TPFC is perhaps the corner of the web I visit most frequently. The site maintains the largest collection of portable freeware applications by no doubt. Its forum has a great community with like-minded people, including me.
After sending my early drafts to Andrew Lee (site owner/programmer) he set up a forum topic where we could discuss the details with the community.
The old site had a table-based layout with inline styles and JavaScripts (ouch!). As an active user it was a great challenge to get the most out of it by creating a good-looking, compact interface. Andrew did a great job on developing a compact structure during the years so complex changes were not necessary.
My biggest functional addition was to hide certain elements and make them visible with a toggle link. This way more stuff could be added without making the entry crowded. Screenshots and latest comments are now available without leaving the main listing. A Full/Compact view toggle button was also added to show/hide entry details.
Add/Edit entry pages also went through a bigger transformation:
- consistent error messages site-wide
- scroll to missing or erroneous input fields
- "Test url" buttons to validate typed URLs
- "Fullscreen edit" feature for distraction-free composing
- The community of TPFC was also involved. Many user suggestions were built in and they also helped with providing browsing habits and spotting errors.
I'm glad I had the chance to contribute to the site this way. Go TPFC!