PortableApps.com Platform 2.0 Pre-Release 1 Released: Folders, App Store, Search, Theming and More!

I'll immediately start kicking the tires. I've already downloaded and will be installing any minute.

Thank you, John, and to all the others involved and working behind the scenes.

Definitely worth the wait

It looks good, but you know that already.

Started writing bugs down, but then I realized you got a forum topic for that. To the forum topic, then...

Thank you for all that you do here. Portable apps have been very helpful and easy to use. The collection has grown greatly. Better apps and many useful tools.
Thanks to all that have converted them. Thank you for the many games that you have made available too.

Good to see it moving another step!

This is my first post, so please, if this is in the wrong section, move it.

Just installed PR1 and began playing. So far I like it. All but one little detail. I usually run a dark theme, like black on black. When I do, I end up with a BIG WHITE scroll bard down the middle of the interface. Can supply pic if it is not reproduce-able.

It would be nice to have the option of the old menu interface as well (no folders and such) just the scroll button on the bottom.

Great job everybody!

I'm very impressed with the new platform - many thanks to all those who have contributed!

Cheers,
James
x

... not that I lost my faith, but it is good to see it released finally.
I just played a little and am quite pleased with the new features. I have some comments, won't call most of them bugs but suggestion. I will post them in the bugs topic nevertheless.

Thanks and congratulations, great job for now.

Thanks John for this. I am eager to try it.
I hope the donations go up from now on.

After using it a bit I am quite impressed with the folders.
But I am a bit unhappy with the search bar location. Imho it would be nicer to have it at the bottom over the free-space-bar or so.

Taking a look at the Graphics folder, I see how you have set up the structure.

I'm curious to see how a custom theme folder structure will be set up for the custom themes. I would hope that all of the new graphics are fair game for customization! Provided there aren't any big changes in packaging, I should be able to rework my PAM Theme Builder fairly quickly, and I'd like to have it ready soon after PR2.
Any info would be appreciated...

Thanks

Though I haven't had chance to d/l yet I can see I'm in for a treat

I still think you should take my advice though John, stop giving dates!It's nice to have an idea of a release date, but you seem to have a habit of missing them! Oops! And it's. always nice to be surprised when a new release comes out too. At least that way you'd get no bad criticism for missing dates.

I know this sounds a bit negative, but I'm really only trying to help

All the best and well done for the great work, it was worth the wait.

Thanks

EDIT: I tried to d/l v2pr1 using my phone but apparently iits not supported

Good to see that progress is being made but I shall be sticking with the original 2.0 Beta until such time as the desktop icon is incorporated.

Have tried the new version and I really like the App Store and folder functions.

Nice to see a tangible result. I will certainly be using this and the following updates because after all the hard work (and the long wait) I am sure there are very few bugs.

Portable apps is a fine application. I have introduced many of my friends to this and they are all, without exception, very impressed. Well done.

I really like the work from Jon and the other PortableApps supporter. The platform itself is not usable at all. There are some good improvements like the updater, but all in all the interface is clumsy and very uncomfortable to use. I feel very sorry, that Jon wasn't open to welcome savantage some years ago. He is the programmer of Asuite which has still the best interface for me. He was willing to support PortableApps with Asuite. Now it is an dead project, but still the best platform. Sorry for the clear words. Here are some points which have to improve from my perspective:

1. The interface: I need an unobtrusive small and fast menu, which can be easily activeated. Best concepts come from Launchy(just a searchbar, activated by shortcuts) and PStart, Asuite (simply, plain folder menu, activated at the screen borders).

2. The long Name "Program-name Portable" is nonfunctional. In addition there use spaces which can make problems with scripts. If you scan a menu and it is harder to distinguish. Why not simply user a big "P" to differentiate it.

3. Same problem with the folder there the programs are hosted. They have to be named "Program-name Portable". Otherwise the update won't work.

4. Not flexible enough to add other programs. Why is there not an drag and drop support, to add my own programs.

5. There are all the individual Startoptions?

I know Jon is spending a lot of time. I really appreciate his work and commitment. But from my perspective the platform is going the wrong way . It is focused to support only programs developed here. I would like to see a more flexible and open platform. So far I can't recommend this project to my users.

I've been anticipating this for a long time... from the first mentions last July then again around December and finally in May when I thought it was just around the corner... but now it's really here! Over the last year I've argued with myself whether I should "join" the ball-busters (using every opportunity to complain about the lack of progress) or the ass-kissers (jumping to the defense of the developers every chance they got) and finally I just decided to keep my mouth shut and wait it out... and I'm happy that I did

What a great release.... and with a few surprises even! I've been using the Beta5 all along so I've gotten used to the auto-update and love it... I knew about the upcoming "Portable App Directory™" and the category/folder view... but I had no idea you were incorporating the Find-As-You-Type search, which I (and probably a bunch of others) have been asking for/suggesting in the forums... very nice indeed

All I can say is thanks a lot to everyone involved (John & Co.) and I'm looking forward to the shorter (Chrome-style) development cycle from now on!

Off to the bug/suggestion forum...

Congratulations on the release, finally we will get to see all the work you put into improving the platform.

The menu is a little confusing to adjust to at first. It kinda reminds me of the Win XP menu. Favs at top, most recent under, then everything else in a small clustered section after a click or two.
I miss some of the themes that got removed like RainbowDark.
The new icons look okay, but can there be options to opt out back to the Win7 like icons so they match the folder icons?

Version From: 20.07.2011

Screenshot 1 - Screenshot 2 - Screenshot 3

Thank For You Great Job!
Greeting From germany

*My English its Bad, Sorry!

First of all thank you so much for your effort! The new platform looks great!

When loading the Updater, I found out that on the loading splash screen (I use the platform in German) it says "Suche auf nach aktualisierten", whereas it should actually say "Suche nach Aktualisierungen". Just a small hint...

Thanks again and good luck with the future process of the platform.

Definitely worth the wait [2]
I'm surprised with the PAc's App Store-like built in app.
Thank you very much for this!

I've just tried the new PAP v2pr1.1 and it's impressive. I read about the bugs beforehand and experienced the platform auto update bug as well. Though if you close the window which says software update complete before proceeding with the update then it seems to work better.

Also stuff left behind from previous version. Not sure which files are necessary.
Scroll bar shows icons and sometimes a part of the platform graphic also showed on moving mouse back and forward.
App Store showed AniFX Portable in Games category.

I like the way you added various types for the categories, my fave is Favourites first then Categories.

Now for couple feature requests:
1. Would like to see option to show menu in similar way to ASuite, PStart, Classic windows menu, etc. when click on systray icon.
2. Right click should show more options like the Manage Apps and Options menu's.
3. I would also like to have the option to search a user specified folder for apps. This way I could keep my non-PA.c apps seperate.

Also, the in built themes are a bit strange! I mean, the colours don't actually match the colours stated.
eg.
Orange is Brown
Yellow is like a Lime Green
Gold is pretty much Green

Though I like this last one! Well they're all ok but they just don't really match my expectation of the description!

Talking of Theming, can I use my old Apart Carbon Theme for v2 still? Where would I put the files?

Thanks for a fantastic update, can't wait to see future versions

This really looks good and was worth the wait. I installed the 1.1 release over the top of beta 5 and everything is working. Loads faster for me. There is some minor problems with the scroll bar graphics and the colors are a little off(as someone pointed out).

I noticed that when a white color is selected you have white text on the white background in the right side folder area, until you mouse over those folders.

Organization #1 is my favorite.

On App list organization #3, how is the order of the favorites determined? Seems very random. I thought at first it was by usage but don't think so. Favorites should be alphabetically for this option. Is there a way to sort them?

I know there is some feature creep but user defined categories would be sweet.

One suggestion for "Portable App Directory™ - A Built-In Portable App Store".

I need to display a column where i can see the license of software. That would be great.

Its Great to see the new release!!! I have been waiting for those folders for a long time and I love them!!! (I always hated scrolling down the huge list to find the app I was looking for ... if it wasn't in my favorites)
Also, kudos to the person who decided to allow the users to create their own categories/folders. I Love the search feature, too.
GREAT JOB to ALL who worked on the new release!!!

This morning I let the portableapps.com platform try to update itself. It complained about a file that it could not update so I tried to cancel the installation. It did not cancel. The installation process was hung. The way I fixed this problem was to kill the installation process, download the platform executable, and manually update. It works now. I would tell you which file it was complaining about but I cannot find an installation log.

Can you give any kind of updates on the rumored availability of branded PA drives??

Congratulations to the team for the outstanding work you have done to exit this interface very accomplished for a RC version, but also praise for the work you do every day to help with the development of new portable applications.

Regards
Raymond Team of Mathon French

1)progressive search
2)truly numeric sort in Download/Install size columns
3)pauseable/resumeable individual downloads
4)Outlook-style sorts, i.e. click on Download columns, it groups by size
5)show versions, allow downloading of older versions
6)show already downloaded items with version
7)show work list, i.e. when you click on an item to download, add it to a list of items, showing total download size and estimated time
8)postpone download until online
9)show more info on apps when you click on them (don't launch a browser)

Thanks.

Yes, on 2.0 Pre-Release 1 are not good themes, only rubbish.

I hope the bugs and ... will be fixed in the final realease and all words will be perfectly translated, no englich words, that i cant understand for example: expand categories by default(in every language i read this in english, I think it must be translated in the language which i need)

mfg Basti

Just downloaded the new platform and it's fantastic. I love the simplicity and the user interface is so much cleaner. I haven't found any issues with it as of yet but, from what U have seen and used I like it a lot. Keep up the great work.

[Moved from a new thread into this thread - mod Chris]

My suggestion: add a calendar. See the image http://goo.gl/kHD6J

On the built-in theme system:
You currently have ini files in separate folders named like the Chrome files.
The text colors are locked into those ini files.
You only have a few set colors for the background.

A better approach:
Have a single ini file for the built-in themes.
The selections in the Options>Themes would write to the ini.
In the Options>Themes tab, have the following selectable options:
Chrome
Default Light
Default Dark
Beveled Light
Beveled Dark
Aerish Light
Aerish Dark
None
Background
Color (use a color picker) (add checkbox for none)
Image (use a file browser) (add checkbox for none)
Text Color
Apps (use a color picker)
Folders (use a color picker)
Drive Space (use a color picker)

This would allow users to change the look very easily. You could even have some preset color/chrome combos to get people started.

Will the Portable App Directory show only apps you don't have in the future? (ie hide installed applications)

And FINALLY!

Totally Awesome! I love it!
Seems pretty stable so far.
If I do find any bugs I'll make sure and report them.

Congratulations on the RC1 release...but I'm not happy at all.

I was intending going out this weekend, but can now see myself sitting in front of my laptop giving this RC1 a good grilling - just as well the wife and kids are away for the weekend!

I've moaned about the lack of a P2 RC previously, but my hats off to you guys for a big step forward. Keep the updates bitesized and regular from now on; keeps us happy and saves you guys from getting indigestion.

Well done.

Looks good so far. I've only used it about 5 seconds though

I noticed you don't update/delete Autorun.inf. If you do a PR2, it might help to have the installer delete it (except for me, since all the library PCs still have autorun enabled).

And caching? No caching?

Don't know if it's been mentioned, but the icons in the context menu are ugly on XP when you hover over them (both classic and Luna)

And Apple throws a fit when you use "App Store"

Great Job! Great Team! GREAT PLATFORM!

Thanks on the update. I do have one suggestion and one suggestion/request.

Initial presentation
I was distracted and puzzled by the initial setup which is "Smart with categories". I could not find my Thunderbird, which sits at the end of my list. And clicking on All Portable Apps lists them by category. It's only after I had played around with all the menus that I discovered my way to the old setup. My suggestion would be to either set up a rotation between the three forms (à la Thunderbird), or to show the "Show all with categories" at the initial setup. That way, new users to PortableApps would easily find their way around.

Shortcut
Former shortcut (in beta 5) was windows-alt-space. It didn't interfere with Word's "remove formatting" and "hard space" commands.

sad face..