Re: [Gramps-devel] Revision of Download and Installation wiki pages

[Tim L. <guy...@gm...>]

Thanks for your comments.

I should first of all emphasise that I am writing the  downloads section for
normal users, not for developers or packagers. I want to make sure that
Gramps is as accessible as possible, and for Linux is not restricted to (or
mainly for) the Linux elite!

I tried a number of different variations including having the distributions
section within the top Linux section.

I particularly wanted Linux, MS Windows and Mac to appear within the browser
window without scrolling, so that it was immediately clear to users that
Gramps was available for MS Windows and Mac as well as Linux. This was
particularly because (as John R has pointed out) the number of MS Windows
and Mac users appears to far outweigh the Linux users (or at least the users
that visit the downloads repository). I was particularly encouraged by the
Moneydance, Gnucash and Greenfoot examples I mentioned, all of which had the
three platforms easily within the first visible page. In fact Moneydance had
the Linux section last, which would also allow the MS Windows and Mac
sections to be more visible, but I thought that might be too radical an
approach.

As you can see, the layout that I eventually arrived at is quite similar to
the Gnucash one.


Nick Hall-6 wrote
> I like the general layout and design of the page, but I don't like the 
> linux section.
> 
> As a linux user, I just want to quickly locate my distribution and find 
> a link to download a .deb or .rpm file.
> 
> I would make the following changes:
> 
> 1. Move the "Source" link into a separate section.  It is applicable to 
> all OS not just linux.
> 2. Remove the "via Distributions" link and replace it with text similar 
> to:  "Gramps is available in the repositories of most major 
> distributions.  If your distribution does not contain Gramps, or you 
> would like a more up-to-date version than that contained in your 
> repository, you can download a copy here."
> 3. Move the table of distributions into the linux section.  It should 
> contain the distribution name and logo, and also a link to the latest 
> .deb or .rpm file.
> 
> There is no need for a warning box about installing a .deb file. The 
> dependencies will all be handled automatically.  Installing a .deb file 
> is not for advanced users only.  I would suggest that the user 
> double-clicks on the file, rather than running dpkg from the command line.

As a Linux user, I want to tell you that your distribution already has
Gramps, and your safest and easiest route is to use your built in software
centre to get Gramps.

I have put the "Source" link in the Linux section, because I don't think
that the source is much use to MS Windows or Mac users. In both those cases
the user would have to do an awful lot of work to make the source use able
on those platforms. Also, MS Windows and Mac users generally will just be
able to download the latest version because all dependencies are build in.
The description of the build from source process is elsewhere. In fact, I am
not even sure that the link to the source is much use to users even on
Linux, because it needs instructions on how to make use of it, but I thought
that Linux users might like to see it there. Perhaps I ought to  move the
"source" link to the "latest version" section, and include a link there to
building from source.

There are no .rpm files in the Gramps sourceforge repository, so I don't
think there is anything to link to for that.

The trouble with including the link to the latest .deb file higher up is
that I am not sure that older versions of distributions will necessarily be
compatible with the dependencies that Gramps needs. For example, we have
added new dependencies to later versions of Gramps such as EXIF, and
osmgpsmap even in Gramps 3.4.x, are we sure these are avaiable for older
distributions. I have followed the advice in Gnucash about cautioning for
the care needed before upgrading to a version other than the one supported
by the distribution. 

I was also thinking ahead to when the latest release becomes Gramps 4.0.x.
We know that most of the existing Linux distributions do not support that,
and that is even without considering the 'optional' packages, some of which
are not available except from building from source. I didn't want the 4.0.0
deb file to just appear there and have users click on it and expect it to
install.

I will change the instructions for the .deb file so the user just
double-clicks on it.

Regards,
Tim.



--
View this message in context: http://gramps.1791082.n4.nabble.com/4-0-tp4660187p4660303.html
Sent from the GRAMPS - Dev mailing list archive at Nabble.com.