Thomas Viehmann wrote:
Xavier Roche wrote:Hence, we could have two optional fields: Snapshot: http://www.example.com/snapshot.pngThat's a slippery slope. If this is successful, someone will suggest adding a group photograph of the developers' favorite pets soon.
I doubt that users will care about developers' favorite pets. I took the freshmeat.net example : they don't include developers' favorite pets, but they include screenshots. Why? Why didn't they fell in a "slippery slope" ?
Seriously, I truly think that "regular" users (that is, not guru-uers) will actually appreciate to have at least a screenshot of the graphic applications that they are browsing for install (hint: "regular" users will NEVER install console applications, so the awk example is a bit irrelevant). And this is maybe as important as the description field for beginners.
The only question is: do we have to care about beginners who are not able to cope with non-graphic installer and who need fuzzy screenshots to help them? My opinion is: yes.
Also, URLs, particulary 'deep links' (to screen shots) don't seem to be all too stable.
External links can be unreachable, yes. But at least most URLs should work. Josselin suggested that we could cache these screenshots on d.o - why not?
Is it good for lintian to depend on web connectivity?
s/web connectivity/ip connectivity/Well, I don't know. Maybe not. But if available (like on most autobuilders), why don't check?