Improving downloadability, new license system, etc.

[mouser]

With the new license key system i am trying to also simplify downloading from the site.

one of the advantages to the new license system is it will let us always make the most recent version of every program available for everyone to download.  Two programs which were previously only members only (form letter machine, clipboard help+spell) are now available for public downloading.

the member download page will be obsolete by the end of the week.
in its place i am putting a new page with a very concise list of all programs available for download on the site, sorted by release date.

in this way you should be able to click on that page and in 4 seconds see if there are any new releases on the site you want to download, and then download them directly.  So this should make it really easy for members to keep updated.

The new download start page https://www.donation.../Software/index.html has been adjusted with links to this release page and also the new keyfile page.

I'd appreciate any comments about the new layouts and any difficulties getting the license key thing to work.
(Note not all programs have been updated with license key support yet, so far only screenshot captor, clipboard help+spell, and the form letter machine; the rest should be finished in a day or two).

[mouser]

in addition, in order to make the power users a little less annoyed, i have also taken this opportunity to repackge every program with an installer into the new zip-compatible exe system, so that you can either manually unpack the files or run the installer, it's up to you.

(again only screenshot captor, the form letter machine, and clipboard help+spell have been updated on site so far, the rest are on their way this week).

[mouser]

btw, all of these programs are "transportable" - none use registry settings to save their info, and that includes the license key info, which gets saved into the application directory.

so you can put any of these programs on a usb stick, enter license key info on first use and it should run find.

[zridling]

I love the easy simplicity of that page — https://www.donationcoder.com/Software/releases.html — thanks for making it easy to read, and to download, mouser.

[mouser]

great - i'm glad it worked out.
seems like a good compromise, those who know what they want can quickly check releases page for any new updates.
others can browse the program pages and get lost

btw ive expanded the "other software" section more in anticipation of hosting the ocassional software from other authors that aren't quite suitable for their own major section.  System Path Commander is the first app on it:

https://www.donation...are/Other/index.html