Downloads examples

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This is a page for documenting real world examples of web publishing about downloads as part of the effort to develop a downloads microformat for authors and publishers to markup software (application, plugin, perhaps even operating system) downloads that they create and publish.

Per the microformats process:

Examples

Download.com

Attributes

Application Name
Name of the application
Current Version
Version of the application.
Tagline
A short description of the application.
Download link
Link to application download.
File size
Approximate size of download in MB.
License
License for software. May include price.
Editor's Rating
Editor's rating out of five stars.
Average User Rating
Rating out of five stars.
Downloads
Total number of downloads.
Requirements
A list of compatible operating systems.
Limitations
Restrictions on use of the software.
Date added
The date when download.com started listing the application.
Product description
Long form description of application.
Screenshots
Links to screenshots of the application.

Versions (wfx_Versions)

Versions (formerly wfx_Versions) is a Firefox addon for tracking and downloading versions. It has several attributes similar to Download.com above (i.e. Application Name, Application Homepage, Download link and Last Known Version). Versions uses the other attributes (*) to scrape the scan page for the current version of the application. The screen scraping process could be eliminated by using the tagged attributes of a download microformat.

Attributes

Application Name
Name of the application
* Scan page link
Link to page to be scanned (scraped) for version
Application Homepage
Link to application homepage
Download link
Link to direct download
* Start Scan String
Unique string for starting scan of page
* Before Version String
String immediately before version
* After Version String
String immediately after version
Last Known Version
Last version recorded by Versions during a previous scan

Mozilla Addons

  • Extension (single instance) e.g. NoScript

Attributes

Extension name
The name of the extension.
Extension version
A numerical version number.
Extension author
Who created the extension with a link to their Addons profile.
Works with
Compatibility listing of browser(s) the plugin should work with.
Preview/Logo
An icon or screenshot(s) for the plugin.
Install now
Link to XPI file for installation (Mozilla browsers only).
Developer comments
Description of the plugin or installation instructions.
Version History
List of plugin releases with version numbers and release dates (with a link to complete revision history).
Reviews
A list of user-submitted reviews.
Discussions
A list of user-created discussions.

iusethis

iusethis provides RSS appcasts with Sparkle extensions. For example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss xmlns:blogChannel="http://backend.userland.com/blogChannelModule"
     xmlns:iusethis="http://osx.iusethis.com/ns/rss"
     xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
     xmlns:sparkle="http://www.andymatuschak.org/xml-namespaces/sparkle"
     version="2.0">
  <channel>
    <title>Appcast for iGTD</title>
    <link>http://osx.iusethis.com/app/igtd</link>
    <description>version history with a sparkle via iusethis.com</description>
    <language>en-us</language>
    <iusethis:universal>1</iusethis:universal>
    <iusethis:homepage>http://bargiel.home.pl/iGTD/</iusethis:homepage>
    <iusethis:developer>bartek:bargiel</iusethis:developer>
    <iusethis:usecount>517</iusethis:usecount>
    <iusethis:tags>GTD productivity get things done</iusethis:tags>
    <sparkle:appLicense>Freeware</sparkle:appLicense>
    <item>
      <title>iGTD 1.4.5.5</title>
      <link>http://osx.iusethis.com/app/versions/7961#ver_35136</link>
      <description><![CDATA[<p>... appcast description goes here ...</p>]]></description>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">35136</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Aug 2007 09:31:55 -0000</pubDate>
      <enclosure url="http://bargiel.home.pl/downloads/iGTD.dmg" type="application/octet-stream"/>
      <sparkle:shortVersionString>1.4.5.5</sparkle:shortVersionString>
    </item>
    <!-- ... more appcast items go here .. -->
  </channel>
</rss>

Some notes about the RSS appcast:

  • sparkle:appLicense is something iusethis-specific, something the iusethis team seems to have made up. No idea why they are using the sparkle namespace here...
  • sparkle:shortVersionString seems to be used instead of sparkle:version, and I'm not sure why.

Attributes

Application Name
Name of the application
Homepage URL
Link to homepage
Download URL
Link to file download
Appcast (Optional)
Link to Sparkle-RSS feed.
Developer (optional)
Name of the developer.
License
Dropdown list of these options: Freeware, Shareware, GPL, LGPL, BSD License, Charityware, Other Open Source, Commercial with demo
Keywords
Comma-separated list of keywords.
Description
Description of the application.
Universal binary
True/False for Intel/PPC compatibility.
Icon
32x32 pixel application icon.
Screenshot
Image of the application.

VersionTracker

Attributes

Application Name
Name of the application
Application Icon
Name of the application
Tagline
A short description of the application.
Current Version
Version of the application.
Developer Link
Link to developer homepage.
Developer Name
Name of application developer.
Rating
Rating out of five stars (per version).
Release date
Date of software release.
License
License for software.
Price
Price of software.
Downloads
Downloads listed separately for current version and overall.
Download link
Link to application download.
File size
Approximate size of download in MB.
Product description
Long form description of application.
What's new in this version
Unordered list of changes in the current version.
Operating system requirements
An unordered list of compatible operating systems.
Screenshots
Links to screenshots of the application.

MySQL Downloads


MacUpdate

Attributes

Application Title
Name of the application.
Application Icon
Icon for the application (64x64px).
Version
Version of the application.
Version history
Description of previous versions of the application.
Download link
Link to application download.
Short description
Short description of application (one-line).
Description
Long form description of application.
Requirements
An unordered list of compatible operating systems.
Keywords
List of keywords for the application.
Category
Single-selection from a rather extensive list of categories.
License
License for software; values: free, demo, shareware, commercial, updater.
Price
Price of software (USD).
OS
Classic OS and/or OS X.
Architecture (aka Platform)
PPC and/or Intel
Developer Name
Name of application developer.
Developer Link
Link to developer homepage.
Product URL
Link to external application homepage.
Developer Email
Email address of application developer.
Developer Phone
Phone number of application developer.
Screenshot
Links to a screenshot of the application.
Downloads
Downloads listed separately for current version and overall.
File size
Approximate size of download.
Release date
Date of software release.
Rating
Rating out of five stars (per version).

WordPress Plugins

WordPress generates plugin pages from a readme.txt file included with the plugin. It has its own validator and format standards.

Attributes

Plugin name
The name of the plugin.
Authors
Author field from the plugin file and Contributors field from the readme file.
Version
Version field from the plugin file.
Tags (as in categories)
Tags field from the readme file.
Last updated time
Time of last check in to the appropriate directory (trunk/ or the stable tag directory) after a version number change.
Creation time
Time of first check in.
Rating
A rating up to five stars.
Download link
The URL to download the plugin zip file.
Description
The description of the plugin.

From readme.txt

Contributors
WordPress.org usernames of contributors.
Donate link
Link for receiving donations.
Tags
Comma-separated list of keywords.
Requires at least
WordPress version requirements.
Tested up to
The latest version of WordPress the plugin was tested against.
Stable tag
The stable branch of the plugin to use.
Description
This is the long description. No limit, and you can use Markdown.
Installation
This section describes how to install the plugin and get it working. Typically an ordered list.
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions and answers about the plugin.
Screenshots
An ordered list of screenshot descriptions; screenshot image files should be located in the same directory as readme.txt and named screenshot-#.(png|jpg|jpeg|gif).

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