1257
Hey, I'm new to GitHub! (programming.dev)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/programmer_humor@programming.dev
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[–] 294 points 2 years ago (8 children)

GitHub has bad UX for people who just wanna download and use the programs

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  • [–] 147 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    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.

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  • [–] 72 points 2 years ago* (4 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 52 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    If that's a concern for the project maintainers, they should create a homepage for the project with download links.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    There is, it's literally right there on the home page of the project. You can either copy a URL and download it by cloning the git repo, or you can download the whole project as a zip file. Then you just have to compile it!

    GitHub is for developers, not end users.

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  • [–] 89 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    Excel has a bad UX for people who want to use it to make art

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  • [–] 40 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    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.

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  • [–] 31 points 2 years ago (18 children)

    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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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago

    The github project page is for developers, and Github already gives you tons of ways to make a user website. Don't ask your users to visit github.com/group/project, make them visit group.github.io/project, like any sane person.

    Same with Gitlab, BTW.

    And if you don't like the full static site, use the wiki, or guide your users in the first paragraphs of the README so they find the user information if they must.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)

    No, you shouldn't really be downloading exe's from github. It is widely being used to spread malware and to pretend that the software is open source when it is not. At least look for a link to the store page(including microsoft store), a distro-specific package or build instructions. Those usually have an AV scan or at least harder to fake.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    Yeah a dude I know got hacked by downloading some random github program, the hacker even started taunting him via discord lol.

    But I downloaded plenty of shit from github, like prusaslicer, my 3d printer's firmware and plugins for octoprint. Always stuff that is verified via another page though. Almost never stuff that comes up during a random search, and if I do, I look it up first to see if it's safe.

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  • [–] 53 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    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.

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  • [–] 26 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    GitHub has bad UX for a lot of things

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  • [–] 29 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    The Github UX is amazing if you ever had to use gitlab or bitbucket

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago

    Comparing bad to bad doesn't make any of them better lol

    I've gone nuts trying to download a single file from the git website on my first interactions with it (because somehow adding a download file button when you're viewing a file on the site is just too much to handle)

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    I'm not so sure. I seem to be able to find my way around a GitLab project in much fewer moves than a GitHub project. But maybe I'm biased because I use it all the time at work. I know they change the sidebar a lot, though.

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  • [–] 21 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    That's not really what it's designed for though

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  • [–] 19 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    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.

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  • [–] 20 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

    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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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago

    And even if releases are hosted on github, there should ideally be a download links page somewhere that presents the different binaries or installation files in an easier to understand format, especially if the software is designed for non-developers.

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  • [–] 14 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I fixed it for them

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    What about up by the name of the repo? Your suggestion still looks almost reasonable, I like it!

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