Few days ago I got email from Sezgin Morgul, webmaster of Acme Files, asking for a review. I don’t receive many of these (hint) and liked that email stressed request for objective review including both upsides and downsides.
What it offers
Acme Files is download-centric portal. It doesn’t offer editorials and other type of self-produced content, focusing on offering direct and self-hosted software downloads . Choice of titles shows reasonable amount of research – most (if not all) of common apps are presented.
Older versions are hosted as well but for few titles I clicked those went back only one-two versions. Site may accumulate more over time, useless at moment.
Had they seen FileHippo?
This was rhetoric. Both overall site formula and design choices are very much like those of FileHippo .
I think software portals are seriously underestimating web design. There are less of them comparing to smaller sites (like blogs) and for competing with giant portals interesting design and usability decisions could really add some edge. Copying is cheap shortcut here and those rarely work.
Overall
Acme Files is easy to navigate and perfectly fulfills function of providing downloads. However that is first and last function it actually has. There is no extra content, no additional tools of any kind and it’s even lacking RSS feed.
Foundation is neat but it’s those extras that will come later (I hope) that will decide would it have a chance of competing with already established portals.
Look up all files in use with OpenedFilesView
Create perfect environment for notes in WikidPad
What makes good software portal
Softpedia.com – all (really all) software portal
alternativeTo.net – massive similar software directory
osalt.com – directory of open source software
I see a total rip-off. Like you said, copying rarely work.
@MK
Define rip-off? :) FileHippo is hardly first software portal. Design is similar, but that’s hardly strange online.
Personally I don’t think that being inspired by FileHippo is bad thing here, it depends a lot on where AcmeFiles goes further. It’s barely week online.
If it would end up direct FileHippo clone – it will lose to it miserably. If it will do more or better or different – we’ll have one more software portal to choose from.
I normally use only download.com to go through all types of tools and softwares.
@Nihar
I remember download.com as complete mess – overkill amount of advertisement, numerous splash pages, hard to get to actual download. May have improved in recent years but I stopped visiting long time ago.
Anyone knows a script or CMS for making a site similar with these 2? (filehippo and acme)?
@AlexTC
Hm, I don’t think this type of site is so off-the-shelf for specialized CMS to be developed for it. At least I don’t know of one and don’t remember any of software portals running anything other than they developed for themselves.