Re: [PHP-WEBMASTER] Home Page Mock-up

On 01/07/2011 08:11 AM, Hannes Magnusson wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 7, 2011 at 15:06, Derick Rethans<[email protected]>  wrote:
>> On Fri, 7 Jan 2011, Adam Harvey wrote:
>>
>>> On 4 January 2011 15:07, Stewart Lord<[email protected]>  wrote:
>>>> On 2011-01-03, at 8:14 PM, Adam Harvey wrote:
>>>>> If the Windows download link is retained (more on that in a moment),
>>>>> then I'd probably be inclined to change the arrow to a highly stylised
>>>>> version of the Windows logo. I could mock something up quickly if
>>>>> desired.
>>>>
>>>> Not a bad idea. Feel free to give it a shot and we can see what it looks like.
>>>
>>> So it wasn't quite as quick as I'd hoped, but the attached image
>>> basically shows what I was thinking of for the Windows link. Not sure
>>> if want, now I've done it.
>>>
>>> Thoughts?
>>
>> Yes. Why should those Windows downloads be somwhere else. They were
>> perfectly fine sitting next to the source downloads on the downloads
>> page.
>>
>
>
> Downloading PHP for Windows is super confusing. Until they can provide
> a "universal package" its not really easy to deal with, so I'm kindof
> fine with them dealing with it their own issues themselfs. Although I
> do wonder why need so many windows special things and why we don't
> need http://freebsd.php.net too.
>
> As for that Windows "logo", feels weird. Do we need the netbsd flag too?
>
> -Hannes
>

In the same vein that I didn't like the different arrow, I don't think
a special Windows logo helps.  Using the same arrow for all links was
a good indicator that they do the same thing and let you download
software.

Overall I'm voting for either one or two download links like "Download
PHP 5.3.5", or "PHP 5.3.5" & "PHP 5.2.17".  Having a Windows link is
orthogonal to the version numbers so it doesn't make sense to the user
- does it mean that Windows has older or other versions?

Simplifying the download section will improve usability by making the
choice obvious and not distract from other home-page worthy content.

I also think the text "Download" or "Free Download" needs to be next
to the link, for normal readers and for people using screen reading
software.

I think the inconsistency that the 5.2 link doesn't also say "Complete
Source Code" is unnecessary - "is it incomplete?"

Future nicenesses could include smarts like OS detection and giving
the users current platform as the promoted download option with an
adjacent "other platforms and versions" link.

Some references:

   http://www.ubuntu.com/ simply has "Download Ubuntu".

   http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ has "Firefox 3.6 Free Download
   3.6.13 for Linix i686 English (US)" and "All Systems & Languages"
   (I was using a browser on Linux)

   http://drupal.org/ has "Get Started with Drupal" which goes to
   http://drupal.org/start which then has "Download Drupal 7.0"

I should add a disclaimer that Oracle supports Linux and owns Solaris.

Chris

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