| Re: New Eclipse Downloads Page Prototype [message #11107] |
Fri, 14 January 2005 10:58  |
|
Originally posted by: eclipse.rizzoweb.com
WebMaster wrote:
> NOTE: Please post replies in the eclipse.foundation newsgroup.
>
> Greetings,
>
> We've developed a new downloads page, and we'd like the Community's
> feedback! This prototype is intended to replace the old downloads page
> seen here: http://eclipse.org/downloads/
>
> As a result of Community feedback, the prototype page was designed with
> these goals in mind:
>
> * Make it easier to download Eclipse, especially for newcomers
> * Make it easier to find files on eclipse.org
> * Make it easier to find a mirror to download files
> * Make it easier to find downloads for other projects
>
>
> Here is the new page:
>
> http://eclipse.org/downloads/index2.php
I'm glad to see this being addressed, but I don't think this
implementation is significantly more clear than the original. Here's a
couple of concrete suggestions/gripes:
1) The "Looking for Eclipse?" box on the right is very useful, but not
prominent enough. I suspect many people will be drawn to the text in the
middle section and never even see the helpful "if you're new to Eclipse
this is probably what you want" text. I would put all that into the
Welcome section at the middle/top. In fact, the 3 links in that box
should be large and prominent in the center of the page, since that is
the file the vast majority of people are going to want.
2) Nowhere is there a statement like "Here is the Java IDE" - I'm sure
the vast majority of visitors are looking for the downloads page for the
basic Eclipse Platform SDK, but that name is non-intuitive - most
developers are looking for the "Java IDE."
3) The Welcome section has the following text that should, at the
minimum, be made more prominent (bold, larger font, or both): "If you're
looking for the Eclipse SDK, or you're not sure what to download, this
page probably has it." Per #2 above, I strongly suggest using "Eclipse
IDE" or "Eclipse Java IDE" as the name instead of SDK. When developers
see "SDK" I suspect they will think that is what you need to program
Eclipse itself, not what you need just to _use_ Eclipse.
The bottom line is that the new page is a bit better than the old, but
it still does not make it obvious where to get what the VAST majority of
visitors are looking for. They want the Java IDE, so make it blatantly
obvious where to get it.
Thanks for the work and your attention,
Eric
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