Just wanted to post a note that I set start.portableapps.com live today. The menu links to it when you select to Search the Web. It's a simple page similar to the default Firefox homepage that allows you to search Google. PortableApps.com gets a share of all ad revenue generated by searches done through the page.
So, if you'd like to set it as your homepage, that would be cool, too 
Also, if anyone has any suggestions for the page, I'm happy to hear them. I was thinking about adding an RSS feed of news from PortableApps.com to it, for instance... maybe just the most recent few apps.
And now, I'm finally going to bed. (My typing is getting VERY bad)
John
UPDATE (August 19): I changed the search results pages to ditch the red header and changed the links in the results pages back to standard Google colors, which is much more readable.
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This combines two of my most favourite things, of course it will be set as my home page (beats Firefox start). And I'll think of some ideas for the page.
Edit: Will this be the home page in Firefox Portable?
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Cool Kids Don't Have Signatures. Umm... *shifty eyes*
That was the original intention, but the ability for me to do this went away during licensing negotiations.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
only 5 hours of sleep? Go back to bed and rest some more, the beta you released yesterday is enough for you to finally get some rest.
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"Truth is a river that is always splitting up into arms that reunite. Islanded between the arms, the inhabitants argue for a lifetime as to which is the main river." -- Cyril Connolly
"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on." -- Robert Frost
"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: baby ain't mine." -- Adam Holguin
I was on him to get to sleep, but I didn't end up going to sleep until 8:30am and getting up now, 1pm
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Cool Kids Don't Have Signatures. Umm... *shifty eyes*
4.5 hours? anything less than 6 hours is not enough for me. Unlike John (maybe you and others here), I have a boss that keeps a close eye on me, so I need to get up around 6 to make it to work by 8. The latest that I should go to sleep is at midnight.
I can't wait till I'm my own boss.
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"Truth is a river that is always splitting up into arms that reunite. Islanded between the arms, the inhabitants argue for a lifetime as to which is the main river." -- Cyril Connolly
"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on." -- Robert Frost
"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: baby ain't mine." -- Adam Holguin
My new startpage...
I think its a good idea to include the RSS feed.
But, on the other hand, I like the simplicity and cleanness of the page.
“I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong.” - Richard P. Feynman
"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate
Won't make bigs pop ups with RSS feeds and such, we know that.
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Cool Kids Don't Have Signatures. Umm... *shifty eyes*
2 minor things. 1, it should have a closing HTML tag. 2, the RSS feed would be good, but use something server side, not a Javascript aggregator (use MagpieRSS).
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Ryan McCue.
Blog.
So all that Airbus-delay trouble over here in Europe is because of YOU!
Simeon.
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
He didn't close the html, what on earth is this world coming to?
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Cool Kids Don't Have Signatures. Umm... *shifty eyes*
Nice.
Anyway, here's a Firefox search plugin thingy for it: [removed by moderator]
John, you can add it to the page.
Also, one more thing. Add a line of Javascript so that it automatically focuses the search box (
onload="javascript:document.getElementById('sbi').focus();").----
Ryan McCue.
Blog.
So all that Airbus-delay trouble over here in Europe is because of YOU!
Simeon.
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
I was gonna do that last night but I forgot in my tiredness. I added it.
Also added the HTML close tag (Duh).
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
It turns out that this is a violation of AdSense for Search terms of service. If you have the plugin, please remove it.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Oh well. I tried
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Ryan McCue.
Blog.
So all that Airbus-delay trouble over here in Europe is because of YOU!
Simeon.
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
Could there be a yahoo version of it? They allow you to add a logo to their search results.
cowsay Moo
cowthink 'Dude, why are you staring at me.'
I was thinking about adding ones for different engines. Thought it may be a "when I get to it" thing. I'll add a quick separate one for those that want to support the site.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Yahoo apparently doesn't share revenue with folks who add their search bar to their sites.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Start page looks great, great way to generate revenue, one complaint:
the results pages have too much red text (everything except the brief description under each heading is red). This makes it somewhat difficult to navigate, tell the difference between visited and not visited links, and just use the results in general.
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I don't believe in signatures
The developer formerly known as ZGitRDun8705
It was using a style sheet similar to here. I'll adjust the values a bit to distinguish things a bit more.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
One more thing, the Make a Donation button just looks like plain text, not a button, many users may not notice that it's a link since it matches the plain text on the page.
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I don't believe in signatures
The developer formerly known as ZGitRDun8705
It's the standard paypal donation button... and I don't want it to be too distracting for people. Maybe I'll make it a link instead and setup a Donations page on the site here.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I thought I saw a graphic button somewhere that just said PayPal. It's small, slightly colored to distinguish it from the background. If you find it, could that be placed next to the text?
Or I could make one in Photoshop tonight when i get home from work.
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I don't believe in signatures
The developer formerly known as ZGitRDun8705
Yeah, but it just says PayPal... it doesn't say 'Donate', which is kinda what we want to have people realize.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
That's why I suggested putting it next to the link.
I could make one if you like that will actually say Make a Donation. Just give me the dimensions and I'll have it by 7 tonight (can't do it at work)
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I don't believe in signatures
The developer formerly known as ZGitRDun8705
looks good, made it my start page.
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Because they stand on a wall and say nothing is going to hurt you tonight. Not on my watch.
"Because they stand on a wall and say, 'Nothing is going to hurt you tonight. Not on my watch.'" (A Few Good Men)
Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous.(Albert Einstein)
same here
i love it
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- U3 1GB Flash Drive
- 512 MB Lexar Jump Drive
Na na na, come on!
This is now my new start page... I'll even click on an ad here and there for you
even though I normally don't click on Google ads.
Chad
"If knowledge can create problems, is it not through ignorance that we can solve them." -Isaac Asimov
OK, a few more things.
1, the page should be space optimized like the actual Google homepage, i.e. remove all whitespace from the source (well, it does make it load faster)
2, add the search plugin to the page (I'll get a better one up later) and add auto-discovery for it by adding:
<link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" title="searchTitle" href="pluginURL" />3,
I'll do a simple PHP aggregator for you, if you want.It's done now. If you want it, tell me and I'll email it to you.----
Ryan McCue.
Blog.
So all that Airbus-delay trouble over here in Europe is because of YOU!
Simeon.
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
I stripped the whitespace and got the image size down even smaller.
You can't use AdSense for Search within software, only on websites.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
You mean the aggregator? Cause that's PHP. As in, on the server. As in, 1 line of require_once on the start page.
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Ryan McCue.
Blog.
So all that Airbus-delay trouble over here in Europe is because of YOU!
Simeon.
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
You can't use Google Adsense for Search with in any software, only on web pages.
And I decided to hold off on the feed for now. It's a straight HTML page and I'm gonna leave it like that for now.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Here's a screenshot of what it looks like
(Not just a mock-up either)
http://cubegames.net/mitfeed.jpg
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Ryan McCue.
Blog.
So all that Airbus-delay trouble over here in Europe is because of YOU!
Simeon.
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
I like having the wide-open space. Loads faster, and feels almost identical to my previous homepage (Google.com)
Please Make TiLP Portable
Awesome. I've used Add to Search Bar (FF addon) and it's my new search page! I've been clicking on ads for ya!
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"Pray as if everything depended upon God and work as if everything depended upon man."
Francis Cardinal Spell
-Please search before posting.
"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning." - Rick Cook
You've been clicking on ads because you were throughly interested in their content.
RIGHT?
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Cool Kids Don't Have Signatures. Umm... *shifty eyes*
Not to single you out... as I'm sure you know this, but I need to say it anyway:
Remember not to go wild clicking on ads. If you're genuinely interested in something, cool, check it out. But don't click on ads just to get PortableApps.com money. It's not fair to the advertisers. And it's against Google's Terms of Service.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I changed the search results pages. The red header is gone. And the link colors now use the standard Google colors. I think its much more readable.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Looks great, much easier to read. Thanks for updating it.
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I don't believe in signatures
The developer formerly known as ZGitRDun8705
Me likey. Me usey.
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Ryan McCue.
Blog.
So all that Airbus-delay trouble over here in Europe is because of YOU!
Simeon.
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
No: "PortableApps.com gets a share of all ad revenue generated by searches done through the page".
EDIT: Ooops that was for Patrick.
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"Pray as if everything depended upon God and work as if everything depended upon man."
Francis Cardinal Spell
-Please search before posting.
"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning." - Rick Cook
I was kidding, see John's comment.
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Signature...What Signature?
Hi John,
Finally a way I can contribute to the success of PortableApps! Thanks!
My suggestion for the home page, apart from the RSS feed, is to add a link to the last couple of newsletters, if they still exist.
Thanks again
Paul
They don't yet. We've been trying to get him to do it.
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Ryan McCue.
Blog.
So all that Airbus-delay trouble over here in Europe is because of YOU!
Simeon.
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
This is very pretty. I like the simplicity. I need some sleep now, I just hit backspace 4 times while telling myself to push space.
Hi John,
As I started typing this, I realised that it might not be as easy as I thought...
Here goes anyway.
People not living in America, get a radio button that allows them to only search pages from their own country. I use it a lot these days and having it available on your start page would be helpful.
If it is only an option available from google, would it be possible to add it?
Regards
Paul
It's now my new home page.
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Think Before Posting
Please Make TiLP Portable
shouldn't it be a good idea to announce the portable apps you are developing at the moment on start.portableapps.com?
Why are there no "Cache" links on your Google page like there are in "regular" Google?
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There but for the grace of logic go I...
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There but for the grace of logic go I...
Ask Google, since it's only the standard search page supplied by the AdSense for Search program.
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Ryan McCue.
Blog.
So all that Airbus-delay trouble over here in Europe is because of YOU!
Simeon.
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
I'd like to see a textbox below the google box that searches portableapps.
The url would have to end up looking something like this:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Autorun&sitesearch=portableapps.com
Have an Awesome Day!
BTW - There is a FF search plugin for PortableApps.com here: https://portableapps.com/node/6512
If you install the plugin through mycroft here please go back and Judge It!. Thanks.
--
Life is about the journey not the destination!
My site * My Blog
The Kazoo Spartan
Life is about the journey not the destination!
The Kazoo Spartan
mycroft: I did, and I did
Have an Awesome Day!
hey really quick if u hit search without typing anything in the search bar, to page still direct to the search page. I dont know if that is something you want just thought i would mention it
Please search before posting. ~Thanks
Nice page! Made it my homepage!
1 suggestion though: when the search results are displayed the "Portable Apps" banner doesn't link to the portable apps page anymore. (yeah it's only a small suggestion)
Optimism is a moral duty - Karl R. Popper
This is great - I love firefox and portable apps, great to be able to have a search page that supports you in anyway!
One suggestion - Is it possible to regionalise searches (Standard google has search pages only in Australia or World wide) can this be done for this page??
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Cheers
Steve Griffiths
I don't know, I'll have to GOOGLE it!
I crack myself up.
Hmm... good question, I don't have an answer.
Hey I don't know if you've noticed, but you can find the answer to just about anything the net has to offer, on my homepage. Enjoy!
Have an Awesome Day!
if I remember correctly John said that localisation isn't offered by Google for customised pages...:(
"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate
nice website how u can make all this free software??? thank you making this free software cauz i've installed all the software of portable xD
and nice search engine also
They didn't make the software, they just made it portable. Still quite a bit of work though.
Have an Awesome Day!
I will definately make it my homepage. I enjoy the work done here and will try to support any way I can
Perhaps add two RSS Feeds: One lists recent updates/releases of Official PortableApps, the other lists recent updates/releases of PortableApps in Development. Those could be on the right and left sides under the search bar with a Weather "widget" in the middle that can be set to a specific Zip Code, similar to iGoogle.
Failure is not an option. It comes bundled with Windows.
Is it possible to edit the PortableApps.com start page to still have the google services links on the top of the page like the Firefox start page?
PortableApps.com Advocate
It doesn't work with our letters like "蚞ȊŽ".
Is this bellow from the source the reason for that?
<input type=hidden name=ie value=ISO-8859-1></input>
<input type=hidden name=oe value=ISO-8859-1></input>
I'm trying to use it as much as possible but this limitation is not small for me.
Thanks.
Just verified that. The Search page uses UTF-8 (which is good), the result page is encoded as ISO-8859-1 (yuk). Converted my test input
to
Yuk again.
I seem to remember the Google APIs support UTF-8 for the AdSense Search thingy, so maybe just a little coding sloppyness. American programmers tend to forget that there are characters beyond [A-Za-z0-9_]. I’ve been fighting against that problem since 3 decades now.
(Sorry for teasing a little here. I do respect everyone’s work, honestly. Simply couldn’t resist. And I’m sure John will be able to fix it up in a snap. And anyway, he’s working late at night on this stuff. Thanks for that.)
I don't think it's limited to America, it's English speaking nations in general. Since English is so widely spoken it's very easy to be lazy.
Once China becomes the new super power and we all have to start speaking Chinese then perhaps you'll see that sloppyness fade a little from the English speaking nations.
Basic Chinese requires mastery of about 3,000 characters.
If the English-speaking world can't handle ~100 now, there's no way that they will switch to Chinese.
I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.
It was auto-generated by Google a while ago. I've fixed the page on our servers and it should handle Unicode entries and results now.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!