Author Topic: NANY 2010 Program Idea Suggestion Thread (Read 82791 times)

mouser · « **Reply #25 on:** December 07, 2009, 02:34 PM »

As many here know, I'm a big fan of Tower Defense Games.
Of course I'd love to see someone write from DC write a full tower defense flash game, but that seems a bit outside the scope of the NANY projects, which are supposed to be smaller projects.

So I was thinking it would be fun to see some proof-of-concept games..

I always wondered what a text-based Tower Defense game would look like.. it would be fun to see if someone could come up with something.

Paul Keith · « **Reply #26 on:** December 07, 2009, 09:39 PM »

@NinJA999,

Thanks for the clarification. I don't really know the technical side of the suggestion so I have no idea what's overkill or not.

How about this?

Gnome Theme which changes the titlebar depending on the day

mouser · « **Reply #27 on:** December 08, 2009, 11:06 PM »

if anyone is feeling ambitious, i'd love to see someone tackle the small template-based cms idea we've discussed here on dc:
https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=3825.0
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=20015.0

mouser · « **Reply #28 on:** December 09, 2009, 10:36 AM »

Couple of related ideas for web page projects:

1) "What's my share?" Lets you put in a total amount, and then a list of people and their percentages -- it should then calculate how much each person owes. This one should be pretty simple and there are no doubt existing versions of this on the web. still might be nice to do a new one and then add features to it. -- claimed/pledged by dc member krish

2) "Rank Em All" - Needs to be built on top of a cms like system that lets users create accounts and groups. Basically users are organized into groups. Each group has a page of products (any member of group can add a new product). Each user then can RANK the items in the group to arrange them into some order (nice drag+drop javascript effect would be nice). Then on the group page you can see each person's ranking as well as the average group ranking. Would be fun for keeping track of things like board game rankings within a group, etc. Could also be used for making purchase decisions -- everyone in the house gets to vote for a ranking of which product to buy -- and you buy the one that is the group top choice.

mouser · « **Reply #29 on:** December 09, 2009, 11:38 AM »

I'd love to see some tools for managing and viewing my Amazon.com wish list and saved items. It's a huge pain to work with such a large list on the amazon.com website because they are spread out over so many pages.

mouser · « **Reply #30 on:** December 09, 2009, 06:56 PM »

Ok here's a pretty serious idea for a program, and one that is definitely a lot of work -- but i think it would be useful:
A hand-holding simple XML editor that is restricted to creating xml documents that are compliant with a specified dtd or schema file.

There are quite a few very elaborate xml editors, some are really complex. And there are some reasonable free ones too.

But I was thinking there is a need for a really dumbed down simple handholding one, which was designed to guide and help the user create and edit xml files that comply with a specific dtd/schema definition.

The idea is that such a cool could be used as a gui configuration tool for specific applications and web services that provide dtd/schema files -- helping the user to create just the objects and properties supported by such files. The goal would be to hold the user's hand and make it easy for them to create compliant files.

Just as an example, in a recent project I did (http://www.tfdocs.com), i use an xml format to describe documents -- but it's really hard for people to follow the rules to make these xml documents. So I made a dtd file that basically defines the rules and hierarchy and properties that make up a value tree form xml document.

Now i could make a custom tool to allow gui creation of these documents, but if there was a super simple xml editor that could take this dtd file and then walk the user through creating a compliant xml file that would be ideal. I can even imagine having an accessory file (or comments in the dtd file) that would provide more information to the xml editor to help guide the user.

mouser · « **Reply #31 on:** December 09, 2009, 07:06 PM »

Here's another idea: Image Aligner

I sometimes have a few screenshot images or cropped screenshot images, and i want to combine them into one, usually by aligning them in a vertical row, or horizontal row -- sometimes by aligning into a grid. And then saving new combined image.

It would be nice to have a gui application that let user drag and drop images and arrange them in this way -- actually the issue of what kind of user interface would be needed is a very tricky one -- but potentially a really useful one.

I guess ideally one would like to be able to specify what to do about size differences -- do we shrink, enlarge, perserve aspect ratios, etc? What about background color if blank spaces, etc.

Lots of details that could make the program more fancy, but i think you get the main idea.

zenzai · « **Reply #32 on:** December 10, 2009, 01:38 AM »

The one thing I would most like to have is a way to log-in to sites without doing it manually.

-GrowMap (November 25, 2009, 04:17 PM)

Have you tried Roboform?

http://www.roboform.com/

zenzai · « **Reply #33 on:** December 10, 2009, 02:31 AM »

Here's another idea: Image Aligner

I sometimes have a few screenshot images or cropped screenshot images, and i want to combine them into one, usually by aligning them in a vertical row, or horizontal row -- sometimes by aligning into a grid. And then saving new combined image.
-mouser (December 09, 2009, 07:06 PM)

Since you're talking about screenshots: SnagIt 9 can do that. You can also drag pictures directly from Explorer into the editor and combine them with screenshots.

olamoree · « **Reply #34 on:** December 10, 2009, 05:12 AM »

Hi Guys, I am sure I suggested this before, but here goes... I would like to see a tab added to files' PROPERTIES that would allow for the insertion of TEXT to explain and take notes about a particular file WITHOUT having to add a .txt file along with an .exe or such, just keeping it all together in one Tab. There was a neato proggy many years ago called Anotater that did that but its wheel ran off after WinME. In Vista, for instance, the Tabs under Properties has General, Details (and anything else you may have added) and NEEDS another tab like Notes or Comments or whatever. When the above WAS working, it was gr8 for DL date, Install date, the URL of where it was found, ongoing comments about the proggy or file, etc. ..... I REALLY miss that baby! Any takers? Thanks.

superboyac · « **Reply #35 on:** December 10, 2009, 11:42 AM »

I know it's been talked about here before, but it would be really cool to have start menu organizer program. It would scan all the shortcuts in the different user profile folders (start menu shortcuts) as well as the "all users" shortcuts, and allow you to move them back and forth, to sync them between.

Even though it's something that can be easily done with your file manager, there are a lot of folders involved with long paths and so on. I'm picturing something like a tree structure. I've come across a couple of programs on the web that kind of do this, but not all that well.

mouser · « **Reply #36 on:** December 10, 2009, 11:49 AM »

i think this would also be a great idea -- it's one i've thought about quite a bit. as superboy says there are some reasonable tools that do this already, but lots of room for improvement. I actually have some unique and cool ideas for this project, though they are a bit involved. if someone in serious about doing this and has some intermediate-to-advanced programming skills and time, and wants to work on it -- contact me and i'll tell you about some of my ideas.

C-o-r-E · « **Reply #37 on:** December 10, 2009, 08:12 PM »

[deleted]

mouser · « **Reply #38 on:** December 10, 2009, 08:14 PM »

welcome to the site Core, and great to hear you will participate!
(but you should post that you are pledging to release something on this thread: https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=20533.0)
the current one here is for people to post ideas for others to code.

vaib · « **Reply #39 on:** December 11, 2009, 01:43 PM »

Firefox Plugin Idea:
A plugin which shows a panel below the main window which shows all  html comments on the current page.

I think it would yield some very interesting discoveries.

A nice bonus feature would scan for curse words in these comments and show a count in red, to aid in finding fun discoveries.
-mouser (November 28, 2009, 06:04 AM)

I am dying to do some coding but I would need some pointers on making this app since I've never done anything of this sort. Kindly tell me what I need to know for making this and how should I go about it.

Regards
Vaibhav

mouser · « **Reply #40 on:** December 11, 2009, 01:58 PM »

Hi Vaibhav, welcome to the site.
I'm not sure a firefox plugin is the easiest way to get started, but we do have a section of tips on it here: https://www.donation...ndex.php?board=252.0

app103 · « **Reply #41 on:** December 11, 2009, 08:43 PM »

Firefox Plugin Idea:
A plugin which shows a panel below the main window which shows all  html comments on the current page.

I think it would yield some very interesting discoveries.

A nice bonus feature would scan for curse words in these comments and show a count in red, to aid in finding fun discoveries.
-mouser (November 28, 2009, 06:04 AM)

I am dying to do some coding but I would need some pointers on making this app since I've never done anything of this sort. Kindly tell me what I need to know for making this and how should I go about it.

Regards
Vaibhav
-vaib (December 11, 2009, 01:43 PM)

https://developer.mo...dons_developer_guide

Marcel25 · « **Reply #42 on:** December 15, 2009, 06:12 AM »

I am a person that spends a lot of time planning, since I have quite a lot of activities and ideas. Being a coder, I wrote a program for myself called "Much2Do". I found out that a lot of people are looking for a nice ToDo program but were not able to find one that fullfills their needs. For that reason, I decided to publish that ToDo program, on the website http://www.much2do.nl. This is a ToDo program that enables you to keep track of todo's and ideas in a multi-level list, planning both work and private life.

In the past year lots of people have downloaded my program. Although it was not a success, I have learned quite a lot from my efforts. I have learned that although a lot of people want to have a good ToDo application, and although a good list can save you a lot of time (= money) people are not willing to spend any money on it. Because I can make money from creating other software, so I decided to make this Much2Do program freeware. I haven't gotten around to stipping the registration part from the current version and writing a user manual.

After a busy year I have promised to take one or two weeks off in the second half of december 2009, but knowing myself I will not be able to stop coding entirely. So when reading about the NANY 2010 I figured: this might be a good chance to make a totally new version of Much2Do. I am posting this message to ask all of you whether you would like to have a new ToDo program, simular to the old Much2Do program, and what changes you would like to see to the current program. If I get positive feedback, I will create a new version.

At the website http://www.much2do.nl you can see a few screenshots. There are two programs: one for PocketPC and one for PC, both offline Windows applications. I use both and they synchronise well. The main thing that sets it apart from other ToDo applications is that it uses a treeview to present items. If you have a lot of items in your list, this seems the best way to include all items and still retain a good overview. The desktop application also has a listview in which you can plan nodes from any of the treeviews, to specific days.

I am particularly interested in feedback concerning these questions:
- Most ToDo programs have checkboxes, do you really need them in a ToDolist?
(I feel that if the item is done it should be removed, so why a checkbox)
- How could the planning part of my desktop application be improved?
- Would you like to have the day planning available in the mobile app as well?
- I plan 100% digital but I stil prefer to print the items for Today on paper,
but being green means you should not print anything. Any suggestions?

PS I am aware that updates of existing programs are not allowed in NANY 2010, but entering the NANY is not my aim. My aim WAS to provide a lowpriced ToDo tool and see what happened. My aim IS NOW to re-cycle my efforts and create a FREE ToDo application and see how many people would like to use it, if it is freeware. My guess is that it may very well turn out to be a newly written program (which could be allowed to the NANY) but I will leave that decision to DonationCoder. But at the very least, the program could become a freeware program.

Marcel25 · « **Reply #43 on:** December 15, 2009, 06:14 AM »

In case the domain URL does not work, this is the underlying URL:
http://www.building....l/much2do/index.html

Perry Mowbray · « **Reply #44 on:** December 15, 2009, 06:46 AM »

Welcome to the NANY Event Marcel!

You'll find a lot of comment here about note takers and todo lists (take a look around), but to answer your questions...

PS I am aware that updates of existing programs are not allowed in NANY 2010, but entering the NANY is not my aim. My aim WAS to provide a lowpriced ToDo tool and see what happened. My aim IS NOW to re-cycle my efforts and create a FREE ToDo application and see how many people would like to use it, if it is freeware. My guess is that it may very well turn out to be a newly written program (which could be allowed to the NANY) but I will leave that decision to DonationCoder. But at the very least, the program could become a freeware program.
-Marcel25 (December 15, 2009, 06:12 AM)

You're right that updates don't qualify, but rewrites do. How much recycling is involved in a rewrite, I think, is not able to be specified. It's probably got more to do with your intention. Certainly when you submit a NANY and our users get hold of it you'll get lots of ideas and requests for the development of your app.

It would be an ambitious undertaking to rewrite your app in a couple of weeks though? $:-\$ Personally, I'd be more than happy to have a pledge of the rewrite of Much2Do

Everyone will have their own ideas, which may be better canvassed in a specific thread, but here are mine:

I am particularly interested in feedback concerning these questions:
- Most ToDo programs have checkboxes, do you really need them in a ToDolist?
(I feel that if the item is done it should be removed, so why a checkbox)
-Marcel25 (December 15, 2009, 06:12 AM)

If it's two separate events, sure: it's not efficient; but if a checkbox set's the done date as today, and the done date (maybe not today) set's the check box, they're not entirely separate (The checkbox providing a good visual clue and shortcut).

- How could the planning part of my desktop application be improved?
-Marcel25 (December 15, 2009, 06:12 AM)

Not played with it, but again, probably a question for a separate thread

- Would you like to have the day planning available in the mobile app as well?
-Marcel25 (December 15, 2009, 06:12 AM)

I don't have a mobile to run the app on...

- I plan 100% digital but I stil prefer to print the items for Today on paper,
but being green means you should not print anything. Any suggestions?
-Marcel25 (December 15, 2009, 06:12 AM)

Some sort of export that can be viewed in various (independent) ways? Desktop, web, etc.

Marcel25 · « **Reply #45 on:** December 15, 2009, 06:58 AM »

Maybe I should rephrase/replace my question whether checkboxes are necessary, to the question whether people want to set due dates for items. Persdonally, I do not really use due dates that much. The main reason being that if you work in multi-level lists, you tend to insert items for projects for which a due data exists for a project and not for an item specifically. Assigning due dates for a project or group of items can be done by dragging the node of the treeview to the listview (in the desktop application). That 'assigns' that group of items to that particular day. Hence, I - personally - do not need due dates.

Perry Mowbray · « **Reply #46 on:** December 15, 2009, 07:12 AM »

That sounds reasonable Marcel, in effect you're assigning a due date via the project. That would work for me and is more how I'd work in the most part.

You may also like to go over people's GTD experiences here:

mouser · « **Reply #47 on:** December 15, 2009, 08:03 AM »

I may not be a typical user, but i never use due dates on a todo list -- i use a todo list more for things that i want to get through as soon as possible.
I do like checkboxes though, because it's useful to see what you've done and how much you've accomplished, at least until you are ready to remove it completely after some time.
So i guess for me i like the idea of multiple checklists, where i can check each item off a list until that list is complete, and then file that list away into storage.

It might be nice to start a new thread on ToDo List Ultimate features.. we have a similar one for note taking applications, but todo list applications have their own set of challenges.

ixxo · « **Reply #48 on:** December 16, 2009, 05:34 PM »

I dont suppose anyone would want to make a quickpar like program thats natively 64bit and not just a GUI for par2cmdline?

Not only is there zero shell integration support with the old QuickPar but its also got a few bugs and its not multithreaded and not 64bit

there are a few GUIs for par2cmdline out there too but just like QuickPar they are all getting old and all seem to be abandoned..and ofcourse NONE are 64bit

I use parfiles a lot safeguard documents before burning for example.. doesnt take much to damage a disc but this is a way to safeguard that and discs arent subject to magnetic interference like harddisks are..

..........

ixxo

some infosources...

http://www.par2.net/
http://parchive.sourceforge.net/
http://chuchusoft.com/par2_tbb/
http://www.quickpar.co.uk/

JavaJones · « **Reply #49 on:** December 17, 2009, 03:40 PM »

Here's a 2nd vote for an updated, 64bit compatible PAR app!

- Oshyan