SUMMARY Download page for KDE Neon is unclear and confusing for potential users. STEPS TO REPRODUCE 1. Go to https://files.kde.org/neon/images/neon-useredition/current/ 2. See the list is just filenames with no explination or download button: Parent Directory - .message neon-useredition-20180920-1026-amd64.iso neon-useredition-20180920-1026-amd64.iso.sig neon-useredition-20180920-1026-amd64.manifest neon-useredition-20180920-1026-amd64.sha256sum neon-useredition-current.iso neon-useredition-current.iso.sig neon-useredition-current.iso.zsync neon-useredition-current.iso.zsync.README EXPECTED RESULT A download button for each relevant choice, with text describing what it is. E.G. "KDE Neon User edition for 64bit computers (recommended). DOWNLOAD". A filename alone is not clear. And not needed. Other distros help the user choice with an explanation of each item and have a clear Download button. Ubuntu: https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop Linux Mint: https://linuxmint.com/download.php Fedora: https://getfedora.org/en/workstation/download/ OpenSUSE: https://software.opensuse.org/distributions/tumbleweed Solus: https://getsol.us/download/ ADDITIONAL INFORMATION New people coming to KDE to Download KDE Neon are taken to a nice descriptive page by some easy navigation. https://neon.kde.org/download But as soon as you click on the button to download the "User Edition Live/Install" it takes you to a strange web page with a list of filenames. And a poor and incomplete description at the top. https://files.kde.org/neon/images/neon- ... n/current/ Now I'm sure that experienced users will be able to guess which .iso to click on. Although the difference between: - neon-useredition-current.iso - neon-useredition-20180104-1018-amd64.iso is unclear. Actually only the description need be shown. the filename itself is cryptic. I guess this page is automatically generated. But its's not the sort of muddle new people should be expected to guess their way through.
Trying to report this through the website leads to an error: Link on Download Page: -Maintained by KDE Sysadmin https://bugs.kde.org/enter_sysadmin_request.cgi Error from that link: 404 Not Found
The download page for Neon is at https://neon.kde.org/download The pages you've been looking at are the download backend and are intended for technical users only who want to pick an exact ISO to download.
The issue seems to be that on https://neon.kde.org/download when you click the nice download graphic instead of a file download starting it takes you to the directory listing on files.ko for the current image This contains as well as the symlink of current it also lists the real current dated, i can understand the reason for it if you download lots but it does add some confusion As the .message is multi-lined it is collapsed by default and not obvious to expand it, for the still slightly confusing note (from a new user point of view) Side note: ubuntu and fedora downloads are very simple and intuitive mint, opensuse and solus are more confusing
For the user edition at least maybe the button could just be to the download for current iso with underneath a verify and advanced links or download page similar to fedora?
(In reply to Kenny Duffus from comment #4) > For the user edition at least maybe the button could just be to the download > for current iso with underneath a verify and advanced links or download page > similar to fedora? The page you get after clicking fedora download with verify and more info is quite nice
Reassigning to Neon in that case. The download.kde.org / files.kde.org pages are generic and aren't intended for what Neon are using them for. Their pages should really link to the <url>.mirrorlist variant (for the ISOs, as that page gives the hashes along with a list of mirrors for those that like/need to pick their own mirror), with the .asc and .zsync links being separate (for those that want those)
(In reply to Kenny Duffus from comment #4) > For the user edition at least maybe the button could just be to the download > for current iso with underneath a verify and advanced links or download page > similar to fedora? I think this makes sense.
Switching to download of the URL for neon-user-current.iso or the metalink for that would be trivial but I think there's value in pointing people at the datestamped filenames. That needs a bit more faff or working out how to update the URL when the new images get published.
IMO there's value there for developers and other techy people. For regular users, it's just gibberish. Could we make the change only for User Edition maybe?
Is a date gibberish? Surely they're commonly understood and if you're the sort of person who wants to install neon you probably also have some interest in when that .iso file on your hard disk was downloaded.
It's not a date, it's a string of numbers with no separators between them. It's not just that. The whole download page shows ten links on it. It's just not that clear what you need to click on to actually download the thing. Think like a regular person, not a distro packager. Would your grandmother be able to figure out what to click on https://files.kde.org/neon/images/user/current/ to download Neon?
Oh I agree the page should link directly to the .iso file rather than the directory on the mirror. I just think there's value in doing the extra faff of linking to the .iso file with the datestamp in it. Maybe I'm wrong there but I've found them awfae useful in the past.
(In reply to Jonathan Riddell from comment #12) > Oh I agree the page should link directly to the .iso file rather than the > directory on the mirror. I just think there's value in doing the extra faff > of linking to the .iso file with the datestamp in it. Maybe I'm wrong there > but I've found them awful useful in the past. Yes, because you're a technical expert distro packager. :) I'm not saying we should get rid of the extra faff, just hide the faff on an "advanced" page maybe. Make the common case easy, but the expert stuff available. You know, "Simple by default, powerful when needed" :)
Done! See https://phabricator.kde.org/T11038
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #14) > Done! See https://phabricator.kde.org/T11038 Thanks. Very nice.