[pmwiki-users] download links on pmwiki.org

[Waylan Limberg]

I have recently started using PmWiki, so maybe my perspective as a new
user will help. I first came to pmwiki.org to investigate this among
other wikis to determine which one would suite my needs best. I read
the front page, philosophy and a few wiki pages to get an idea of what
could be done. I liked what I read and decided it was worthy of a
download and test run (among a few other wikis - PmWiki came out on
top after the test run - keep it up guys).

Now, where do I download? I scanned the side bar, but found no
'download' link. Hmm, that's strange. Ok, I see the installation link.
That may  have download links, but that doesn't really follow the
norm. Check the homepage. Nope, no download link there either. Guess
I'll check the installation page. Yep, but now I'm sent to a link of
arbitrarily named files (at least seemingly so by the uninitiated).
Hit the back button and read up on which file I need to download. Go
back to list of files, find latested release, note file extensions and
finally download what I hope is the correct file. Then, when I saw the
announcement of a new version here in the list. I went back to
download the latest. I don't need installation instructions at this
point and tried to avoid that page looking for a download and
experience the same frustration all over again (well to a lesser
degree)

Ok, so I make is sound worse that is really is, but H.Fox's solutions
certainly address all those issues just as I would suggest.

* Download links to the latest on the home page
* Download page linked in sidebar for easy access by those browsing
anywhere in the site
  (said page needs easy links to latest and explanation/link to
previous versions)
* Installation instructions are just that - although a quick download
link is very helpful
* And if you really must, sure a link to latest release can be made
available on every page in sidebar, but label it clearly as 'Download
Latest release now" (or something of the sort) so we know what to
expect

As I stated, the current state of things (with H. Fox's fixes) seems
to work fine IMHO. I guess I'm just writing this because some didn't
seem to see the problem and H. Fox himself questioned the need for at
least some of his adjustments. I'm just trying to say I like them.
Please leave them as is. Thanks.

On 9/12/05, H. Fox <haganfox at users.sourceforge.net> wrote:
> 
> The reasons:
> 
> * Encourage people to update to the current release. (Allow them to
> see which version is current and get it quickly.)
> * Encourage test-driving of PmWiki.
> 
> After I added the line to the sidebar I re-arranged the default page
> at PmWiki/PmWiki a bit.  Now the same three links are included on that
> page.
> 
> I removed the line from the sidebar (before I read Martin's post).
> 
> How about a compromise (if one is necessary): put a link in the sidebar to
> 
>     http://www.pmwiki.org/wiki/PmWiki/Download
> 
> It's one more click, but it links to a page.  I just switched over to that.
> 
> So now the question is: Since the links are in the default page at
> PmWiki/PmWiki, is the Download link in the sidebar superfluous?  (IMHO
> the fewer links in the sidebar the better)
> 
> Hagan
> 
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> 


-- 
----
Waylan Limberg
waylan at gmail.com