Website download section

[John Ralls]

On Nov 12, 2009, at 7:18 AM, Geert Janssens wrote:

> I have made some progress with my proposals.
>
> To see the intermediate result, surf to:
> http://www.kobaltwit.be/gnucash/index.phtml
> (Just ignore the php safe mode warnings. They are caused by my hosting
> provider but not relevant for the changes and will not appear on the  
> official
> GnuCash website.)
>
> What I did so far:
> * Added a new page for downloading. While trying to organize all the  
> different
> download mechanisms I came to the conclusion there are too many to  
> fit on the
> start page. So instead I have created a new page where all the  
> possible
> download/installation options are grouped together. This page has
>  - direct one-click links to the installers we have available,
>  - information on how to install on linux using the native install  
> tools
>  - links to the source files
>  - general links to the sourceforge download page (for those that  
> want to
> download something not explicitly listed on this new page)
> These links are grouped in stable and unstable, with a small  
> introduction.
>
> * On the start page, I added a highly visible floating box with  
> download links
> for GnuCash. Windows and MacOS X users can download the latest  
> stable release
> installer for their platform with a single click. For all other  
> downloads, I
> refer to the newly added download page.
>
> * In the navigation menu, I removed the separate download options  
> and instead
> the Download item itself is now a link to the download page. I  
> figured it
> didn't make much sense to duplicate this information again.
>
> * PACKAGE MAINTAINERS, this bit is important for you. To minimize  
> the amount
> of changes required when a new download is available (either a new  
> stable
> release or in case of MacOS X a new stable subrelease), I have  
> extracted the
> version information into a separate file: externals/ 
> global_params.php. This
> file contains a number of php variable declarations that are used  
> extensively
> on the download page and in the download section on the startpage.  
> Whenever a
> new GnuCash is released, please update the relevant variable in this  
> file.
>
> What I have not done yet:
> * Fix the release news items
> * Translations. The new elements are gettextized though, so ready to  
> be
> translated. I prefer to wait with this until I have had some  
> feedback on the
> actual texts. They may still change.
>
> Some questions/remarks:
> * General: please have a look at http://www.kobaltwit.be/gnucash/ 
> phtml and
> give your feedback (again: just ignore the php safe mode warnings).
> * I'm not a native English speaker (Dutch is my mother tongue), so  
> my phrasing
> and choice of words may be suboptimal. Suggestions for improvements  
> are
> welcome.
> * The original site had links to a USA and a European sourcecode- 
> only "mirror"
> (for the lack of a better word). I have added those to the source  
> code section
> on the download page, but not quite as they were before. I have  
> added direct
> links to the source tarball for the latest stable release, instead  
> of showing
> the full directory listing. Is such a directory listing still  
> required ? I
> could add it to the "Other" section at the end of the page. Note  
> that the
> European mirror still has issues in that case as I mentioned in a  
> previous
> mail.
> * As for generating a patchset later on: I have added a new page, a  
> new php
> script and two new icons and I have changed two existing files. What  
> is the
> best way to deliver this to someone with svn access ? svn diff  
> doesn't seem to
> handle binary files.
> * I have added short descriptions on how to install GnuCash for a  
> number of
> Linux distributions via their native software installer tools. The  
> ones that
> are there are those I use myself (plus the line Tim provided for  
> Ubuntu).
> There are still some popular distros missing like openSUSE, Kubuntu,  
> Gentoo,
> Debian,... I don't know about the installer tools in those distros.  
> If anyone
> wants to add a line for another distro, just let me know.

Very nice.

Can the link to the OSX Readme be made just a link so that it displays  
directly without the intermediate download page?

I take it that externals/global_params.php will be accessible via svn  
when the page is made live. Correct?

Regards,
John Ralls