Editing Shareware (section)

== Industry standards and technologies ==
There are several widely accepted standards and technologies that are used in the development and promotion of shareware.
*[[FILE_ID.DIZ]] is a descriptive text file often included in downloadable shareware distribution packages.
*[[Portable Application Description]] (PAD) is used to standardize shareware application descriptions. PAD file is an XML document that describes a shareware or freeware product according to the PAD specification.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.asp-shareware.org/pad/specs.asp |title=PAD specification |access-date=2006-05-12 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612104933/http://www.asp-shareware.org/pad/specs.asp |archive-date=2007-06-12 }}</ref>
*[[DynamicPAD]] extends the Portable Application Description (PAD) standard by allowing shareware vendors to provide customized PAD XML files to each download site or any other PAD-enabled resource. DynamicPAD is a set of server-side PHP scripts distributed under a GPL license and a freeware DynamicPAD builder for 32-bit Windows. The primary way to consume or submit a DynamicPAD file is through the RoboSoft application by Rudenko Software, the DynamicPAD author. DynamicPAD is available at the [http://dynamicpad.org/ DynamicPAD web site].
*[[Code signing]] is a technology that is used by developers to digitally sign their products. Versions of [[Microsoft Windows]] since [[Windows XP]] Service Pack 2 show a warning when the user installs unsigned software. This is typically offered as a security measure to prevent untrusted software from potentially infecting the machine with [[malware]]. However, critics see this technology as part of a tactic to delegitimize independent software development by requiring hefty upfront fees and a review process before software can be distributed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://weblog.rogueamoeba.com/2008/03/07/code-signing-and-you/|title=Code Signing and You|website=rogueamoeba.com|access-date=2018-04-28|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018152204/https://weblog.rogueamoeba.com/2008/03/07/code-signing-and-you/|archive-date=2016-10-18}}</ref>