Re: download page updates post-experiment (part 1)

On 9/22/20 4:03 PM, Magnus Hagander wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 22, 2020 at 9:24 PM Jonathan S. Katz <jkatz(at)postgresql(dot)org
> <mailto:jkatz(at)postgresql(dot)org>> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> As Dave mentioned in some earlier thread, we've been conducting an
> experiment over the outbound links on the downloads page so we can
> further optimize layout. We've collected several months of results, and
> per analysis of that, we have a few proposed changes.
>
> As this is effectively "release eve" and the lag between "discussion of
> experiment" to "implementation of patches" was longer than I wanted, I
> wanted to propose the least invasive, best for our user patches that
> would require limited discussion.
>
> (I will publish a proposal for the ones that require more discussion
> later).
>
> As such, the goal of this patchset is to make things even clearer for
> our users on what they can download and ensuring that it is a good
> experience.
>
> Without further ado, here are five patches:
>
> * Remove the "Build from Source" section on each of the Linux package
> pages. The traffic to those pages overwhelmingly (> 99+%) went for some
> form of pre-built package; people who wanted the source code would grab
> it based on the URL off of the main downloads page (which had a much
> higher clickthrough rate).
>
> * URLs to the BigSQL packages are removed as the website is no longer
> available.
>
> * Retitle the Linux distro packages to "native packages"; removed Debian
> backports section due to lack of traffic.
>
>
> I think that's a bad name. Native packages is in my experience normally
> the term used to refer to e.g. DEBs and RPMs in comparison to things
> like installers, tarballs and source installs. And per that definition,
> that would include both both the distro built-in and th ones from our
> projects.

Alright, sounds like we should discuss that further. I've repurposed
this patch...

> +1 for the removal of the explicit backports reference thouhg.

...to this.

> * Shorten the description on the macOS page and reorder the installers
> based on the overall traffic numbers.
>
> * Remove cross-platform Linux installer due to lack of outbound traffic
> relative to the content on the pages.
>
> Unless strenuous objection, my plan is to publish this prior to the
> release.[1]
>
>
>
> And +1 for the other suggested changes.

Excellent. Thank you!

Jonathan