Improving XWiki.org downloads page

Development
1

Hi everyone,

In light of all the initiatives to improving XWiki onboarding and also integrating Cristal in XWiki.org I’d like to propose some changes to the current .org Downloads page.

To keep my proposal isolated I’ve created a copy page so we can discuss it better before publishing the changes.

Note that the releases themselves are older than the current ones because I’ve started this work in August.

The main change is breaking down our 3-4 version cards into dedicated sections. Displaying all cards side-by-side often causes “analysis paralysis”. First-time visitors face too many options at once, making it hard to check the differences at a glance. While we have supporting text, refining the layout makes scanning much more intuitive.

The page and cards now follow a progressive disclosure model:

  • What is this? (Page and release introductions)
  • What can I do with it? (Page sections / Release changelog)
  • How do I get it? (Release card / Download button)

Along with this, I’ve also:

  • Shortened the copy inside each card.
  • Grouped release metadata together (version, date, basic changelog).
  • Added Cristal as a download option (currently pointing to the GitHub releases page). @mleduc, let me know if we should link elsewhere. (Note: when there is no active RC build, Cristal will be the only item in this section).

What do you think?

2

Thank you for working on this, Thiago!

I really like the hierarchy on the page. I think it makes it clearer as to which version a person should install based on their needs.

Tho, I got to mention, on bigger resolutions, the card for the LTS version looks a bit… long))).

image
image2077×1333 221 KB

3

Thanks for the work it looks great!

4

Hi Thiago. Thx a lot for working on this.

It goes in the right direction, I like that we promote LTS first, then the 2 stable options and the dev download at the end.

Some feedback:

  1. I prefer the compact UI of the current download. I feel it’s much easier to see at a glance what are your options and what to pick. I think this has to do with several aspects:
    • the extra text, paragraphs (feels redundant with the card explanations)
    • the fact that it uses a lot more vertical space making it harder to encompass all the options you have.
    • There are also too many heading styles IMO (the title, then the first line, then the card titles, then the sections, then the text with different sizes), I find it quite confusing visually.
  2. The title and the first paragraph mention installing XWiki but suddenly in the “Development Releases” you get “Cristal”. The reader will not understand it. The page needs to be presented as the download page for all products on xwiki.org (or we need several download pages, one per product).

Thanks again