Re: [HACKERS] Developer's Wiki

From: "Joshua D(dot) Drake" <jd(at)commandprompt(dot)com>
To: Magnus Hagander <mha(at)sollentuna(dot)net>
Cc: Gregory Stark <stark(at)enterprisedb(dot)com>, Josh Berkus <josh(at)agliodbs(dot)com>, pgsql-www(at)postgresql(dot)org, Martijn van Oosterhout <kleptog(at)svana(dot)org>, Neil Conway <neilc(at)samurai(dot)com>, Dave Page <dpage(at)vale-housing(dot)co(dot)uk>, pgsql-hackers(at)postgresql(dot)org
Subject: Re: [HACKERS] Developer's Wiki
Date: 2006-09-17 14:41:09
Message-ID: 450D5E85.6080807@commandprompt.com
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>
>> 1. It isn't easy to login
>
> Really? You're kidding, right? You click a link that requires login, and
> you get a browser login box. How much easier can it be?

What URL are you talking about?

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/techdocs

Where do I click login? Where do I click create account? Where do I
click to login?
>
>> 2. It is even harder to create a login
>
> Again, really? If yo uget the login prompt and hit cancel (or just login
> with an invalid password), that says "you need a community login. If you
> don't hav eone, click here to read about it." If you "click here", you
> get to the page where you sign up.

You are corrent, now that I have tried it.

If I click edit, and then cancel because I don't have a login I get a
page that tells me:

* Login required

* Accessing this resource requires a community login. If you don't have
* one, you can read about it here. To try again, just press your
* browsers Refresh button.

Which pretty much goes against how every other site in the world does
it. I shouldn't have to throw an exception to perform the correct behavior.

That page that tells me where to login should come *BEFORE* I get a
login prompt.

>
> Now, explaining this process on the frontpage of the techdocs part of
> the site might not be a bad idea at all (in fact, it's a good idea :-P),
> but do you honestly think the process is complex? If so, what should we
> do to make it easier?

Let me rephrase. It is not complex, it is not standard. Which makes it
confusing.

What I expect is this:

Open web browser
Go to techdocs

Either the first thing I see is,

* You are not logged in, if you wish to edit content click here to
login or create an account.

* When I click edit the above happens.

>> 3. There is no creation of login for most people because they
>> don't know they have to go to the community portion of the
>> www site to get to it.
>
> See above, you don't need to do this.
>

You are correct but most people are going to be confused. They are going
to click edit, see a login/password they don't have and move on. Heck I
probably have hit cancel before and didn't even read the text after.

Why?

Because the text after a login failure or cancel when using httpd auth
is almost ALWAYS telling me I need a correct login. Not giving a link to
login.

Sincerely,

Joshua D. Drake

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