Central Download Hub

[KYarb]

Couldn't think of an appropriate place to post this, so if any Mods think it would be better suited elsewhere, please move it.

Onto the subject at hand, I was messing around today and had some promotional things to get rid of. I registered a domain and host without thinking to ask, but now that I think about it... I should probably see if anyone would be interested before I invest all my spare time into it.

My idea is pretty simple, provide a central download hub for themes and mods, as well as a tutorial database for all PPC/PDA/Smartphone's. Wouldn't be taking away from the community here, as if I installed a forum it would strictly be to make download integration easier. Although as I've looked over everything today I believe a stand-alone application is better suited than a forum. So, no worries on stealing members!

The basic concept is to provide a database full of user-submitted themes, skins, mods, tweaks, whatever. As well as a Wiki/FAQ for making them. I figure with all the brainiacs around here we could make it into the largest on the web, easily. Why do it? Well, as I was looking around here to figure out how to make TF3D themes, I realized how hard it is to keep track of mods and tutorials on a forum. If I setup a user-submission style directory and database, it would be much easier to sift through the mods. Keep it nice and simple and we can still have our community here.

So, what do you guys think? Is it worth the time investment on my part, and would you like a system such as I've described? Depending on the feedback, I'll let you in on some of the features I've thought of. If it's not a big hit, then I'll just continue watching movies and working on my theme in between work and homework! :P

I'll check in soon!

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Progress Tracker: 50%
Preview **UPDATED**

[FaithOmitted]

I like it.

[Ultima]

Sounds good if you can get it off the ground.

[KYarb]

Well, it seems like there's been a good initial response. I've got a bunch of homework to get done this morning, then I'll check back in. If it's still good we'll go from there!

@Ultima,

Getting the basic framework together and running will be pretty simple. It's up to the community to submit their content, so that's where the real challenge is. After it's rolling I can always go back and spruce it up to make it look better. :P

[KYarb]

Well, I worked on the back-end of the scripting this afternoon. Still quite a bit to go, but it's looking good. The main issue I have right now is space. So, I figured I'd check here to see if you could give me some approximate numbers.

I don't want to have to charge for the service, so it has to be relatively economical. Right now I'm looking at about $0.15/GB of storage and $0.22/GB of bandwidth for file hosting (that doesn't include the actual site framework and bandwidth for visits).

To put the storage into perspective: 1GB = 1024 MB = 1,048,576 KB for 15 cents.

Storage is easy to calculate, because it's a static value. Bandwidth varies greatly so I'm not touching that one. If we figure a cost of $10/mo that gives approximately 33 GB of storage and 22 GB of transfer. I seriously doubt we'll have 33 GB of files considering the size I've seen, but who knows.

That's why I'm asking you guys. Based on your experience with ROMs, Themes, Games, Apps, etc... What would you say is the average size? Doesn't have to be absolute, just to give a general view.

Thanks!

[k_semler]

ROMs: Depending on the phone, anywhere between 70MB and 180MB when compacted into a *.nbh file and the installer.

Applications/Games: Often less then 1MB. Frequently under 512KB. Only graphics intensive games, (Duke 3D Full, Call of Duty 2), or complex applications, or office suites are multiple megabytes in size, (Softmaker Office 2008 is a 15MB *.cab)

WM Themes, (customised bar color and today screen): Between 15-65KB.

Text files: Depends on how much you type. 1 character of text is 1 bit. 8 bits is 1 byte, 1024 bytes is 1 kilobyte.

PDF files: Anywhere between 150KB-150MB, depending on content.

[lawmangrant]

Great idea, and I hope you get it off the ground.

Good luck!

[KYarb]

Originally Posted by k_semler

ROMs: Depending on the phone, anywhere between 70MB and 180MB when compacted into a *.nbh file and the installer.

Applications/Games: Often less then 1MB. Frequently under 512KB. Only graphics intensive games, (Duke 3D Full, Call of Duty 2), or complex applications, or office suites are multiple megabytes in size, (Softmaker Office 2008 is a 15MB *.cab)

WM Themes, (customised bar color and today screen): Between 15-65KB.

Text files: Depends on how much you type. 1 character of text is 1 bit. 8 bits is 1 byte, 1024 bytes is 1 kilobyte.

PDF files: Anywhere between 150KB-150MB, depending on content.

Thank you very much! This gives me some idea of what I should expect. I took a break from working on the design (I find that to be the most intensive part of any project) to work on the framework some more. I got a very rough draft of the download details page together so I could format it. I figured I'd throw up a screen shot to give everyone an idea. It's probably going to massively change in the next couple hours as I begin coding it, though.

The good news is that I still remember how to work with databases! Right now I'm not having any problems retrieving the data (and I've got a sample set of 1500 records running smoothly) so that part should be a cinch. The only snag I'm running into is that I've got way too many good ideas and not enough ways to implement them. So again, I return for advice!

I was hoping to include a membership system on the site, that would allow authors to track downloads for each file they upload, as well as track every upload an individual makes. Then display all the statistics on a user profile page. It would basically provide general information, with the main dish being statistics (showing every upload ever made, the number of times each has been downloaded, etc).

The only problem with that is I've never been good with sessions coding (the backbone of a membership system), so I've been having a hard time getting it done. That may be the last item I work on, or I may release it as a patch once the site is running...

Along with the aforementioned qualities, the main reason I want it is so every author gets credit where it's due.

So, do you guys think that the above system is a must have before the site is released, or is it just something that would be nice to have when I get off my butt and re-learn sessions? :P

Here's the screenshot I mentioned, and remember, it's a rough draft. It looks like crap right now.

Edit: More previews, comments.

Upload Page Preview
Upload Success Preview
Download Page Preview
Profile Page Preview

Key Features?

* Up to 5 screenshots available to be uploaded and displayed per project.
* Randomly assigns a unique name to each of the 5 screenshots and project file, so as to eliminate overwriting (I think I've made it impossible now, the filenames are a combination of first the timestamp it was uploaded (1236736097 in the screenshot) and then a random number from 1-2,147,483,647 added after that (1705949988 in the screenshot).) Each file is pulled from the database by a unique id so we never have to hassle with those 20+ digit file names. :P
* Calculates file size and converts to MB. This is approximate (bytes / 1,048,576) but it's better than nothing!
* Uses the server timestamp to post the upload date.
* Minimalistic design loads fast on Sprint's EVDO. Maybe I should leave it the way it is, lol. I'll still spruce it up, though... (If you didnt look, it looks like crap!)

Bad Features

* Current test server has a hard cap of 8 MB per file, which is set by a PHP file that affects the entire server. Not sure how this is going to work with the way I'm going to run it on live, as the files won't be stored on the same server as the site. Will investigate!
* No upload progress bar. (Also PHP issue -- working on it, though.)
* I still suck with sessions.

More updates to come....

Edit 2:

I don't suck at sessions as much, got the framework of a membership coded. It's now 1:23 AM and I have to be at work @ 10 AM so I think I'm going to sleep now. My how time flies. Will keep you posted of progress... not too much more work to be done!

[lawmangrant]

Have you checked with your Hosting provider about the size limit?

I assume your using a MySQL db to run everything in that enviroment, and that should support any file size that you would need.

Contact your host and see if they can help with the size limit. I know my server can be changed with a simple email to my provider.

[KYarb]

Originally Posted by lawmangrant

Have you checked with your Hosting provider about the size limit?

I assume your using a MySQL db to run everything in that enviroment, and that should support any file size that you would need.

Contact your host and see if they can help with the size limit. I know my server can be changed with a simple email to my provider.

It's set by a varibale (max_upload_filesize) in PHP.INI, which (should) be in the /root/ directory, which I don't have access to.

Right now it's not that big of a deal, as I'm still just testing it. Not sure if I'm going to stay with the current host or go elsewhere. I've had some other problems with them already, and this is the first time I've used them. If I do decide to stay with them, I'm not sure if they're going to want to allow 200 MB uploads across the entire server, but we'll see.