[Qgis-user] Re: [Qgis-developer] Simplify the download pages

[Carson Farmer]

+1 from me for Martin's suggestions... very logical and neat. The
faster people can find what they need, the faster they can start
playing with QGIS, the faster they tell their friends about it!

Carson

On Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 10:03 PM, Martin Dobias <wonder.sk at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 1:09 AM, Alex Mandel <tech_dev at wildintellect.com> wrote:
>> Based on some feedback I've gotten from some users the download pages
>> are still too complicated and have too many choices. It's not clear to
>> anyone but advanced and involved users what the right thing to get is.
>
> I also get feedback from people that the pages are confusing. I post
> my suggestions that might improve the usability (not limited to
> downloads):
>
> 1. Main page
> The text content is too dull to read it. People are in a hurry and
> usually want to know a) what is qgis, b) how does it look like c) how
> to get it.
> Therefore I suggest:
> - a short statement about QGIS in larger font + link: learn more
> (leading to about QGIS page)
> - big download button on the right side
> - small screenshot below the download button + link: more screenshots
> - below this there could be a news section (hackfests, releases, ...)
>
> 2. About page
> I would suggest to merge it with "features" page and make the
> screenshot smaller (again with link to more screenshots) because
> otherwise it doesn't bring any news besides the short history.
>
> 3. Download page
> For a good orientation, I would suggest to have these 4 options
> (aligned in a 2x2 table, large font):
> - Current version
> - Long term support version
> - Plugins
> - Sample data
> Each option would be a link to a separate page and could have a small
> annotation text below the link.
> Finally at the end of the page there could be a list of pages for
> older releases.
>
> 4. Download page for any version
> First a short introduction what the version is about (current release
> / LTS / older release).
> No tables, just a section (ideally with a platform icon for easier orientation):
> - WINDOWS
>  - standalone - with/without grass
>  - osgeo4w - instruction
> - MAC - instructions
> - LINUX - instructions for various distributions
> - SOURCE
>
>
> I believe this would make the first impression a bit better...
>
> Regards
> Martin
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>



-- 
Carson J. Q. Farmer
ISSP Doctoral Fellow
National Centre for Geocomputation
National University of Ireland, Maynooth,
http://www.carsonfarmer.com/