TBF, they could probably make the "releases" page more prominent rather than having it buried in all the "code" stuff.
this post was submitted on 20 Feb 2024
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GitHub has bad UX for people who just wanna download and use the programs
I'd agree, but the caveat is that github is primarily about an interface for source control and collaboration between developers for projects. The release page is really just an also-ran in terms of importance.
Imo they aren't even trying, because it's not that hard to make it better. Doesn't even have to be a compromise. Most people just need a visible download button for the programs, that's all.
If that's a concern for the project maintainers, they should create a homepage for the project with download links.
Or make a shortcut/link in the readme to the newest release of the most popular OS's.
A decent release page tends to contain all kinds of files for different OS, so 'regular' people who just want the .deb or .exe would likely become confused regardless.
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Excel has a bad UX for people who want to use it to make art
Do most people who use Excel also make art with it? Because sometimes devs also just download exe files on GitHub :D
They don't just always copy code from there.
GitHub, Inc. (/ˈɡɪthʌb/[a]) is a developer platform that allows developers to create, store, manage and share their code
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GitHub
Yes it has other functions too, but it's primarily for code.
Do MOST people who use GitHub download .exes? In my experience the VAST majority of people are using it for source and version control, not external releases. The overwhelming majority. FOSS and OSS is a small portion of the overall GitHub user base compared to, say, enterprise companies.
So you never downloaded a program on GitHub?
No one everever said you need to compromise its focus on developers. There is no compromise to be made. It's just a stupid button. Stop arguing lol.
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not only the ux, some devs make it absurdly confusing to find a binary.
I don't want to throw anyone under the bus, but there's this one niche app.
their github releases at one point were YEARS out of date, they only linked to the current version in seemingly random issue reports' comments. And the current versions were some daily build artefacts you could find in a navigation tree many clicks deep in some unrelated website. And you'd better be savvy enough to download a successfully built artefact too. And even then the downloaded .zip contained all kinds of fluff unnescessary for using the app.
The app worked fine, sure, but actually obtaining it was fairly tricky, tbh.
These build artefacts probably weren’t meant for end users, that’s why they contained the “unnecessary fluff”.
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I've bounced off GitHub more than once trying to figure out how to download the .exe file that I assumed must be somewhere. Honestly I still don't understand the interface and I've submitted bug reports for Jeroba on there. I might have even used GitHub for a project once? Every time I look at it it's overwhelming and confusing and none of it is self-explanatory. But, that's fairly true for a lot of stuff in programming.
If there is an exe, it's under the releases link. On desktop it's on the right sidebar below "About". On mobile it's at the bottom after the readme blurb.
It's not obvious because the code is the main focus and GitHub would much rather people host their releases somewhere else.
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GitHub has bad UX for a lot of things
That's not really what it's designed for though
It doesn't have to be a compromise imo. Most people just need a visible download button on the front pages. Wouldn't hurt devs at all. I mean, even devs sometimes struggle with this lol.
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Worst part is that this used to be a separate tab in the repo navigation. I still cannot conceive of a reason why they would move it from there to some random heading in the middle of the screen, except maybe so they can sell more GitHub trainings.
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This is really bad on mobile too. I usually flip to desktop mode to get to releases page quickly.
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Sherlock is command line only too...
Follow up post.
"I don't want to write a fucking essay nerds! Just make a GUI and put it in an .EXE!!!!!!1111111111 spittle sp[pzpzzzzzzzqawjpoidqweiofrjowqefj"
If they pay me more, I'll make them one in Visual Basic and trace an IP address.
Skill issue tbh
"why doesn't this python command line script have an executable ui?"
Why is this executable web UI distributed as a python script?
Why do I have to have python installed in order to use it? Why don't you bundle all the dependencies with the download?
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It ain't called git-hub for nothing. The social network for gits. How else are they supposed to behave?
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Git gud.
git: 'gud.' is not a git command. See 'git --help'.
You guys realize this was on a joke community, right? Most of the original comments missed it too...
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Why do they feel so entitled for everything?
because they aren't a smelly nerd ig
Of course this guy wants to use sherlock
I hadn't heard of it, but it looks like it wouldn't have much use outside of stalking or doxing.
Man these comments are fun. The patricians defending the (admittedly) bad UI/UX as the skill-hurdle it is, while the rest are finding inventive ways to rephrase “gib button plz”
The UI is fine.
It's just that Github is a code sharing and collaboration platform for developers, not a software package distribution platform for end users.
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Me when I have to do anything other than copy and paste build, or package manager, commands /s
pyinstaller and py2exe would've been helpful for this person
It's more helpful if the developer configures a CI system to produce an executable. Stops people asking about how to do it.
Sometimes I can understand this struggle. For example let's play a game. There is this app from e-foundation "Blisslauncher" it's the default of eOS. And since I like it but don't use eOS I want to download the apk from their gitlab page.
https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/os/BlissLauncher
So tell me, where is the latest release apk?
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