Right so, a new version of the client is due "soon", as well as the server once I work the kinks out (another protocol extension)
A teaser for the void;
The client now has the capability of displaying "cards" as well as loading up the "index" - any server can host these, there are no special requirements other than valid "cards".
Until there is a proper release, think of the "index" as an "app store" where the "cards" are entries for things on the Hotline server - a visual representation instead of the file area being filled with anonymous files. This means that something like a path such as "Shareware/Games/Action/Quake" can contain a card (or more) with system requirements, screenshots, versions, sizes, file hashes and so much more.
The only drawback of not having the protocol extension is, that when one loads an index card, it will walk all folders under the index in search for cards (with limitations), though it is fast it can be an annoyance for some server operators who seemingly enjoy staring at server logs, what solves the issue to a higher degree is the protocol extension, which in my case will work against an SQLite database, which in turn unlocks more advanced search / filtering features, user comments and ratings and some other minor things to be excited for.
Naturally, the cards and the index is not limited to software, there is also support for other types of content as well, such as music / albums, books in different kinds of formats, videos (single entries and or series), the index can be written to support either, some or all, and more than one index can be made available for different areas of a server, which makes it fairly versatile.
This fever dream of an addition to Hotline stems from something I was working on when writing a new version of Macintosh Garden, just instead of the web, it's now on Hotline. For anyone wondering, yes, there with be a "card author" guide available in time for the next release along with a small pack of examples for a "complete index" as well as individual indexes - the client will have something juicy built-in for authoring where the extension exists.
Aaaand yes, since the cards are files (export when extension is in use), and the files contain data (never instructions), they can be downloaded by anyone for use on the interweb for instance, parsed as one wills. Such juicy tenderness.
