Just a boatload of features and other things I suggest to be added/integrated with the Portable Apps Menu.
1. Have a little feature that can restrict files on all the drives (including the thumbdrive that the menu runs off of.) to launch only using the apps in the menu.
(similar in concept to AppSnapper ( the link: http://software.u3.com/Product_Details.aspx?ProductId=244&Selection=8&La... )
Also with this feature make it easy for other to write scripts to use the feature with their own Portable apps.
Note: AppSnapper costs some money.
2. Make a wallpaper swapping feature like the one here: http://software.u3.com/Product_Details.aspx?ProductId=191&Selection=8&La...
And make the feature compatible with other image formats like .png .jpeg .gif etc.
3. Make the menu so it can find and install updates for the apps on the menu.
Like the update feature of this http://sourceforge.net/projects/zpin/
4. Give the upcoming theme feature a user interface ( like Firefox's)
5. Make something that makes the Portable Apps menu automatically launch with-out having to click anything. Kinda like how U3 makes a CD partion of the thumbdrive but make the menu uninstallable without an uninstaller if you do this (unlike U3 in which you hafta download an uninstaller to eradicate it.)
6. Make the tools menu of the menu a swiss-army knife of tools. Add things like a pie chart of the space taken by the Portable apps ( and the menu) and the rest of the storage space (including the Documents directory). (Like U3's storage space pie chart feature.), and make a built-in encryption utility ( with simple file encryption and maybe virtual drives) and try to make it simple as the Portable Apps Backup utility.
7. Turn the Options drop down menu into a button for an options window ( and with lots of options). With basic options like the ones found in Ceedo (a thingy similar to U3 and you can install it to any thumbdrive but it is a 30 day trial) and include other things.)
Ceedo Link: http://www.ceedo.com/
8. Redesign the apps list on the menu to make it more customizable. For instance allow features like separators, dragging and dropping, instant organization to list them in alphabetical order or order of how much space an app consumes. If you make the separator feature I suggested a reality make it so you can put text on the separator so for instance I wanted to make separators so I can organize apps by their category I might wanna add text like if I am organizing apps in the graphics category like Blender Portable and The GIMP Portable, on the separators I would wanna add the word Graphics on that separator. Also make it so I can highlight ( with many color choices of course) apps on the apps list to easily spot it.
9. Make a feature that strips the menu down to nothing so it resembles PStart ( for users that prefer simplicity) and make a button that returns the menu back to default. In addition make a custom strip feature that makes it so you can take some stuff off of the menu ( much like Firefox's customize toolbar feature) and make so you can put the removed stuff back on. And make this feature work via tragging and dropping.
10. Make a way to integrate the features of the portable apps themselves (for instance in Firefox Portable when you click an e-mail address make it launch a compose message window from Thunderbird Portable) and make it so other people can write scripts for their own portable apps. And with the upcoming WackGet portable like make it so in Firefox a download option appears for downloading in WackGet Portable.
11. Make a search utility for the search drop down menu in the Menu ( the one below the Help button.). It would be better using a stand alone since lots of people are trying to lead an IE free life plus the Windows search thing sucks and always did.
12. Maybe make an addons feature for the Menu ( much like Firefox extensions and Ceedo addons).
13. Make a utility that makes other apps portable ( from setup files to portable apps). Much like Ceedo's InstallAnything.
14. Make it so that you can manipulate the name listed on apps on the apps list. Like for instance I use Camstudio Portable all the things for that all have the same name ( this would be great to have that feature.
15. Make a way to autorun apps upon the starting of the Menu.
Viewers... feel free to submit your suggestions in this thread as comments.
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two items on my wish list are:
1) when the "x" is clicked (or a new button)to close PAM i'd like it to eject the drive (safe remove automatically). i think i saw this request in another topic.
2) to have to option to autorun an pp not only on startup, but on shutdown. i'd like to run a cleaner prog automatically when i close PAM
I like a lot of those ideas. I have a lot of ideas for the skinning I'm gonna make a post of. Working on a mockup now.
Some of your points are already planned for the next few versions (2, 8, 14, possibly 15).
Some seem to me, as a non-programmer, rather hard to implement (1, 5, 10, 13).
Others don't seem so important or good to me.
Plus one of the best characteristics of PortApp Menu to me is that is is small and effective. Adding all your ideas would increase the size and decrease the speed of the tool.
Items 5 and 10 are beyond the scope of PAM.
Item 5 refers to Windows Auto-Run functionality - which you can enable yourself. From a business perspective, this is a nightmare "feature" of Windows. Automatically running a program when connecting a device is a fantastic way to spreading a virus, trojan, spyware, etc. We've come full circle back to the days of floppy disks being the preferred method of virus transfer, except it's USB media this time around.
Item 10 is also beyond the scope of PAM. PAM would have to "know" the features of each app and be able to change it and account for differences in those features with each release of the app itself, not just PAM. For instance, if AppX v1.0 has a feature takes a single argument and AppX v2.0 modifies that feature to require 2 arguments, PAM would have to recognize not only which version of the app is installed but also how many arguments it needs and how to provide those arguments. It sounds simple but believe me, this is a lot of work for very little gain, especially when you consider many apps already allow you to configure this within the app itself.
Using your example, you can tell Firefox what app to launch when you click on a Quicktime file link: go to the Tools menu and click on "Options..." In the Options window, click on the "Content" globe then click the "Manage..." button in the "File Types" box.
-Jeff
-Jeff
12 is also outta there. An EXE file just "unpacks" the files it has -- some installers just have the options of choosing what to put/not put in. The installer wouldn't work because you can't really just tell an executable to do that differently, unless it's an installer, and STILL that's pretty limited.
With the PAF format (incorrect English there, but oh well) John is doing NSIS installer-type extractors which will accept command-line params from the menu.
----
Ryan McCue
Person 1: Oh my god. You will never believe what just happened.
Person 2: What?
Person 1: I can't remember, I've forgotten.
"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."
Just wanted to throw in my vote for a wallpaper changer as part of PAM's theme support.
Just added a new theme with wallpaper, check the PortableAppsMenu Themes thread.
SmithTech
"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)
your women-themes...
"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate
I'll be doing more once theme support is finalized in PAM.
I'm gonna have to go back and redo them once everything is finalized so don't want to create more work for myself
"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)