Today sees another new chapter in the development of We Got Served, with the opening of a new website that will be solely dedicated to Windows Home Server add-ins.
Home Server Plus (http://www.whsplus.com) is a new resource for the Windows Home Server community that builds on the collection of add-ins we’ve hosted here at We Got Served with a whole host of new features to make finding, installing and using Windows Home Server add-ins easier and more enjoyable.
Home Server Plus Home Page
All 73 of today’s free, community developed add-ins are listed on the site with the following features:
- Easier Navigation
Add-ins are easy to navigate and find thanks to their categorisation in to Backup, Communications, Home Server Management, Internet, Media, Miscellaneous, Power, Remote Access and Security. - Add-ins Assessed By Ease of Use
Each Windows Home Server add-in assessed and categorised by level of user experience required – from Standard, through Advanced to Expert. So if you’re new and just learning the ropes of your new home server you can ensure you build your experience with add-ins step by step. - Screenshots and Videos to Check-out Before You Try
Screenshots and embedded 4-5 minute YouTube video of each add-in running on Windows Home Server, to allow you to view features and functionality before deciding to download. - Links to Your Favourite Support Resources
Links to add-in developer’s website for download and documentation, as well as links to a dedicated We Got Served Community Support Forum for each add-in and WGS Review. - Every Add-in Rated and Ranked By the Community
Rate each add-in you download, and see an up to the minute view of what the community has rated the Top 10 Highest Rated and Most Rated add-ins. - Hate It? State It!
Share your opinions on each add-in with the community, and tell your friends about the coolest apps, courtesy of links to the leading social networks (Digg, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and over 100 others) or via email. - Full Release Histories
Release history listed for each add-in, so you can be sure you’re running the latest version. - Easy Keyword Search
Full search capability to locate add-ins by name, part of the name or keyword. - Keep Up to Date Via RSS
RSS feeds available for new add-in posts and community comments, so you can be sure you’re always up to date with add-in news.
Here’s a few screenshots of the new site:
Home Server Plus Category Menu
Highest Rated Add-ins in Sidebar
Social Networking Links
Why the new site?
We Got Served has been the home of Windows Home Server add-ins ever since we collated and launched our first add-in list back in 2007. Since then, the list of add-ins has grown tremendously to the point where there are now 73 free community add-ins available for download. To be honest, whilst we’ve got a reasonable resource available for add-ins via WGS Forums, I think we can do a lot better and the existing database and download facilities we have are quite restrictive, and not the friendliest to use. They’re also quite hidden, tucked away in the forums and given the prominence of community add-ins, they need to be set free!
With the new site we can say goodbye to user registration requirements and poor auto-screenshot re-sizing and hello to cool features like video previews, community ratings, improved commenting, social networking links and more!
What will stay here at We Got Served is our community support forums, which are linked from each and every add-in on the new site. As many of you know, we provide a forum for every add-in that is released to provide a community support resource, which developers are free to use to connect to the community, but is mainly a place for WGS readers to chat and help each other out with the add-ins they use. Some forums are tumbleweed zones, others are vibrant with readers and developers swapping ideas for new features or reporting and supporting other users with problems. We’ll continue to build that support resource here at WGS, whilst Home Server Plus will be dedicated to showcasing what’s available.
What’s happening now?
I hate the phrase, but let’s say we’re in “beta” right now. I’m putting the finishing touches to the new site, which mainly includes creating, uploading and linking the video clips for each add-in (which, as you can imagine, is a pretty laborious job!) Whilst that continues over the next couple of weeks, I’d love you to go and check out the site and do the following to help test the site:
- Find and rate all of the add-ins you currently use.
- Download a few new add-ins that you don’t currently use, check them out, share your opinion on them via the comments area, and rate those too. Let’s get some discussion going!
- Click on links and let me know if any are broken.
- Feedback anything you like, hate or can’t get your head around in the comments for this post, plus any ideas you’ve got on how we can make the site even better.
- If you’re a website owner who currently links to the (pretty horrible) existing URL for add-ins at WGS (http://forum.wegotserved.com/index.php?autocom=downloads) then feel free to swap the link out for a nice, short and and shiny new one (http://www.whsplus.com)
- If you know your way around Camtasia Studio and would be up for helping out with creation of add-in preview videos, then drop me a note – I’ll dig into the WGS Competition Swag Bag and I’m sure I can send out some home server goodies for contributors.
Going Forward
At some point in the next few months, I’ll close down the add-ins section here at WGS and point all existing links to the new site. It won’t be for a while as relinking is going to take ages, but if you’re a current WGS add-ins section junkie, start getting acquainted with the new place!
I’m really excited about the new site, and hope you guys find it a much more useful resource to discover, download and discuss the add-ins which make the Windows Home Server community such a fun and vibrant place. But, it’s a resource for everyone, so let me know what you think – good and bad!
Check it out: Home Server Plus
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