Winzip Alternative!

[designthing]

Hi there.
Can someone recommend a good winzip alternative. I have Winrar which is very simple to use but i don't think i can use it to upload themes to the Extend Page. That's my second question: what zip files can i upload.
Thanks!

[Connie]

Hi as well ;=)

well, we need ZIP-format for the downloadable files because that is the most common archive format

only ZIP is accepted.

WINRAR produces either RAR or ZIP-files, so I do not see your problem.
The quality of the produced files is always ok, so I do not expect a problem to upload ZIPs which were produced by WINRAR

Cheers, Connie

[designthing]

Thanks Connie.
Ah...i didn't realise there was a zip option in Winrar. Haven't used it before now. That's okay then.
While on the topic of uploading zipped GS themes, can you tell me how to name files correctly for MAC users.
I know i would need to have a mac folder with the associated files but not sure what suffix they use, or anything i need to know.
Thanks all-knowing Guru :-P

[Zegnåt]

Are we talking Windows? Get 7-Zip. It supports many formats and has great compression settings. Best of all: it’s free. (Open-Source, even.)

As Connie says, ZIP is the way to go if you want as many people as possible to be able to use it. That doesn’t mean there is no difference between how big the file is depending on what software you use. I’ve found 7-Zip able to often deliver the smallest ZIP files.

Mac OS uses exactly the same files as are used for Windows. To be fair, since most web servers use an Linux & Apache set-up, Mac OS gets closer to a web server than Windows. Mac OS is Unix based while Windows is DOS based. In general you will never get a conflict with filenames when going from Windows to Mac OS. The other way around can be troublesome since Mac allows for almost any character inside a file name. Including /, \, ! and ?.

GetSimple will be looking for the same files, it doesn’t care about the OS. There is only one right way for theme files, and that’s the way they are compatible with web browsers and the GetSimple software!

[designthing]

That's very helpful thankyou Zegnat.
My reason for asking Connie about upoading a MAC theme folder was because i recently downloaded a theme called simpletheme and i'm sure it had a MAC version with 7 php files with no php suffix. It was something like ._template etc. So, i'm a bit confused on that. So you're saying there's no need for anything other than the one
them folder for windows?
Cheers!

[Zegnåt]

Those are hidden files used inside the Mac OS file system. All files starting with a dot are hidden files on Unix, by default. That’s why setting files such as .htaccess start with a dot.

These files are automatically created by Mac OS when it needs them, they don’t have to be inside the ZIP archive at all. The problem with being on Mac OS is that they pop-up every where outside of the user’s control. If I ZIP anything on my MacBook I wouldn’t even know if it contained those files or not. It would be very hard to remove them.

Just ignore them. If you ever get these Mac OS specific files, delete them. There is no need for them.

[Chriskyle]

That's very helpful thankyou Zegnat.
My reason for asking Connie about upoading a MAC theme folder was because i recently downloaded a theme called simpletheme and i'm sure it had a MAC version with 7 php files with no php suffix. It was something like ._template etc. So, i'm a bit confused on that. So you're saying there's no need for anything other than the one
them folder for windows?
Cheers!

If you’re looking for a free WinZip alternative that’s easy to a T, choose 7-Zip. This software steals appreciation for being the simplest out there with a high compression ratio. It offers compression in 7z format with LZMA and LZMA2 algorithms, and supports almost all the top-end pack and unpack formats, making it the best of the bandwagon. 7-Zip is 1MB in size, and is open-source, which means that you can access it for free, even for commercial purposes. https://techiespad.com/free-winzip-alternative/ It allows compression that’s 2-10% better than what the rest has to offer. 7-Zip is designed to cater to your both Winrar and Winzip-related file requirements, making it an ideal bet with a top-end bonus.
Hope this helps.

[Thomas Brown]

Thank you, Zegnat, it is a lot of assistance.
I recently downloaded a theme called simpletheme, and i'm sure it included a MAC version with 7 php files without a php suffix, which is why I asked Connie about uploading a MAC theme folder. It was in the form of. template, etc. I'm a little perplexed about that. You're suggesting that the Windows them folder is all that's required, then?
Cheers!