Redesign the Downloads page tabs to reflect on latest agreements with Package Maintenance WG #7037
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accessibility
Issues concerning accessibility
content
Issues/pr concerning content
design
enhancement
help wanted
i18n
Issues/PRs related to the Website Internationalisation
ideas
website redesign
Issue/PR part of the Node.js Website Redesign
The Issue
After the initial redesign of https://nodejs.org, the Downloads page became much cleaner and easier for newcomers and experienced devs to find the method they desired for downloading Node.js.
Although successful, the page structure currently implies a few problems:
This issue proposes a UX update that addresses all these problems.
The Solution
Re-arrange/rename tabs and their contents:
I propose a new set of tabs that will respectively contain the following download options:
Each one of these tabs will also have a tooltip that renders when users hover said tab headers with the following respective text:
Node.js version managers (RECOMMENDED)
It automatically manages Node.js versions within your system using Node.js-specific version managers such as
nvm,
fnm,
and others.OS package managers
To install Node.js on your system, use your favorite OS/distribution's built-in or third-party package manager, such as apt, brew, or chocolatey.
Prebuilt Binaries
Download fully self-contained and extractable archives containing binaries of Node.js. Great for portable installations.
Other ways
Find other ways of installing Node.js, such as downloading its source code, unofficial builds, and more.
Note that these are just example tooltips prone to being updated and proofread; they should also be translatable.
Move source code and unofficial/other installation methods to "Other ways"
This allows us to easily aggregate the alternative ways of downloading Node.js without obscuring them on the small text below the "Source code" and "Prebuilt Binaries" tabs.
The new Package Manager and Version Manager tabs should be restructured
Within these CodeTabs, you'll be asked for the desired Node.js version, OS, and Architecture (and maybe OS version (?))
The final dropdown box will render options based on these choices, but the main difference is that now we will have options within said Dropdown grouped by "Official" and "Community" options.
The official options are either package managers or version managers sanctioned by the Package Maintenance WG -- and known to always be up to date, regularly maintained, and following best practices. Said best practices and criteria to be defined by @nodejs/package-maintenance; For example,
nvm
andbrew
fit this criterion because they follow Node.js versioning standards and LTS standards.Other options, such as
apt
,nuget
, etc., will be under "Community" options because they aren't always up to date, are based on the OS/distro version, or use different versioning formats.And then adding a little copy-text on the bottom making the distinction of "Official/Recommended" vs. "Community" -- this distinction is safe enough and the separation for us to allow people to send PRs for adding numerous different package managers and version managers around the clock.
By doing this, we can eventually get rid of the "All package managers" page that is very hard to find.
Changelog Button
When clicked, the changelog button should be an
a
. It opens the modal (onClick
), but all other bindings, like right click and cmd+click, should bind to the defaulta
handlers. People can copy the URLs or open the raw Changelog MD file on GitHub.These are the numerous changes I'm proposing in order to future-proof and make the current Download pages even friendlier and easier to use.
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