View source for downloads-examples

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Downloads examples}}

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]]:
* [[downloads-examples]]
* [[downloads-formats]]
* [[downloads-brainstorming]]

==Examples==

===Download.com===

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

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

*Extension (single instance) e.g. [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/722 NoScript]
**Extension version history (multiple instances of one app) e.g. [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addons/versions/722 NoScript history]

====Attributes====

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

----

===iusethis===

* Download page, e.g. http://osx.iusethis.com/app/peek-a-boo
** Version history or release notes
** Lists older downloads when you click on the current version number.
* [http://blog.iusethis.com/ Supports auto-updating its database with appcasts], also generates appcasts, e.g. http://osx.iusethis.com/appcast/igtd
** Every download page has a related appcast RSS feed (with autodiscovery)

iusethis provides RSS appcasts with Sparkle extensions. For example:

<code><pre><?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></pre></code>

Some notes about the RSS appcast:

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

====Attributes====

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

----

===VersionTracker===

* Download page, e.g. http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/3410
** Does not have a direct download link, but a link to a separate page that starts the download
** Has a version history section
** Does not list older downloads
** Has a system requirements section

====Attributes====

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

----

===MySQL Downloads===

* Download page, e.g. http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/5.0.html
** Very big page with downloads with different applications, architectures, OSes, etc
** Does not list older downloads
** No version history or release notes

----

===MacUpdate===

* Download page, e.g. http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/10225/yum
** Has a version history section
** Does not list older downloads
** Has a direct download link
** Has a system requirements section

====Attributes====

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

----

===WordPress Plugins===

WordPress generates plugin pages from a [http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/about/readme.txt readme.txt] file included with the plugin. It has its own [http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/about/validator/ validator] and format standards.

====Attributes====

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

'''From readme.txt'''

<dl>
<dt>Contributors</dt><dd>WordPress.org usernames of contributors.</dd>
<dt>Donate link</dt><dd>Link for receiving donations.</dd>
<dt>Tags</dt><dd>Comma-separated list of keywords.</dd>
<dt>Requires at least</dt><dd>WordPress version requirements.</dd>
<dt>Tested up to</dt><dd>The latest version of WordPress the plugin was tested against.</dd>
<dt>Stable tag</dt><dd>The stable branch of the plugin to use.</dd>
<dt>Description</dt><dd>This is the long description.  No limit, and you can use Markdown.</dd>
<dt>Installation</dt><dd>This section describes how to install the plugin and get it working. Typically an ordered list.</dd>
<dt>Frequently Asked Questions</dt><dd>Questions and answers about the plugin.</dd>
<dt>Screenshots</dt><dd>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).</dd>
</dl>

==Related pages==

* [[downloads]]
* [[downloads-brainstorming]]
* [[downloads-formats]]