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abadidea @0xabad1dea8/9/2023, 11:29 AM

Talen Lee @TalenLee

Keeble @Keeble8/5/2023, 8:51 PM

github might be one of the least intutitive sites to download anything from to a non-tech expert and what's particularly frustrating is the tech expert types seemingly having no clue that github is INCREDIBLY hard to parse

Keeble @Keeble8/5/2023, 8:53 PM

seriously, look at this screenshot (for example) and tell me where im supposed to click to download what i need

fwankie @fwankie8/6/2023, 5:49 PM

just something I've noticed about getting modern software

abadidea @0xabad1dea8/9/2023, 11:29 AM

I think like 70% of github's problems could be solved by putting the readme ABOVE the file list. No-one in the history of the world has ever been like "I don't care what this program is or what it does, I just want to see a list of last-modified dates on the individual source code files!"

#github #UX

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in reply to @Keeble's post:

king dipshit supreme @hipflaskofpee8/5/2023, 8:58 PM

yeah no i am a fucking idiot and anytime i have to grab anything from github it becomes the worst kind of puzzle game just to find a download link

Essence of Mimi @PancakePooch8/5/2023, 9:04 PM

I HATE GITHUBS LAYOUT it's always like "GUESS WHICH ONE'S THE DOWNLOAD LINK"

erysdren @erysdren8/5/2023, 9:04 PM

especially if it's built regularly with "github actions" or "appveyor" and never gets anything under the "releases" tab. shitty ass design

erysdren @erysdren8/5/2023, 9:15 PM

forgot to add that you can't even download github actions builds if you're not logged in...

Keeble @Keeble8/5/2023, 9:47 PM

i have no clue what any of this means

luna the deer @BappyDeerHooves8/5/2023, 10:33 PM

github primarily hosts code, but it also provides a bunch of other services, like checking that the code is valid, and even turning it into executables (or otherwise "finished products") automatically every time you edit. that's done though "Actions", which you can see info about under the tab near the top with that label. it has probably the most confusing UI of any part of the site, and only allows you to download anything useful when signed-in

godspeed you! big animal @niss8/5/2023, 9:23 PM

like, on the one hand, i agree with what you're saying, don't get me wrong. i am a Tech Person and i often get lost in github's labyrinthine website

but on the other hand, this is kind of a trick question because the answer has been cropped out of this screenshot

Plum @plumpan8/5/2023, 9:34 PM

Came here to say this

But yes that's a stupid place for them to live, there should just be a releases tab at the top and even THAT'S not really going to make sense to people not familiar with github.

Keeble @Keeble8/5/2023, 9:44 PM

i figured this out eventualy, but "releases" does not parse as "downloads" to me at all. also that screenshot was all that fit on my screen, the tab is legit below the fold (so to speak) on my screen

Plum @plumpan8/5/2023, 9:48 PM

Correct, a person going to a website to download a program should not be expected to gravitate towards "releases" by default. And yes, you still have to start scrolling to see it.

I believe github has a way to build a simple webpage for this exact reason, I do not know if you need to pay them for this feature or what other reasons more devs don't opt for it. It's more often that they have a downloads link in the README.md preview, which is alllll the way down past the whole file list.

This is all to say, you are correct, github is a terrible place for people to find their download.

Lapis the Nevrean @lapisnev8/6/2023, 6:04 PM

IIRC you make another repository called username.github.io and push HTML/CSS for a static website.

And the problem is that Github does not have just one kind of download. Developers are there to download the source code, end users are there to download a binary release.

The actual failure in this process was a few steps ago where the project should have explained how to install from winget/chocolatey/brew/apt/yum or else have a download link on a dedicated project website that is not just the readme.md on Github.

Keeble @Keeble8/6/2023, 6:42 PM

What are winger/chocolatey etc. this is the first time I’ve ever heard of any of this. I just want to click a button and it installs an exe

Gabu!! ☁️ ΘΔ @gabu8/6/2023, 6:45 PM

to create a page for a project (as opposed to a user) its as simple as enabling pages in the repo settings and pushing your HTML/CSS to a branch called gh-pages and you're done. it'd be hosted on username.github.io/reponame/. pretty much the same

really just no excuse to NOT make a dedicated page for your project

Zuthal @Zuthal3/31/2024, 6:17 PM

Imo that is why if you link to something hosted on github, instead of linking to the repository main page, you should just link to github.com/foo/bar/releases/latest, which will point them to where they can download the thing right away.

Plum @plumpan3/31/2024, 6:29 PM

This assumes the person you're linking to can tell which release they want, in the case of programs that have releases for different OSes and arches.

Keeble @Keeble8/5/2023, 9:46 PM

i didn't crop it out as much as my screen did. i had to scroll down to see this on my standard hd computer screen. nevertheless i had no clue to look for a releases button or tab so i didn't figure this in the post

godspeed you! big animal @niss8/5/2023, 10:21 PM

gah sorry i meant to say i agree that it should be much more prominent, but i forgot to add that part. yeah

(i also think that software that is actually ready for other people to use should have a real website, with a download button, and not just a gitbub, but....)

Maverynthia @Maverynthia8/7/2023, 3:33 AM

Also sometimes there are no releases. It's just.. nothing there. Your somehow supposed to know that your going to be compiling it yourself.. if you even know what platform it's for.

@aune8/9/2023, 5:15 PM

I... Kinda hate to be that person, but, I mean, that... Is kind of what github implies. The source control site. The place that has the code. Of the thing.

@Maplestrip8/7/2023, 8:59 AM

This is a thing!? I don't think I've ever seen this tab before. Whenever I find out that the program I need is only on Github I tend to just give up.

Millie @millie8/5/2023, 9:54 PM

💯💯💯

colette @fickleheart8/5/2023, 9:55 PM

The problem is github is made for hosting code, not software, and people keep using it like a home page for their projects. A slightly better solution would be for the people doing that to link directly to the releases page since it's at least kind of navigable from there, but users should not be directed to github unless they're trying to look at code.

Hell, slap something together on github pages and link to that instead if one must. Then you can have an actual home page without any other service getting involved.

@elena8/7/2023, 4:28 AM

i don't think you can blame devs for using github like its sourceforge considering the fact that it's essentially sourceforge wearing a jaunty hat and always was. sourceforge had this ui problem solved over 20 years ago and it's on github for unsolving it, imo.

cassie @porglezomp8/9/2023, 5:03 AM

Sourceforge got hard at work in un-solving this problem starting like 10 years ago to the point that the release pages are now a sketchy minefield that I’m afraid to use

@elena8/9/2023, 6:06 PM

i do agree with you here, especially since they started packing in shitware without the devs consent but the big point i was making is 'github is only for code not using the code' is kind of a pathetic mewling response when it was actually done properly decades prior by something that is essentially the same, to the extent that github pages are basically just a remake of sourceforge project homepages (as opposed to the sourceforge-generated project pages)

it's like saying a doom clone fundamentally isn't designed to let you swap guns, only using the last gun you got until you run out of ammo and get swapped back to a previous gun

@aune8/9/2023, 2:34 AM

bingo.

github really shouldn't be being used like this.

shork @shork8/9/2023, 11:34 AM

code, not software

eevee @lexyeevee8/9/2023, 11:58 AM

yeah strong agree, if someone is directing you to a github page to install something then a serious mistake has already been made

Xīn Jīn Mèng @xinjinmeng8/5/2023, 10:12 PM

I don't know how to download from Github, and now I'm too afraid to ask.

Michaela Sue @beige-alert8/5/2023, 10:46 PM

I used to build Linux kernels because you had to back then and that was before we even had "distributions" and also everything you compiled had been written on a Sun back then so you had to mess around with the #includes and stuff to build on pre-version-1 linux and so even though I know darn well you can download stuff from Github every single fucking time I'm like...what the fuck do I click on????

Vikxin @vikxin8/6/2023, 5:05 AM

I swear they keep changing it to make it harder to find, too. And I say this as someone who KNOWS WHERE IT IS and USES GITHUB REGULARLY

Drake Gator @drakegator8/6/2023, 7:14 PM

I'm a techy person who uses github for my job and I STILL never remember where the goddamn releases are. Why is there no tab for them at the top?

shork @shork8/9/2023, 11:32 AM

I went to spicetify.app, was happy to see a large "install now" button and had the worst wiplash after realizing it leads to this list of curl | bash constructs

muln @dedusmulntxt4/1/2024, 8:55 AM

groaned my ass out once when the only thing i could find wasnt even compiled and when i figured how to do it on windows it just didnt work

in reply to @fwankie's post:

@enderlord998/9/2023, 1:32 PM

accurate

Fion @SuperBloodWolfMoon3/31/2024, 3:22 PM

I'm certain nobody actually knows how to use GitHub. Anyone who claims they know is faking it to sound like a tech guru and secretly has a bunch of forks they created on accident and just commits directly to master.
I had a college professor explain the site to me as part of a course in web development, and I still get tripped up by it.

@DrMel3/31/2024, 8:59 PM

There was some video floating around out there recommending using github as a general file storage platform and the comments were flooded with "yeah even people who use github famously don't know how to use it, try getting non technical admins to understand this".

in reply to @0xabad1dea's post:

nortti OH1CAU @nortti8/9/2023, 1:10 PM

the mobile github view keeps the files above the readme but collapses the file list by default, which I think it a good solution for this that doesn't cause issues when you do want to look at the source code and the readme is million km long

jack @JackDotJS8/9/2023, 2:24 PM

really not a fan of this idea tbh. would be an absolute nightmare for developers looking to actually contribute or view code when it constantly get blocked by a 40 mile long README.

personally, i'd just make repo descriptions larger and more obvious. less "shoved to the side and totally forgotten about by a lot of developers" like it is now. maybe place them at the top below the repo name (which would make way more sense honestly).

abadidea @0xabad1dea8/9/2023, 2:33 PM

I don't see how it'd be an absolute nightmare. How often do you actually need to browse the online copy of the filesystem specifically compared to how many people need to see the installation instructions? And yes, I do browse those sometimes, fairly regularly in fact since I am a source code reviewer rather than a source code writer, but I really just can't imagine "sometimes the readme, which is only visible on the top folder level, is kind of long" being a huge problem compared to the huge usability problem github already has.

And there's no reason there can't be a collapse button. Or the filesystem could stay up top but default to collapsed. Whatever. Any of that would be an improvement

-3dB engineer @abby8/9/2023, 3:54 PM

all the time, actually. I spend a lot of time looking at software on various forges when packaging things for distros, and I almost never want to clone $randomProject just to idk look at the cmakelists.txt or meson_options.txt so I can build the software from the code that is on Github.

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