+10e9
On 10/18/07, Eric Hanchrow <offby1@blarg.net> wrote:
> People on #svn often ask "where can I find a Windows command-line
> client?". They either cannot find the package for Windows, or, worse,
> aren't even sure if one exists. I suspect this is because the layout
> of our web site is too complex.
>
> Here's what someone has to do to find the Windows package:
>
> * Notice the "Downloads" link on the left side of the main page
> (http://subversion.tigris.org/). Granted, this isn't too tough :-)
>
> * Scroll through rather a lot of (to them, irrelevant) stuff on
> http://subversion.tigris.org/project_packages.html until they see
> "Windows NT, 2000, XP and 2003"
>
> * Read a bunch of stuff about Apache and Berkeley DB that may well be
> irrelevant
>
> * Choose between these options:
>
> ** Win32 packages built against Apache 2.0
> ** Win32 packages built against Apache 2.2
> ** ... a friendly Installer program (I suspect this is what 80% of these people really want)
> ** TSVN
> ** CollabNet Subversion
> ** VisualSVN
>
> * If they chose "Win32 packages built against Apache 2.2", they now
> have to scroll through a long list
> (http://subversion.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectDocumentList?folderID=8100&expandFolder=8100&folderID=8100)
> of files, of which the one they actually want is either not present
> at all (if they want an installer package), or is present in
> multiple versions, scattered apparently at random through the list
> (if they want a zip file containing the binaries)
>
> * If they chose "Win32 packages built against Apache 2.0", they're in
> luck: the package they want is the third item on that page
> (http://subversion.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectDocumentList?folderID=91)
>
> Now, I realize that none of this is rocket science, but it strikes me
> as being more complex than it could be -- and (in Karl's words) raises
> a "barrier to entry". Therefore I suggest:
>
> * On project_packages.html, move the "friendly Installer program" item
> to the top of the list that it's in
>
> * Sequester older versions into an "older versions" folder, so that,
> on the two pages I cited above, people see only links to the latest
> version, plus that one "older versions" folder
>
> * Ensure that the *-setup.exe files always appear first in the list
> (they are in fact first in the list now, but I don't know if that's
> because of a policy, which would be good, or if instead they appear
> there merely by chance, which would be bad)
>
> * When a page has no *-setup.exe files, as is the case for binaries
> built against Apache 2.2, give the coveted first spot to
> svn-win32-x.y.z.zip, pushing less-needed files (such as the Python
> bindings, development packages, and so on) further down the list
>
> * Provide installer packages for Apache 2.2 binaries. I realize that
> these are contributed by volunteers, but since we're presumably
> auto-building Windows binaries anyway, would it be that hard to
> incorporate an installer into the build?
>
> * Have three links on the front page -- http://subversion.tigris.org/
> -- that say "download now for Windows, OS X, Source", leading
> directly to the latest installer for Windows, .dmg for OS X, and
> source tarball, respectively.
>
> I don't know how hard it would be to do all of the above, but I
> strongly suspect it would make the lives of our Windows users easier.
>
> Thanks.
>
> --
> Firefox: The one that blocks all the schmutz
>
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Received on Thu Oct 18 18:19:31 2007