Re: [tor-talk] TB download improvement

[Collin Anderson <collin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>
> No. This is a bad idea because then everyone thinks they have the
> latest tor, all the time. When people ask for support, they explain
> they have the latest tor, when really their version is 3 years out of
> date.


Is the issue that leads to this false impression a result of not being
aware of the latest version number or because a blog, or whomever that lead
the user to Tor, chose to link to specific versions that quickly go
out-of-date. Naturally, the correct behavior on the part of the blog would
be to link to /download/download-easy.html.*, but is there an alternative
way in which Tor's website could encourage better practices? Outlaw's
proposal is a legitimate suggestion in this respect...

On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 3:20 PM, Andrew Lewman <andrew@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> On Sun, 14 Oct 2012 21:33:01 +0200 (CEST)
> Outlaw <outlaw@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > Hey there, Tor devs :) IMHO present torproject.org is very difficult
> > for average internet user. For those who don`t know english well, it
> > is almost impossible to find proper link.
>
> Hmm, the large purple and orange 'Download tor' button on the index page
> was missed?
>
> We spent three months testing website designs based on real user
> feedback and usability testing. The green box and purple download
> button were designed to catch your eye first, and testing proves it
> works. The testing included barely English-speaking users by design.
>
> > I think it is the question of resources - to provide multilingual
> > website up to date, which Tor team just doesn`t have. So I have two
> > suggestions that require minimal effort:
>
> We had one, and it was mostly out of date and giving incorrect advice
> in many languages. See
> https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/6851 for the current
> discussion about re-enabling website translations.
>
> > 1. Easy one. Make a static link like
> > "https://torproject.org/download/torbrowser-win-latest.exe";
>
> No. This is a bad idea because then everyone thinks they have the
> latest tor, all the time. When people ask for support, they explain
> they have the latest tor, when really their version is 3 years out of
> date.
>
> Our answer to this is a secure updater, codenamed thandy. See
> https://gitweb.torproject.org/thandy.git/blob/HEAD:/specs/thandy-spec.txt
> for the details. We just received some funding to implement this over
> the next year.
>
> > 2. A bit harder. Make a page for each language and OS with script that
> > starts downloading latest release:
> > "http://torproject.org/download/win/de"; for example. Advantage of this
> > method will be that you can provide some message, like version or
> > other important stuff.
>
> We have this already. When you click the big download button on the
> homepage, you are sent to
> https://www.torproject.org/download/download-easy.html.en. There are
> language drop-downs for the 13 TBB translations.
>
> > People like one big red button DOWNLOAD and nothing else,
>
> Consider Tor as a sophisticated as a formula 1 race car. Just because
> you have a drivers license and can drive a nice sedan on the street
> doesn't mean you can hop into a formula 1 car and even get out of the
> pit lane without killing yourself.
>
> People who don't want to read the warnings, and just want to
> download and run, are dangerous. They will de-anonymize themselves. At
> best, they disclose they wanted privacy, at worst, they get arrested,
> tortured, and killed while their family is blacklisted for life.
>
> We are working on improving the usability of Tor to help users make
> smart decisions. Research takes time and thought. The same process goes
> for the website.
>
> Our website is free software, with the repository located at
> https://svn.torproject.org/svn/website/trunk/. Feel free to submit
> patches of your ideas to improve the usability of the site.
>
> Thanks for the feedback.
>
> --
> Andrew
> http://tpo.is/contact
> pgp 0x6B4D6475
> _______________________________________________
> tor-talk mailing list
> tor-talk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tor-talk
>



-- 
*Collin David Anderson*
averysmallbird.com | @cda | Washington, D.C.
_______________________________________________
tor-talk mailing list
tor-talk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tor-talk