Okay people, this is it. Your time for "directional input." Consider this an exercise in true democracy, you all get your say in this. Please stay on topic though, as I would like to have this figured out.

1. It's time to reconfigure the downloads section to have a more logical set of categories/divisions. How would you like this done? More aminet like? More descriptive?

2. Should 68k apps/libraries be seperated off into a seperate category, so as newer MorphOS native versions become available the 68k stuff can be more easily removed (if desired/necissary)?

3. Do we keep the preview screenshots, or turn them off? If we keep them, we will need someone to volunteer to be a "downloads administrator."


Keep in mind this is totally seperate from the "bounties" system which will use it's on subsite. Also, we shouldn't have to recode the entire download system, so please don't ask for pop-up full sized previews or anything like that.


Thanks!

I think the aminet layout is really easy to
browse and easy to maintain. (see MOS-News)

No need to separate the 68k stuff. A small
butterfly and a small boingball should be enough
as an indicator.

Screenshoots are a waste of bandwidth

For the archive, I think it would be great if
the authors had the possibility to change
entries where required ...

Well, the author, when logged in, can hit the modify button. I, or a seperate admin, should be able to determine if it's the original author or not. If so, then hitting "approve" is pretty much automatic

(oh yeah, the idea is to suppliment the mos-news file archive, not replace it! I'm of the opinion that BOTH will be needed as time goes on. Should either site go down for maintenance, people should still be able to download software!!!)

More opinions?

I agree with Robin. The aminet system is very easy and effective, and ading a small symbol that differentiates between 68k and MOS native stuff should do the job.

1. Aminet like but a lot more descriptive.

2. As others said, but I hate boingballs and are an invent of amigainc (and maybe putting logos of ainc we will can have problems too), not autenthic amiga logo, so please use other logo. Internally will can be separated for easier administration.

3. Yes, I want small preview screenshots.

About the author, If then is approved that is the author, then maybe the later upgrades can be more automatic, no? He only needs to log in and upload

I agree with SteveO here...

I like the Aminet style myself as well. The a logo to show whats 68k and PPC is also a must.

My two cents.

Aminet is nice but thing could be done nicer : multiple categorisation would help searching for stuff. For example, a tool to design icons could be classified in Ambiant and Graphics/Tools.

Separation between 68k and native MOS should be explicit. Simple text shall be enough (I suggest : MOS for native else 68k).

Preview Screenshot? Bandwidth waste. It should be visible with a text link only.

Rating stat shall be implemented and download counter as well (Is that already done? I don't remember).

Column sorting : it would be nice to have sort options : date, author, name, version, etc...

Multiple version : it would be nice to keep version history (all archives are kept). Sometime, old version works better than newer...

Dependancies : Some tools need special libs or fonts or whatever. It would be nice to have links to get those missing parts.

Requirement : OS version, component version, memory, hard disk space, CPU, video...

Contact : where we can get in touch with the author, website, email...

Nature of licence : is this tool shareware, freeware, giftware, commercial, demo, complete, limited in time/features, cost, etc...

All this shall need some code. :) Might be a bit off topic I guess.

Have a nice day.

Tcheko.

Bright sun, 21°C Bordeaux France.

Hi,

I think it would be great with a section for MorphOS system updates - new versions of libs etc. could be put there.

That would make it a lot easier to find "good to have" updates. Aminet was fine in its time, but things seem (to me) a little different now. IMO, it would be nice if there was a more uniform way of getting updates...

Separation of native / 68k sounds like a really good idea.

I want those screenshots

people are familiar with the aminet scheme. but what often annoys me is that many programmers don't know how to explain what in the heck their program is for.

we really need a way to get these short, unhelpful descriptions translated into human-speak.

and, i LIKE BOING BALLS! i am not ashamed of my amiga roots. anyway, a little boing ball is the best and most efficient way to show 68k use.
and boing balls were not "invented" by amiga inc. they go back as far as any amiga user can recall. we should embrace our proud heritage - and i'm talking about jay minor, etc.

in fact a jay minor icon can be used for some especially useful and historically important programs. certain classics, maybe.

also, one of the things i find confusing is when a new programmer takes over development, sometimes they seem to change the version numbers. and then i'm not sure if i actually have to most up-to-date lib, etc.

somehow these details have to be made clear.

@cecilia

Boing balls are evil from amiga inc!!!!

But using a boing ball, this webpage can have problems, because the will like fuck off a webpage related about MorphOS...

Tssk timofonic; no swearing when there are ladies present

And besides, cecelia is right; why should we be ashamed of our Amiga roots? I guess more than 90% of all pegasos's are owned by (former) amigans.

What about we handle the Aminet style on the organizing all programms.

Put more catagorisation while we all know that aminet list can be very long.

If you want a screenshot then you klik on the <screenshot> link. Otherwize it would losing its sight.

And by the way keep the short discriptions about the programs and the readme's as well.

[lib]boing.gif[/lib]

Inside the individual categories, sorting can be done via Title, Date, Rating (votes), Popularity (# of times downloaded).

Version and date is listed at the top, while # times downloaded, size, "platform", and "home page" are listed below.

This is already in place.

So, everyone would rather have the 68k stuff mixed in with the ppc stuff and just have it indicated on the download itself? (Should be easy enough, and since it's text it would allow 68k apps designed for MorphOS to be indicated as such).

[edit: I'm not ashamed of my amiga history, but that doesn't mean I want to be sued for it.]

Basically, the categories and sub-categories need to be cleaned up a bit with some guidelines for uploading?

[ Edited by Targhan on 2004/8/31 11:42 ]

Welcome to Morphzone Volm!

I'll second Darth_X's motion, welcome to MorphZone Volm!

Will try to post categories here later...