New AppDB - I am the only one to hate it?

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Timeout
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New AppDB - I am the only one to hate it?

Post by Timeout »

Until a couple of days ago, I could look in the AppDB like in a tree from category to category and I had the name of the application IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER.
Now there is some field to click, search by rating .etc but if I want to find my application, I have to go through 200 applications rated by last entries.

I seriously don't find anything anymore? Is it a change to make use of the google box since that was the last chance of searching by name/alphabetical order???
Anyway I prefer not to search anymore that going through 200 entries or go through a search engine to find something where I just want to enter the name. :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:
Alexander Nicolaysen S...

New AppDB - I am the only one to hate it?

Post by Alexander Nicolaysen S... »

På Søndag 15 juni 2008 , 08:15:20 skrev Timeout:
Until a couple of days ago, I could look in the AppDB like in a tree from
category to category and I had the name of the application IN ALPHABETICAL
ORDER. Now there is some field to click, search by rating .etc but if I
want to find my application, I have to go through 200 applications rated by
last entries.

I seriously don't find anything anymore? Is it a change to make use of the
google box since that was the last chance of searching by name/alphabetical
order??? Anyway I prefer not to search anymore that going through 200
entries or go through a search engine to find something where I just want
to enter the name. [Evil or Very Mad] [Evil or Very Mad] [Evil or Very
Mad] [Evil or Very Mad]
Sorting by app name should be the default again soon. In the mean time, you
can click on the 'application' table header to sort by name.


But I also find your question interesting: are you the only one to hate the
new 'browse apps' page? :)

Please post here to tell us what we can do to improve the 'browse apps' page.
If it is desirable, I guess we could also re-introduce the old one.



Alexander N. Sørnes
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Post by Timeout »

I need some search by name or search by company name.

At present I have to search Google to get to the application because I am not even sure in which category it had been put.
In the past I used to browse all categories and since it was alphabetical, I would find it (after some time).
The field of Google search is of any help if you are sure to name the software exactly how it had been named, any misspelling or wrongly placed space and you get either no results or not appropriate.

Maybe I will not exactly know the full name, but for instance I would know it starts with a "A".

Once I found a dictionary (http://atilf.atilf.fr/ in French) that was well structured. You were first seeking for the first letter (let say A), then the software was proposing you all possible words starting with Ax (where x was any possible combination of the 2 first letters of a word). Letter for letter you were going down the tree of all possibilities. Of course if you knew the name, you could type it directly and if you found nothing you could check for misspellings.

The case it is at the moment, to find it, you already have to know what had been entered for it.
looki
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Post by looki »

im using google to find something in appdb. i type "gamename wine appdb". if wine appdb has my game, i will find it that way.

on wine appdb i can easily browse random apps. like the top ten platinuum list, but this is only for having a look, in the case i see a cheap game in the market, which is rated v good in wine. so i will probably buy it then :)
Alexander Nicolaysen S...

New AppDB - I am the only one to hate it?

Post by Alexander Nicolaysen S... »

På Søndag 15 juni 2008 , 13:18:51 skrev Timeout:
I need some search by name or search by company name.

At present I have to search Google to get to the application because I am
not even sure in which category it had been put. In the past I used to
browse all categories and since it was alphabetical, I would find it (after
some time). The field of Google search is of any help if you are sure to
name the software exactly how it had been named, any misspelling or wrongly
placed space and you get either no results or not appropriate.

Maybe I will not exactly know the full name, but for instance I would know
it starts with a "A".

Once I found a dictionary (http://atilf.atilf.fr/ in French) that was well
structured. You were first seeking for the first letter (let say A), then
the software was proposing you all possible words starting with Ax (where x
was any possible combination of the 2 first letters of a word). Letter for
letter you were going down the tree of all possibilities. Of course if you
knew the name, you could type it directly and if you found nothing you
could check for misspellings.
Yes, that dictionary was quite well structured. How about adding the
following fields

- Starts with
You could enter 'A' and get all apps starting with A, or, say,
'Command & Conquer' to get all Command & Conquer games.

- Contains
Any part of the name. Entering 'office' would for instance match Microsoft
Office and OpenOffice amongst others. I'm not sure if it's best to treat
spaces as litteral spaces or wildcards. What do you think?


Browsing by developer is possible, but the link is incorrectly
called 'Vendors'. We will try to change the use of 'vendor' throughout the
database.


Would any of these changes help? Is there anything else that would be useful?
The case it is at the moment, to find it, you already have to know what had
been entered for it.

Alexander N. Sørnes
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Post by Timeout »

All these changes would be perfect.

It would prevent us (as a normal user) to have to categorize a software to be able to find it.
I must admit some categories are meaningful for developers but for normal users having to distinct if something is a file transfer, a remote access, a special purpose or utility is a bit demanding.
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