Haiku Stable Download Page Improvements

[jt15s]

Creating a ticket on Trac so the developers can keep track of the issue. Original forum thread here: ​https://discuss.haiku-os.org/t/improvements-to-haiku-download-pages/10618/

A modified version of my original feedback: The Promotion Team had a bit of a discussion the other about the Haiku download experience, with shaka444 pointing out that the current downloads page at ​https://www.haiku-os.org/get-haiku/r1beta2/ may be confusing for a first-time visitor. He recommends that links to download the latest stable version be added to the top of the downloads page, which could be something like this: Click here to download Beta 2 (Stable Official Release) x86 (for older machines and BeOS compatibility) x86_64 (for newer machines but may not run some BeOS software)

We could make some buttons based on the current download now button on the Haiku homepage to spice things up a bit.

Since there are multiple download mirrors, we could implement some sort of script which would determine the best available mirror to download Haiku from upon clicking the proposed new buttons.

Additionally, some input from PulkoMandy: Generally I agree that the current download page (​https://www.haiku-os.org/get-haiku/r1beta2/) isn’t great. Before you can get to the actual download link you have to go through:

A thing asking you to donate money Some info about the current version Instructions for updating an existing system Instructions for writing the downloaded image to disk At this point, probably you are already scrolling past all this without even reading it A table of mirror locations and architectures you have to pick from Why can’t it be as simple as ‘click “get haiku”’ -> the download starts ?

(In response to my suggestion about adding a script to determine the best download mirror): We used to have this (guessing from the IP address and geolocating the user thanks to this) but I see it was removed. I think it is not possible anymore since we switched the website to Netlify? Or at least the existing script couldn’t be reused and we need to adjust it.

[waddlesplash]

The page was reworked since then, it now lists mirrors at the top and updates later down, etc.

I think, given Haiku's current status, if users are not technically savvy enough to figure out a mirror list and whether to pick x86 or x86_64, then Haiku may not be ready for them just yet. Is there anything else we should do here?

[jt15s]

Yeah, I think those improvements to the page since then have made it better and addressed some of those concerns originally raised in the ticket when it was opened.

A script to determine the user's best download mirror would be nice, but it's not something that's absolutely necessary.

[waddlesplash]

I think determining that can be tricky, we would need to do geolocation on the client's IP which may raise privacy concerns. So, let's leave this as-is.