Specifically, do you just want to see packages sorted chronologically based on when they were added or when they were last updated (which includes new ones too)?
Very good question My typical search pattern is that i want to check whether there is a new entry in the “catalog”. (Updates are covered via the corresponding app, at least for me.)
Currently, I always stick to the forum when I want to find out if there is something new.
We already have categories, not directly inside the packge, but from the meta data sent by Haiku Depot Server (HDS). If there were a package that isn’t correctly categoriesed at HDS, the same could happen for a package that itself carried the category info (assumed that were currently implemented).
What’s exactly to be improved upon? If you look for a graphics package, set HaikuDepot’s category pop-up to “Graphics” and start browsing. Or enter search terms to further filter the results. If your search term is in neither summary nor description of a package, it won’t be found, of course. But that’s the nature of searches, I suppose…
The above scenario illustrates why good descriptions are so important: you should anticipate the search terms a potential user of the app might use and make sure they appear in the description.
A while back I think I remember suggesting to add keywords at HDS for tagging things with stuff not in the description. I can’t remember if there was a reason we didn’t…
Anyway, one could even put a “Keyword: x, y, z” into the description of a package to have those tags visible and searchable right now.
A “Date” column for HaikuDepot would do the trick. You could file a ticket, if there isn’t already.
Until it’s added, you can either create an RSS feed for your RSS viewer or just go to the HDS front page and set “Recent updates; sort on version date” from the pop-up menu at the top.
I feel like “Marketing” is the wrong category for this thread…
This question belongs to the Software section.
There is a thread “New in HaikuDepot” where it would fit.
Adding a date attribute would be the easiest way making HaikuDepot better.
Looking for a RSS feed or a Website to look for new Software in HaikuDepot is a bad idea, even if it works.
Of course you have to use the drop-down menu for searching HaikuDepot its Sections (Grafic, Developement, Games, Video, Sound and more)
Maybe you forgot this Dropdown menu!?
Just a thought, I don’t know if it would be bad UI, give too many spurious results or how difficult it would be to implement, but how about using the search terms also for categories? That is, for the I-hadn’t-even-noticed-that-dropdown case (or on purpose selection of All categories), searching graphics would show all packages with that in their description, summary or category. Of course if you have selected the Foobar category, then no package out of that category would be shown.
let’s put it this way, i just opened haikudepot like a simple user and then used the search field. that is the intuitive action that man makes. I think hardly anyone will first use the dropdown menu and then search.
That why I suggested to file a ticket and said “Until it’s added, you can…”
Personally, I don’t think it’s needed and as you said, there is the risk of false positives. And frankly, if you miss the menu labeled “Categories” you’re as likely to miss the search term text box…
I was thinking about this - wouldn’t the actual BeOS/Haiku way of solving the issue be something like:
HaikuDepot becomes a daemon. It updates some files under the user’s home directory somewhere which have attributes for package name, category, last updated date etc. The filetype is associated with HaikuDepot so that opening the file will launch some window to display more information (screenshot etc), and actually allow you to download and install the package.
Then you just use live queries to find your package. I guess this could be an alternative to the existing HaikuDepot.
If it is possible to track new apps, it’s more difficult to track apps that are dropped and somehow I think it is more important as you might lose your work.
So, it would be nice if HaikuDepot could warn us about deprecated apps that you might have installed, ideally before they are broken and disappear completely.
For example, when beta2 went out, QupZilla has been dropped (lack of upstream support). If warned few weeks before, user could have saved their bookmarks, their passwords and migrated to another browser before the app stopped working.
It wasn’t a big deal in that case since those data were stored in text files but that’s something we should avoid.
My typical search pattern is that i want to check whether there is a new entry in the “catalog”. (Updates are covered via the corresponding app, at least for me.)
