My Huge Software Download Site

[Brian Gillingham 0]

It's alive! (some reason, the Frankenstein quote is so relevant... more on that later).

I have a pretty generic software download site up now. It can be found at http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/.

If you are looking for ANY software, I am pretty confident that you can find a good shareware or freeware application. The site hosts a database of over 18,800 programs! I actually wrote some code to do the importing . The software is all imported from the ASP PAD file repository (ASP="Association of Software Professionals" .. PAD=Portable Application Description XML files). I should have a bigger number when I am finished importing the PADs. PAD sites allow developers to quickly list their software at multiple sites.

I am currently developing the site to filter searches based on platform and/or software type (Freeware / Shareware / Trialware, etc.) Also, the look and feel of the listings is going to be improved. I am adding database tables / fields to allow for download tracking and developer advertising ("featured" programs). I am also putting together some code that reads / creates RSS feeds.... so, this "creation" is a real Frankenstein of different bits of code.

I'd love to hear what you think about my new site.

[michaelper22 0]

It looks pretty nice. I see you have a decent size collection of software, but I can't tell how much of it is free. A feature recommendation: At the bottom or top of each category page, add filtering options similar to Download.com (OS, license, Size, etc.) That will help bring you more traffic as far as I can tell. I will defenitely visit your site again.

[Brian Gillingham 0]

... A feature recommendation: At the bottom or top of each category page, add filtering options similar to Download.com (OS, license, Size, etc.) That will help bring you more traffic as far as I can tell...

I am working on the filtering for categories... I want to include features like those from download.com, but I think that http://www.softpedia.com/ has a pretty nice way to filter. I will have to look at download.com again... Thanks for the tip.

I NEED to filter the list of software - it is getting to be HUGE. I initially thought that there would be only around 15,000 listings, but it looks like it will be more than 20,000 when I am done importing. I am working on extending the database a bit to handle download count and possibly add user ratings.

I also want to add another form for submitting a listing - that doesn't depend on the PAD XML file format. The site shouldn't exclude those authors who don't create PAD files.

[Moolkye 0]

Nice collection of stuff. I hope you keep on top of it. You can rank up there with some of the other biggies. To tell you the truth, I really hate downlaod.com now. Horrible layout. Yours is neat and very well organized.Good luck!You get my Approval, not that it matters!

[garbage 0]

very goof site you have there. definately alot of stuff to go thru .. i will be spending some time at your site...

[kylelnsn 0]

wow thats a lot of stuff, mite trawl through a few later, nic epost thanks

[BOAW 0]

thats pretty kool, keep up the good work, hope you get to finall reach your goal. It sort of reminds me of download.com becuase of how its supposed to provide us. Unfortunately i cant tell which sites are better nor will i probably not ever be able to tell. But id still visit both sites becuase some sites just have things other sites dont. Your probably getting money off this which is really kool becuase you affiliating with the other company's and sites correct? i think thats one of the easiest ways to get money online. Besides i thats probably why you made this, for the money =D

[JC05 0]

Thats an awesome site you have there. I like it. I know now where to come when i want a download. Very cool. Lots of stuff, different catagories so you don't have to wade through everything else. lol very cool

[Sprnknwn 0]

It?s great but a website of this kind is going to be very big... I mean, difficult to handle. You really need filtering, otherwise visitors are going to be lost. Great job there.

[steve17 0]

To be honest I suggest makingor purchasing a better template but the site is still nice.

[apurva 0]

yeah the site is pretty cool..Downloads thats what we want and you provide it. Also the site layout it okay but you can work on it.

[michaelper22 0]

OK, I see button for picking to view freeware and paidware, but when I click one of those links, I see downloads in all categories, not the one I was currently viewing. As I mentioned earlier, I like Download.com's filtering tools.

[Brian Gillingham 0]

OK, I see button for picking to view freeware and paidware, but when I click one of those links, I see downloads in all categories, not the one I was currently viewing. As I mentioned earlier, I like Download.com's filtering tools.

Ok.... now the filtering buttons should work - as well as the "Next / Prev" page links -- maintain the currently selected filter. So, if you are looking for "DVD" and you have the Freeware filter on, you should be able to navigate all "Freeware DVD" selections - until you change the filter.

Having said that, I have noticed that there are quite a few programs listed that have prices and they are categorized as "Freeware" (based on the author's PAD file specs). I think that I should modify the query to also require "price=0" when searching for Freeware.

Now that the filtering works, it is much easier to find the kind of program that you need.

Thanks to everybody for the kind words about my site. The design is getting better based on your recommendations here -- THANKS! Feedback is good - I hope to make the site good enough to get people to bookmark it.

[tdm 0]

I took a qiuck look and it looks really well laid out. Nice Work. I would love to know how much software you actually have on there?

[Brian Gillingham 0]

I took a qiuck look and it looks really well laid out. Nice Work. I would love to know how much software you actually have on there?

I have 21,359 software titles listed as of today.

The filtering really is nice. You can start out by specifying the program type (freeware, shareware, etc), and filter results with the click of a button. (you could also specify the program type with the initial query)

I recently was e-mailed an offer from another download site to create my own site based on their site's template and initial database of only 17,000+ titles - for over $1,000 sale. I created my database, and perhaps I could sell it for $1,001 or more. Ha! I really wouldn't sell my database - unless somebody offered more than that. What I got cost $0 - and has well over 3,000 more titles.