Re: Debian Live website usability
2011/1/31 Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>:
> Hi,
>
> Today I decided I wanted to try out Debian Live (to see how well
> Debian works on a certain new laptop). Great --- so I visited
> live.debian.net.
>
> I came in wanting to know:
> - where to find a cdimage
In the downloads section, obviously.
> - whether it would include debian-installer
The inclusion of installer is still somewhat experimental.
If you want to install a Debian system you are better off downloading
and install CD, that's probably one of the reasons this feature is not
advertised.
> - (possible bonus) how to burn it
There are plenty of pages on the web describing how to burn a CD image
using various tools.
I don't think it is necessary to replicate the information here. If
you really insist you can always send a patch that integrates it
nicely into the web ;-)
> - potential pitfalls, if any
You might have a system without a CD-rom or one not compatible with
Debian GNU/Linux. This is a Debian live CD so it does contain a Debian
system, with all the possible pitfalls of that.
>
> The main page does not make this as easy as I'd like (in fact, I still
> don't know if a cdimage is available).
>
> Here it is, for reference:
>
> [User] [Development]
> ------ -------------
> [Archive] et c.
> Download releases: [stable] [testing]
> Download snapshots: [daily] [weekly] [monthly]
> Manual: [en] [de] [fr] [it] [pt_BR] [ro]
> [Mailinglist]
> Web Images Builder: [CGI] [Django]
> [Wiki]
>
> Thoughts:
>
> - I am not sure separating user information from developer information
> in this way makes much sense. Wouldn't basic information like "how
This is common sense. Most users coming to download a CD image won't
want to browse the git repo and vice versa.
> Debian Live works", "where to get the sources", and "known bugs"
> be interesting to both groups?
>
> - The "User" link points to the "User" image rather than an actual
> page. The link is distracting. Can it be avoided?
Indeed, that link is useless. It's not meant to be a link in the first
place I guess.
>
> - What does the "archive" link represent? Does it belong on the front
> page?
It obviously contains materials related to debian-live of various
vintage. Where else would such link belong?
>
> - The "Download releases" and "Download snapshots" links go to a
> directory listing, and it is not clear how (or whether) to get to
> an ISO image from there. Is one meant to navigate by analogy to the
> installer images? Perhaps a landing page with an explanation of that
> could help?
This is quite obvious to anybody who knows what architecture their computer is.
Perhaps an Ubuntu style page for people who don't would be useful
since d-l is now official part of Debian.
However, the official images should be placed alongside the install CD
images on release and hence any such confusion should be handled by
Debian documentation. People coming here should be those who want
something fresher than Debian stable and hence are expected to know
what architecture is their computer at least.
>
> - By contrast, I had expected the "Manual" link to go straight to the
> manual, since I had given choice of language already. Maybe a simple
> link saying "Manual" would have made this easier. On the landing page,
The thing is that the format selection page the different manual
language variants point to should be already localized so that the
description of the various formats can be understood. You could have a
single Manual link pointing to a language selection page pointing to
format selection pages but the language selection page would be a
needless distraction.
> I think the first link should go straight to the manual, not the mailing
> list (i.e., "Available formats" should come before "How to contribute").
>
> - What is a "web images builder"? Why do I care if it uses CGI or django?
These certainly differ in more than the server technnology used.
Perhaps a more detaild description would be useful.
>
> - The Project section similarly has a list of mysterious-looking links.
If you don't specify which links are mysteroius looking and why then
it's hard to tell for me (and probably anybody else here) because we
already disagree about links 'i386' and 'amd64' being mysterious.
>
> - The links are grey. Black or blue would be easier to read.
The style of the page is under development and sort of frozen for some
months already. It sure could use some improvement.
Thanks for your comments
MIchal
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