Patch installation warning in Bugzilla

Steve Read · Guest

It seems to me that the warning to bug reporters at the top of BugZilla to install the latest patch should be increased in size a good bit. The current warning is relatively small and easy to miss. I know I have missed it. Increasing the size might reduce the number of people who report bugs without installing the latest patch.

sardisson · Town Crier Joined: Feb 01, 2004 Posts: 4588

Maybe making that box color reddish would help make it stand out?

Smokey

Samwise · Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 7:56 am Post subject:

I agree with both suggestions : make the box a bit reddish, and (slighty) increase the size of the text.

pluby · The Architect Joined: Jun 16, 2003 Posts: 11949

Since by the time a user goes to Bugzilla, they have already missed the following four messages telling you to download the patch, is this really a type issue or is it just the fact that most people don't read?

During the download process:
1. http://www.planamesa.com/neojava/en/download.php#download
2. http://www.planamesa.com/neojava/en/mirrors.php?file=NeoOffice-2.0_Aqua_Beta_3-PowerPC.dmg

At the end of the installation of NeoOffice:
3. http://www.planamesa.com/neojava/en/welcome.php

When you first run NeoOffice and every tenth day thereafter:
4. http://www.planamesa.com/neojava/en/patch.php

I'm not saying we should not do anything, but let's be realistic. If you missed the Bugzilla message, you have missed five italic and bolded "Important" messages which says that you aren't really reading. So before I spend time randomly changing font sizes and styles in these 5 places, should we ask if this is a problem on our end or is it, just maybe, a problem with some users who just don't spend the time to read?

Patrick

Samwise · Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 1:02 pm Post subject:

This is a very good example : I opened the 3 links in 3 separate tabs, knowing that they contained a notice advising people to check for patches regularly. Then, when I looked at them, I didn't notice the "Important :" message right away, and while it only took me a few seconds to find it, I was looking for it; as you said, most people don't read.

IMHO, none of these pages are very readable, because they mostly contain black-on-white text, and very few colors below the yellow banner.

Moreover, people who visit BugZilla for the first time probably found a bug that prevents them from doing something, and are likely to be frustrated and not very attentive : if they forgot to get the latest patch before reaching BugZilla, they are likely to miss the small box, too. And while the "please get the latest patch" box is just below the "add a new bug" button, I usually don't notice it, perhaps because the text is smaller and less colorful than the rest of the page.

pluby · The Architect Joined: Jun 16, 2003 Posts: 11949

yoxi · Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 2:55 pm Post subject:

I don't know if this is a viable option, but it strikes me that the most useful place to have a message that says:
Before you post your new bug, have you downloaded and installed the latest patch #7 (or whatever) + link, as this patch may have fixed the problem you're about to report...
would be at the top of the page you get after you click on 'add a new bug'. I know it'd make more work to keep the patch number up-to-date, but I think it's much more likely to prevent unnecessary bug posting - I know I've sometimes assumed I have the latest patch just because I haven't noticed a new one's been posted. This would catch both the 'not got the latest patch' people and the 'I didn't know there were patches as I didn't read the small print on all those pages that popped up during installation etc.' people.

- padmavyuha

Samwise · Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 4:39 pm Post subject:

I agree with yoxi.

Samwise · Posted: Sun Nov 05, 2006 11:38 am Post subject:

OK. I just tried getting the source for the page, and editing it to create a box around the "Important :" notices, then adding color to the text. The resulting pages didn't really look like the original, and I believe it's going to take me (too) long to figure out what I did wrong.

pluby · The Architect Joined: Jun 16, 2003 Posts: 11949

Samwise · Posted: Sun Nov 05, 2006 12:00 pm Post subject:

Oh. Thanks. I also need to familiarize with HTML, which I only use in discussion forums that allow it instead of BBCode (hence my knowledge of it is actually very limited).

Samwise · Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 12:22 pm Post subject:

I just noticed that the patch warning is now flashing !!!

I'm not sure how long it's been this way, but it does flash in Gecko-based browsers; however, this is not the case in Safari Sad

LemonAid · Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 5:41 pm Post subject:

pluby · The Architect Joined: Jun 16, 2003 Posts: 11949

Since Safari doesn't support blinking, I have removed the blinking and set the background to a highlighted color.

Patrick

Samwise · Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 5:40 am Post subject:

The warning is definitely more noticeable Smile