Confusing website....

[MrSkills]

Hello! Loving NeoOffice, but I just a have a little suggestion...

I've switched a few friends to Macs and have always downloaded NeoOffice for them. But most of them are not that tech-savvy, and the website can be a bit daunting for the non-initiated when looking for updates.

For example, the big yellow "CLICK ME" bar actually turns out to be an early release version; you have to read through the text to find the proper download page. It can also be a bit confusing regarding downloading patches/full version/updates/early release etc.

While a firefox-style friendly auto-update wouldn't hurt, a big step would be if "check for updates" took you to a simple, stark download page saying "CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST PATCH..... (or click here for the snazzy untested version) - and pretty much nothing else. Or as little as possible.

As I said, loving the software, and it's fascinating reading how people are making efforts to make the interface more mac-like - but one quick, easy way to make the experience more mac-like would be to simplify the update web-page.

I hope this non-techi perspective is of help to all you nice developer people


PS: sprry if this is a double post. Tried to post before registering and got confused....

[MrSkills]

I should say - if you want a prefect model for an updat mechanism, check out CyberDuck. It asks you if you would like to update, then presents a nice, obvious update fuel-guage, then restarts itself. Everything is clear for the non-techie user to understand what is going on.

This is actually simpler and easier than the 'do it in the background then say "you've been updated" method emplyed by firefox.

[Macskeeball]

Yes, that's Sparkle, which is also used in Adium in Colloquy, to name a few. I agree about the website needing major usability work, even though I'm a power user. If I had the time, I'd help out with that, but unfortunately I don't.

[OPENSTEP]

We are not a traditional Cocoa/Carbon application and cannot directly integrate this update mechanism without significant development effort. A viable update mechanism is already in place and there are much higher development priorities at this time.

If you or anyone else would be interested in directly funding the development effort to adopt a different software update mechanism, please feel free to contact us for contract arrangements.

ed

[MrSkills]

I understand why doing it in software might be difficult.

But all it needs is a simple "Get NeoOffice" website, with obvious download links and no clutter. I'd be happy to help if you didn't mind it being done in iWeb

One of the biggest reasons for Firefox's success was surely that anyone could hit that "get firefox" button and go straight to a noob-friendly site for a download.


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