Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 14:55:15 -0500 From: Jim Mock <mij@osdn.com> To: Kent Stewart <kstewart@urx.com> Cc: Seth <seth@psychotic.aberrant.org>, freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Web page suggestion Message-ID: <20010213145515.B1203@guinness.osdn.com> In-Reply-To: <3A898E22.39A43C02@urx.com>; from kstewart@urx.com on Tue, Feb 13, 2001 at 11:42:26AM -0800 References: <20010213104922.A70178@psychotic.aberrant.org> <20010213125007.B375@guinness.osdn.com> <3A898E22.39A43C02@urx.com>
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On Tue, 13 Feb 2001 at 11:42:26 -0800, Kent Stewart wrote: > Jim Mock wrote: > > On Tue, 13 Feb 2001 at 10:49:22 -0500, Seth wrote: > > > This suggestion has probably been debated ad nauseum already, but > > > I'd like to make it anyway on the off chance that nobody's ever > > > heard it before :) > > > > > > One of the hardest things for people new to FreeBSD to do is > > > locate the installation disks & instructions. This sounds strange > > > to those of us who are familiar with the web site, but the images > > > are three clicks away from the main page, and the links are > > > embedded in stuff that the impatient would-be user won't want to > > > read. I can't tell you the number of times I've pointed people to > > > the freebsd.org web site and then had to hand-hold them through > > > locating the floppies and imaging instructions. More than once, > > > I've heard "if it's this much trouble to install, how hard is it > > > going to be to USE?" > > > > If they think clicking through 3 links to get to is "too much > > trouble" they shouldn't be using FreeBSD. If they can't be bothered > > to click the very easily labeled links, they're surely not going to > > bother reading any of the install docs and will have an installation > > experience similar to trying to ram their head through a brick wall. > > Part of the problem is that when they get to the "Handbook Chapter on > Obtaining FreeBSD", they are presented with Appendix A. To a newbie, > Appendix A is a series of TLA's that are completely giberish until > they have been using FreeBSD for a while. There isn't a chapter on > obtaining FreeBSD and there also aren't any instructions. Using FTP to > download an iso or the bin files would be a section by itself. The > closest I have seen is Dan's web page at > http://www.freebsddiary.org/read.html. I don't think a newbie can use > CVS or CTM to install FreeBSD. So, you have a series of choices that > don't make any sense and more than half of them don't apply. I think you're talking about a whole different situation here. I'm talking about if you go to http://www.FreeBSD.org/ and look under the "Easy to install" header, you'll see a link that says "these directions". That takes you to the install chapter of the handbook, which then takes you to the floppy download and creation. I'm guessing you're talking about the "Getting FreeBSD" link under "Software" on the bar on the left side of the site. This should also point to the handbook's install chapter which explains getting the floppies. If no one disagrees, I'll change it to do so. - jim -- jim mock <mij@osdn.com> O|S|D|N open source development network http://soupnazi.org/ http://osdn.com/ | jim@FreeBSD.org To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message
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