[QGIS-Developer] Download troubles? Download in the background?

Tue Oct 3 09:40:00 PDT 2023

Hello,

In my opinion, the recent improvements made to the download page appear to
be quite user-friendly and I don't have anything to add on that.

Now moving on to the support page
<https://www.qgis.org/en/site/forusers/support.html>, it would be helpful
to begin with a friendly introduction to clarify the nature of support
within QGIS.org. In my opinion, it's important to emphasize that QGIS.org,
as a part of the open-source ethos, primarily relies on community
collaboration and does not offer direct, individualized support. Instead,
we encourage users to actively engage with our community through mailing
lists and communication channels...

So, my suggestion for the text would be:

"Welcome to our support page! At QGIS.org, we're all about fostering a
collaborative and supportive community for our users. While we don't offer
direct, one-on-one support ourselves, we've created a space where you can
connect with others who share your passion for QGIS.

We've set up mailing lists and various communication channels where you can
engage with fellow users and our dedicated developers. However, we
understand that there may be times when you require personalized assistance
or wish to explore more comprehensive support options. For such cases, you
can contact one of the support providers offering commercial support
<https://www.qgis.org/en/site/forusers/commercial_support.html#>."

I believe clarification of QGIS.org support will reduce questions about
donations and expected support...

Regarding the donation page, the description provided by Jean-François
Bourdon seems clear and effective.

Greetings,

Selma.

On Mon, 2 Oct 2023 at 17:44, Nick Bearman <
nick at geospatialtrainingsolutions.co.uk> wrote:

> Thanks everyone, and thanks Harrissou for making those changes.
>
> In terms of how we explain support, perhaps Selma might have some thoughts
> (with her work on documentation).
>
> Selma - see thread below, but briefly some people are getting very poor
> download speeds. They are then donating and asking 'why are the download
> speeds slow even though I have donated?'. There are various things to
> unpack here, but would be really interested in your thoughts on the changes
> to the text we have made on the download page and what we are proposing on
> the 'donate' page.
>
> Feel free to email if you have questions and/or contact me off list.
>
> Best wishes,
> Nick.
> On 21/09/2023 2:18 pm, Bourdon, Jean-François (DIF) via QGIS-Developer
> wrote:
>
> [image: Intranet logo]
>
> To continue on the topic of donation and support, although I find it
> strange that someone doing a donation is expecting at the same time to
> receive special support (donation != license), maybe a precision should be
> made on the donation page (https://donate.qgis.org/) like:
>
>
>
> “Please note that making a donation doesn’t grant any additional support
> than what can be found at the support page (
> https://www.qgis.org/en/site/forusers/support.html). For any specific
> need, you might contact one of the numerous companies offering commercial
> support (
> https://www.qgis.org/en/site/forusers/commercial_support.html#qgis-commercial-support)
> .”
>
>
>
> Maybe this same text could be add to the section “What is your benefit
> supporting the QGIS Development?” for the Sustaining Membership Program.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *Jean-François Bourdon, ing.f.*
>
> *Analyste en télédétection*
> *Direction des inventaires forestiers*
> *Ministère des Ressources naturelles et des Forêts*
> 5700, 4e Avenue Ouest, local A-108
> Québec (Québec) G1H 6R1
> Téléphone : 418 627-8669, poste 704304
> *jean-francois.bourdon at mrnf.gouv.qc.ca
> <jean-francois.bourdon at mrnf.gouv.qc.ca>*
> *mrnf.gouv.qc.ca* <http://www.mrnf.gouv.qc.ca/>
>
>
>
> *De :* QGIS-Developer <qgis-developer-bounces at lists.osgeo.org>
> <qgis-developer-bounces at lists.osgeo.org> *De la part de* Emma Hain via
> QGIS-Developer
> *Envoyé :* 20 septembre 2023 20:57
> *À :* Nick Bearman <nick at geospatialtrainingsolutions.co.uk>
> <nick at geospatialtrainingsolutions.co.uk>
> *Cc :* qgis-developer at lists.osgeo.org
> *Objet :* Re: [QGIS-Developer] Download troubles? Download in the
> background?
>
>
>
> I think this looks good Nick, could we also put in a link to the QGIS hub
> page and to where our links to the users groups are so that sorta provides
> some 'support'.
>
> Sorta off topic:
>
> I recently got contacted by someone letting me know they donated so they
> could get support - they thought I was the help desk for QGIS...Maybe this
> is an indication of some UX/UI is required to send people to our support
> pages???
>
>
>
> Cheers
>
> Em
>
>
>
> On Thu, 21 Sept 2023 at 01:07, Nick Bearman via QGIS-Developer <
> qgis-developer at lists.osgeo.org> wrote:
>
> Thanks for highlighting this Andreas.
>
> If I might suggest a tweak to the popup layout:
>
> Thank you!
>
> Your freshly baked copy of QGIS is downloading. (Make this line bold and
> add a paragraph before the next bit)
>
> QGIS is free of charge, and will always be free of charge if downloaded
> from QGIS.org. (and another break here)
>
> If you can afford to support the project and people making this software,
> please consider making a small donation to support our efforts. Whether you
> choose to donate or not, we hope that you enjoy using our labour of love
> and encourage you to share and spread your downloaded copy far and wide so
> that others may enjoy it too. Our very best regards!
>
> The QGIS Team
>
> This might make it a bit more obvious. What do you think?
>
> (I will leave those who are more technical than me to discuss download
> speed issues).
>
> Best wishes,
> Nick.
>
> On 9/20/23 08:19, Johannes Kröger (WhereGroup) via QGIS-Developer wrote:
>
> Hi Andreas,
>
> ouch!
>
> Javascript is not required for the download. If it is disabled, all OS
> options are expanded and the big green buttons directly point to the files
> anyways. The "donate" popup is only triggered in addition to the normal
> link click (if javascript is enabled).
>
> If the users really just not realise that a download has started, maybe
> making the text that says that QGIS is being downloaded bold on the
> "donate" popup might help? The popup might just be too intrusive and
> distracting even.
>
> Some sites use images to point their users towards the browser's download
> manager, maybe there is a freely available library that does this for all
> kinds of browsers and screens?
>
> Downloads are often painfully slow though and might even time out in bad
> cases I guess. Having some more/faster download mirrors might help. The
> osgeo.org mirror is often unusable (I think it is that mirror that most
> often causes issues, norbit.de usually seems fine for me - from Germany
> though...). Here is one story of a user in South Korea:
> https://fosstodon.org/@ianthetechie/110943928875054838
>
> Maybe users see super slow or failing downloads and think that it is a
> matter of donation.
>
> I am aware of download.osgeo.org and norbit.de mirrors, are there more?
> It would probably be a good idea to have one in Asia and maybe one in
> Africa, depending on the routing. At least for Asia OVH has cheap offers
> that might just be good enough.
>
> PS, if a CDN (probably overkill) would be considered: I am strongly
> against using Cloudflare as they are a global surveillance opportunity for
> the US and we would all be stupid not to assume that any traffic going
> through them is logged by three letter agencies. We should not participate
> in that kind of centralisation. There are alternatives like
> https://european-alternatives.eu/alternative-to/cloudflare . I would
> happily research a good choice.
>
>
>
> Could you try to find out more details about why they get so confused?
>
> Cheers, Hannes
>
>
>
> Am 20.09.23 um 08:50 schrieb Andreas Neumann via QGIS-Developer:
>
> Hi all,
>
>
>
> Recently (past 1-4 months) I get a lot of emails at finance at qgis.org from
> people who say that they donated but then could not download QGIS. I think
> I got at least 40-50 such emails until now.
>
>
>
> Sometimes they ask: how many times do I have to donate until I can
> download QGIS?
>
>
>
> I then explain them that donations are optional, often direct them to the
> direct download page - and I tell them that downloads may take longer.
>
>
>
> I believe that many users aren't aware that QGIS is downloading "in the
> background". Because the QGIS downloads are rather large this can take
> several minutes ...
>
> Or may there be other problems with downloads? Does it require Javascript
> to be enabled?
>
>
>
> I wonder if we can display some hint that QGIS is downloaded "in the
> background" and can take a while to download ....
>
>
>
> I believe this is because many users don't know how their browsers work
> with the downloads of large files ...
>
>
>
> Is there anything we can do to inform users and enhance the download
> experience - so that I don't get that many emails?
>
>
>
> Thank you for your replies,
>
> Andreas
>
>
> --
> Andreas Neumann
>
> QGIS.ORG <http://qgis.org/> board member (treasurer)
>
>
>
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> --
>
> Johannes Kröger / GIS-Entwickler/-Berater
>
>
>
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> --
>
> Nick Bearman
>
> +44 (0) 7717745715
>
> nick at geospatialtrainingsolutions.co.uk
>
>
>
> Due to my own life/work balance, you may get emails from me outside of normal working hours. Please do not feel any pressure to respond outside of your own working pattern.
>
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> --
>
> Emma Hain — Product Manager/Senior GIS Analyst
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>
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> --
> Nick Bearman
> +44 (0) 7717745715nick at geospatialtrainingsolutions.co.uk
>
> Due to my own life/work balance, you may get emails from me outside of normal working hours. Please do not feel any pressure to respond outside of your own working pattern.
>
>

-- 
Selma Vidimlic Husic
QGIS Documentation Writer
Visit http://kartoza.com to find out about open source:
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