Featured Apps on apps.ie

[Paul Reilly]

At the last meeting, I raised the point about putting in place a procedure to become a Featured App on apps.ie. We have had discussions around this issue at 2 previous meetings, and we got some great ideas and even consensus building on how it would work. But I think we need to formulate it in to a HOWTO document, so the process is clear to all of us. So as an ACTION from the last Dublin meeting, myself and DamianOS3 were tasked with writing down the ideas discussed and putting forward a draft on how it would work. But the basic idea is we would rotate Featured apps every 2 weeks, and Developers could apply in advance to be a Featured app. These requests would be voted on by "members" or "celebrity developers". Anyway, Damian and I shall come back to the group by the end of this week with a draft proposal. If you have any ideas on how it should work, please post them here, and we'll include them in the proposal.

[Damian OSuilleabhain]

Hi All,

Paul and I got together and put together the following draft policy. Please review and add your comments. We will incorporate all feedback and present a revised draft at the meeting next week.

Draft apps.ie Featured Policy
- 1 week rotation (52 featured per year)
- Preference will be given to apps which haven’t previously been featured over ones that have before, although they can be considered.
- People fill out web form requesting app be featured, make their case in a couple of sentences.
- Can request an app to be featured on a particular week
- apps.ie steering committee of perhaps 6 elected.
- Steering committee reviews all apps put forward and votes.

Requirements of an app to be considered
- Available on the iTunes AppStore
- An actual compiled app
- Not jailbroken

[Finbarr Brady]

Looks fair enough to me!

Damian OSuilleabhain said:

Hi All,

Paul and I got together and put together the following draft policy. Please review and add your comments. We will incorporate all feedback and present a revised draft at the meeting next week.

Draft apps.ie Featured Policy
- 1 week rotation (52 featured per year)
- Preference will be given to apps which haven’t previously been featured over ones that have before, although they can be considered.
- People fill out web form requesting app be featured, make their case in a couple of sentences.
- Can request an app to be featured on a particular week
- apps.ie steering committee of perhaps 6 elected.
- Steering committee reviews all apps put forward and votes.

Requirements of an app to be considered
- Available on the iTunes AppStore
- An actual compiled app
- Not jailbroken

[Vinny Coyne]

Sounds great. One suggestion though: would it be better to extend the rotation time to 2 weeks to give better exposure to the featured app? I don't know the traffic figures for apps.ie, but I'm assuming a week's traffic mightn't be huge.

Damian OSuilleabhain said:

Hi All,

Paul and I got together and put together the following draft policy. Please review and add your comments. We will incorporate all feedback and present a revised draft at the meeting next week.

Draft apps.ie Featured Policy
- 1 week rotation (52 featured per year)
- Preference will be given to apps which haven’t previously been featured over ones that have before, although they can be considered.
- People fill out web form requesting app be featured, make their case in a couple of sentences.
- Can request an app to be featured on a particular week
- apps.ie steering committee of perhaps 6 elected.
- Steering committee reviews all apps put forward and votes.

Requirements of an app to be considered
- Available on the iTunes AppStore
- An actual compiled app
- Not jailbroken

[Nathan]

Damian OSuilleabhain said:

- apps.ie steering committee of perhaps 6 elected.

Should the steering committee have an odd number of members. Just in case there are 2 apps with equal votes etc.

[Paul Reilly]

Good ideas lads. Perhaps go for 5 people on the steering committee.
Vinny - initially we were going for 2 week rotation, but thought if we went 1 week it would give
more opportunity for apps to be featured. But 2 weeks still gives us 26 featured apps per year.
What do other people think?

[Damian OSuilleabhain]

I agree with Nathan in relation to having an odd number. Plus we can refer to this shadowy group as 'The Final Five' as an added bonus.

In relation to the duration, the reason Paul and I went for 1 week is down to the numbers. There are currently 67 apps on apps.ie (wow btw!). If we went for two week rotations it would take two and a half years to feature each of the apps currently up today. And that's not factoring in any new additions in the next two and a half years.

By having a one week rotation, we can give everyone a fair crack of the whip (so to speak) over the next year.

[Vinny Coyne]

Cool, that makes a lot of sense. Odd number for deciding sounds like the way to go too. It's got my vote! ;)

Damian OSuilleabhain said:

I agree with Nathan in relation to having an odd number. Plus we can refer to this shadowy group as 'The Final Five' as an added bonus. In relation to the duration, the reason Paul and I went for 1 week is down to the numbers. There are currently 67 apps on apps.ie (wow btw!). If we went for two week rotations it would take two and a half years to feature each of the apps currently up today. And that's not factoring in any new additions in the next two and a half years.

By having a one week rotation, we can give everyone a fair crack of the whip (so to speak) over the next year.

[Alan Duggan]

Hi All,

I haven't been at the Dublin meetings so I don't know if this was suggested but how about a daily featured App with the App also listing in the Showcase for a week? Given that we would hope the catalog of apps increases with time, it would seem a bit unreasonable to have to wait for even a year to be featured. If the Showcase carousel could be changed to rotate without clicking - that would also ensure all five apps are cycled on the page. I have no clue what that might entail from a maintenance perspective for the site.

Regards,

Alan

Damian OSuilleabhain said:

I agree with Nathan in relation to having an odd number. Plus we can refer to this shadowy group as 'The Final Five' as an added bonus.

In relation to the duration, the reason Paul and I went for 1 week is down to the numbers. There are currently 67 apps on apps.ie (wow btw!). If we went for two week rotations it would take two and a half years to feature each of the apps currently up today. And that's not factoring in any new additions in the next two and a half years.

By having a one week rotation, we can give everyone a fair crack of the whip (so to speak) over the next year.

[Damian OSuilleabhain]

At the last meeting there was general consensus to implement the draft policy paul and I drafted. So we need volunteers for the apps.ie committee. Would anyone like to put themselves forward?

[Vinny Coyne]

Sure, throw my name in the hat.

Damian OSuilleabhain said:

At the last meeting there was general consensus to implement the draft policy paul and I drafted. So we need volunteers for the apps.ie committee. Would anyone like to put themselves forward?

[Candice Lavender]

Sure you can add me to the list too :)

Damian OSuilleabhain said:

At the last meeting there was general consensus to implement the draft policy paul and I drafted. So we need volunteers for the apps.ie committee. Would anyone like to put themselves forward?

[Darran Morris]

Count me in!