RoaringApps - App compatibility and feature support for OS X & iOS

It's pretty simple really. New versions are added via a link to create a new page in the auto-numbered app-version category (the parent page is set as the current application). A simple data form allows you to select the app's status and enter the version number (as title of the page - so that they can be ordered numerically). Then in the app:_template page, a ListPages module selects pages in the app-version category that have parent=".", and displays the title and data form status field.

Edit: Oh, and a redirect module in the app-version category takes you back to the application once you've saved the page (something I learnt from you on the STE extensions site). :)

From a purely technical standpoint for other Wikidot users, how have you set this up?

I can think of a couple ways of achieving this, but would like to know how you've done it. I'll have a quick look now to see if I can figure it out without the source code.

Edit: Looks great! No need to explain how it works :) It is very similar to what I'm already doing on my own site here, offering downloads of each version on the right of the page: Nintendo DS homebrew: Moonshell media player.

I'd suggest allowing a short description of what problems occur in each version though - it would make more sense to be on the version page rather than in the main "notes" section.

Today I am pleased to introduce a new feature here on RoaringApps that will hopefully make classifying application statuses a little easier - the ability to define multiple versions of the same app, each with an individual Mac OS X Lion status.
The most recently released stable version number should still be recorded in each app's main profile, and additional versions, whether they be previous builds or future beta releases, can now easily be added.

On another note, a big thank you to everyone who has contributed to RoaringApps over the past couple of days - it has been great to see the community and database grow in size each day. We reached 300 applications overnight, with more than 180 different developers and 75 community members. Keep up the good work.

Cheers,
Bryce

I don't own a Mac so forgive my ignorance… but are you saying that attempting to install it directly on to the Macbook Core Duo 1.83 would not work?

just a quick note - I installed Lion on an external USB drive connected to a Mac Mini Core 2 Duo, then removed

/System/Library/CoreServices/PlatformSupport.plist

and the drive then booted on my Macbook Core Duo 1.83 with no issues!

:D

I noticed that some of the applications' grids aren't big enough to fit all their info.

I'm adding/replacing any I run into. AppCleaner's and Bar Code Pro's icons are some that need replacing though still – if anyone has those applications.

Something may be developed in the future, however given I'm not a developer, it won't be by my hands. Should someone wish to create such an app, the Wikidot API may be useful to grab app statuses directly from this site.

A lot of apps don’t have icons. It’s simple.

Open the /Applications folder; right-click on the app you’re discussing, and click “Get info.” Left-click the icon at the top-left of the “Get info” window, next to the app’s name, once: it will become selected and display a blue border. Hit ⌘C.

Open /Developer/Applications/Utilities/Icon Composer.app; hit ⌘V. Save the file with ⌘S.

Open the resultant .icns file with Preview.app. Use File > Save As… to export the file as a .png (with alpha-layer!)

Upload that .png to the app’s page here on RoaringApps.

Do you think an application from this site will come out in the future? The Snow Leopard Compatibility wiki – which seems to me to be inactive now – had an application called SnowChecker.

Anyone here running their computer on 64-bit, or are they okay staying with the default of 32-bit? Will Lion keep the whole idea of having the default at 32-bit?

Anyone think that Lion will be the last of the OS X series? I would think they would have kept the Lion, "king of the jungle", name until 10.9 – if the series goes that high.

RoaringApps is powered by Wikidot.com, and each forum post and application comment is an individual wiki page. This means all the wonderfully easy Wikidot syntax can be used in your comments across the site. To help get you on your feet, here's a short overview of some handy syntax.

Regular text formatting

Images

Images can be inserted using the following syntax. All attributes (except image source url) are optional and can be removed.

[[image http://example.com/image-url.jpg width="100px" height="100px" alt="alt text" title="Image title" link="http://example.com/url-image-links-to" style="extra CSS styling"]]

Quote block

> This is a quote block.

This is a quote block

Code block

[[code]]
<div class="myDiv"></div>
[[/code]]

<div class="myDiv"></div>

For syntax highlighting of code, use [[code type="myType"]], where myType can be php, html, cpp, css, diff, dtd, java, javascript, perl, python, ruby, or xml.

[[code type="html"]]
<div class="myDiv"></div>
[[/code]]

<div class="myDiv"></div>

If you need any help understanding the syntax, feel free to ask below.

Hmm, you raise a good point. I've just made a change so that you can use the contact page to report duplicate apps, and I'll think about implementing a more sophisticated solution in the meantime.

Cheers,
Bryce

There's no specific criteria at the moment other than the obvious:

• works fine - no noticeable problems.
• some problems - any problems with performance, appearance, etc.
• doesn't work - fails to launch properly, or a critical bug exists.

Feel free to suggest a more refined set of criteria.

Cheers,
Bryce

Is there - or should there be - a specified criteria or process for how an app is designated?

Is there a way to report duplicates or expedite their removal?

Thanks :)

No problem with delay, just wasn't sure if you had missed the notification e-mail.

Leiger said:
should I update this page, or create a separate application for [STE] 3.24 ?

Ideally there should only be one entry for each application, with the latest version number recorded in the form. Compatibility issues for previous versions should be noted in the notes section.

P.S. sorry for the delayed response - my internet connection has been down for the past couple of days. Bryce.

Thanks to some great work by Wikidot, I've been able to improve the developer pages to integrate even better with the rest of the site. All of a developer's apps are now shown in beautiful grid view, and are counted automatically (rather than the app count being a select field in the data form).

Another recent improvement is the alphabetical listing of developers in the drop-down list on application pages, which makes the overall process far more user friendly.

These are small but important updates to the site which will hopefully improve the overall user experience.