Finally, an ORGANIZED place for cooks to put their ROMs

[N1c0_ds]

I am working on a website where XDA cooks along with others can post their custom ROMs. I always tought this site is a disorganised mess if you are a newcomer. I built this solution from scratch and it's fully dynamic (PHP+MySQL). I'm almost done with the basics (registering, submitting, browsing...) but I'm still open to suggestions.

Here are a few screenshots. I'd love to get some opinions.

 

[N1c0_ds]

A few possible domains for the website:
deviceroms.com
wmroms.com

To-do:
-Implement the ratings system
-Spread the word
-"Share this page" and other similar features.

 

[N1c0_ds]

[this used to be a reply to a post that was deleted]

I'm also looking for a complete list of Windows Mobile devices so I can list them in the catalog. I already have HTC devices, but I'd need the devices from Acer, HP and the rest too.

 

[N1c0_ds]

So, what do you people think?

 

[mybetrayal]

Too many usernames

Hi,

That's a tidy looking design, from a user point of view I like XDA Developers because I sign in, and have access to some user support, software downloads, and ROM updates - without having to sign-up for another website...

I really like the idea of a dedicated portal for ROM updates, and detailed instructions for newbies - how about using your portal as an affiliate to XDA developers? So, for instance, I would use the same credentials to log into either site, or even a shared cookie / user database?

For obvious reasons I do not like to use the same credentials between sites, so for you to broker an arrangement with the administrator of this website for sharing the credential database / profiles / and web site traffic would make life for people like me easier....

If I were the administrator of this website with a large following I'd jump at the opportunity for portals and shared resources on other hosts to boost popularity...

There is a new portal on xda-developers coming soon, perhaps they'll address this?

 

[orlandojumpoff]

there's no place like xda for ROMs, i'll pass. nice effort though.

 

[SeanFromSoCal]

I really like the idea of a dedicated portal for ROM updates, and detailed instructions for newbies - how about using your portal as an affiliate to XDA developers? So, for instance, I would use the same credentials to log into either site, or even a shared cookie / user database?

If I were the administrator of this website with a large following I'd jump at the opportunity for portals and shared resources on other hosts to boost popularity...

Unless they bring you on as a contractor to add something to their existing vBulletin install, having a new 3rd party website access their user database is a major security worry. I guess they could create a user authentication API for you to plug into but that'll still be something to be concerned of both from XDA and existing XDA users trusting a new website.

Also with the gray shade legality of these non-MS authorized ROMs, I wouldn't expect their stance to be that accomodating to this. Perhaps you should consider focusing on helping them orginize these new software releases created by the XDA community. That's even harder to sort thru than the ROMs.

Just giving honest opinion from a fellow web developer.

 

[N1c0_ds]

I mostly made this to practice PHP while creating something that could potentially maintain itself financially (domain name+hosting).

I want to provide a way for newcomers and old users to easily find and compare ROMs for their devices. The forum as it actually is is not exactly a welcoming place for those looking for step-by-step guides and organized information. As for software releases, I'd be glad to support them to and even host them if I can afford it. Once the main frame is built, it can and will be reused for Android and software.

As for working with XDA-developers, I'd love it. I aim to integrate XDA-devs as tightly as possible with the rest of the site. However, credentials will stay separate from this site. It's not secure as stated above and might require ridiculous amounts of work from me and the (possibly disinterested) XDA-developers admin. Yet, there will be XDA-developers integration to a certain level.

deviceroms will be a tool, not a community.

 

[Semseddin]

I like this concept, please make it real soon and use a better design and simpler design for it

 

[N1c0_ds]

I like this concept, please make it real soon and use a better design and simpler design for it

I tried to make it as simple and efficient as possible; navigation is simple, registration does not require email confirmation and everything is listed as to make browsing easier for a "ROM shopper". There WILL be moderation as I opted for full HTML support in the description.

As for the delivery date, expect it to be soon enough. I've got only a few work hours and I've done 75 percent of the job after already after 40 days.

The site as it is works but lacks critical features (editing existing listings, rating ROMs and changing account password).

 

[Semseddin]

If you need help with maintenance or moderating, let me know. Btw a small forum wouldn't hurt,too. At least a tool to comment on roms will be nice. People might read the reviews of them before downloading.

All the best !

 

[madsurfer1]

nice job
really hope that you finhish the site soon

 

[N1c0_ds]

If you need help with maintenance or moderating, let me know. Btw a small forum wouldn't hurt,too. At least a tool to comment on roms will be nice. People might read the reviews of them before downloading.

All the best !

Hey, you just gave me an idea! I know there are a lot of support/bug report posts in the ROM threads. This will also happen in the comments, so I'll include a dropdown box where they can select the comment's nature so they can be filtered.

 

[Semseddin]

You're welcome

 

[SeanFromSoCal]

That's a great idea.

Hey, you just gave me an idea! I know there are a lot of support/bug report posts in the ROM threads. This will also happen in the comments, so I'll include a dropdown box where they can select the comment's nature so they can be filtered.

You should consider DIV tabs separating between comments/bug reports. Also you should consider doing a multi-faceted rating system:

• Speed
• Stability
• Free Memory
• Built-in Applications
• Style/Visual

Then allow people to search and filter based on date plus the rating criteria they are looking for. (ie. within last 3 months that have average 5-star speed ratings)

 

[SeanFromSoCal]

Also please please please make sure your coding is secure.

The last person who posted on the board showing off that he made a windows mobile application blog/website had made his site public with major security flaws (SQL injection). If I didn't point it to him that there was a major flaw, it might have been left open and someone could have stolen all the e-mails and login info. Since it was a custom job he could have also stored the passwords in plaintext in the database, so any hacker using sql injection could have gotten XDA member's e-mail addresses and passwords which could be horrible if the XDA member is the type that uses the same password on multiple websites.

 

[N1c0_ds]

You should consider DIV tabs separating between comments/bug reports. Also you should consider doing a multi-faceted rating system:

• Speed
• Stability
• Free Memory
• Built-in Applications
• Style/Visual

Then allow people to search and filter based on date plus the rating criteria they are looking for. (ie. within last 3 months that have average 5-star speed ratings)

That's a great idea. There is no ratings system yet, so that might be a cool idea. I still can't figure out a better way than storing individual votes in a table to limit users to a single vote per ROM.

The last person who posted on the board showing off that he made a windows mobile application blog/website had made his site public with major security flaws (SQL injection). If I didn't point it to him that there was a major flaw, it might have been left open and someone could have stolen all the e-mails and login info. Since it was a custom job he could have also stored the passwords in plaintext in the database, so any hacker using sql injection could have gotten XDA member's e-mail addresses and passwords which could be horrible if the XDA member is the type that uses the same password on multiple websites.

I'm a starter but I am well aware of the risks of SQL and script injection attacks. I am actively reading on the topic in order to prevent these before going live.

 

[SeanFromSoCal]

That's a great idea. There is no ratings system yet, so that might be a cool idea. I still can't figure out a better way than storing individual votes in a table to limit users to a single vote per ROM.

Yeah that's the best way to do it. You could always have a CRON script to run everynight to parse the votes and store that value in a separate "ROM_Rating_Summary" table.

ROM_ID, RatingCount, AverageSpeedRating, AverageStabilityRating, AverageMemoryRating, AverageFeatureRating, AverageStyleRating, TotalSpeedPoints, TotalStabilityPoints, TotalMemoryPoints, TotalFeaturePoints, TotalStylePoints

So the cron will add up all the SpeedPoints from each user rating (4+3+5+2+3+4+4) and then divide it by RatingCount. 4+3+5+2+3+4+4 = 25 / 7 = 3.57 avg rating in Speed category. The cron will add the last days' new rating points and increment the rating count and then you divide and get the revised average rating. By parsing only the last day's worth of comments this way, it should be fast to loop thru even 1000 ROMs.

Have fun with it.

 

[N1c0_ds]

Alright folks! I'm 90% done! Once I get the BBCode support working, I'll upload it online for bug testing