AND, OBO is the only bowser on my USB stick,
(but, Ghost looks tempting, ...and it only takes up 20some megs,
)Anyways, my point,...
is here, ...somewhere, ...ahh, yes:
The rating thing is just Neat,
but i was mainly thinking about random-person-#5839 that just passes by the site, dont Really want to bother trying out 4-5 programs, would see the 'theses 3 have been visted more then the rest' thing, and Poof, trys the first 1-2 of them, ...never to be seen again.
/broke