Website and download confusion

[Tim M]

I think you should simply add a section with download links for the stable
version below the Features section of the page, just above News.  The news
is far more prominent than the sidebar download links, plus the sidebar
links take the user to the Sourceforge page which shows the Mac 2.3.7 .dmg
installer as the 'latest file' and the 2.2.9 stable release has no
prominence whatsoever on the page.

Having the links front and center would make it very obvious for the average
computer user what they should download to install GnuCash.  The average
user isn't going to understand to look for the "stable" versus unstable
installers, so if they are not direct accordingly they will just pick up
whatever is the newest version and most accessible/easy to find.  Ideally,
something like the following I think would make it easier for users to find
the correct stable installer for their OS, inserted between the News and
Feature Highlights sections of the home page:

"
<h2>Download GnuCash</h2>

<p>The latest stable release of GnuCash is 2.2.9.  Download the installer
for your operating system below.</p>

<ul>
<li>GnuCash 2.7.9 for <a href="
http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnucash/files/gnucash%20(stable)/2.2.9/gnucash-2.2.9-setup.exe/download">Microsoft
Windows XP/Vista</a></li>
<li>GnuCash 2.7.9 for Mac OS X <a href="
http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnucash/files/gnucash%20(stable)/2.2.9/Gnucash-Intel-2.2.9.4.dmg/download">Intel</a>
| <a href="">Power PC</a> | <a href="
http://voxel.dl.sourceforge.net/project/gnucash/gnucash%20(stable)/2.2.9/Gnucash%20OSX%20Readme.html
">Readme</a></li>
<li>GnuCash 2.7.9 for <a href="
http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnucash/files/gnucash%20(stable)/2.2.9/gnucash-2.2.9.tar.bz2/download
">Linux</a></li>
<li><a href="
http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnucash/files/gnucash%20(stable)/2.2.9/">View
all GnuCash 2.7.9 downloads</a></li>
</ul>

<p>Ubuntu 9.10 users can install GnuCash 2.7.9 through the Software Center
under the Office category.</p>

<p>Unstable (development) releases can be downloaded using the Download
links in the side menu, or from the News articles below.  Unstable releases
are not intended for production use.  Unstable releases should be used for
testing purposes only.</p>
"


My 2 cents,
-Tim M


On Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 9:05 AM, Geert Janssens
<janssens-geert at telenet.be>wrote:

> On Wednesday 11 November 2009, Colin Law wrote:
> > 2009/11/11 Geert Janssens <janssens-geert at telenet.be>:
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > There have been a couple of messages on the user list lately about
> people
> > > mistakenly downloading the development version instead of the stable
> > > version.
> > >
> > > Cause of this appears to be the news page that prominently shows the
> new
> > > (unstable) releases, while the latest stable release is more down on
> the
> > > same news list.
> > >
> > > I am currently looking at the website's sources to see if I can improve
> > > on this. I think I can.
> > >
> > > I propose to make the following changes:
> > >
> > > 1. The "Download" section in the menu:
> > > I propose to split this menu in two subsections: "Stable (2.2.x)" and
> > > "Unstable (2.3.x)" and have download links below both of these two
> > > pointing to the relevant download locations.
> >
> > In addition could I suggest a prominent button at the top of the home
> > page labeled Download Stable Version or something similar, that takes
> > one to the appropriate download location.
> >
> > Colin
> >
> I had thought of that as well, but I considered it a bit of overkill, if
> the
> download menu on the left already prominently showed a download location
> for
> that stable version.
>
> What do others think ?
>
> Geert
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