[ckan-dev] Non-local resources should not have Download links

Mark Wainwright mark.wainwright at okfn.org
Thu May 31 17:07:36 UTC 2012


I don't really care what kind of link it is - the more important
question is whether it is stored locally (eg in the filestore) or is
just a link. People recognise a big shiny button saying 'Download' as
meaning 'I have got this data/resource/stuff here for you, do you want
it?' The symbol for 'This is a link, would you like your browser to
follow the link, which is outside my control and may or may not work?'
is completely different, namely showing the text or URL of the link,
and displaying it however your browser displays links. We shouldn't
confuse the two.

Mark


On 31 May 2012 17:40, Irina Bolychevsky <irina.bolychevsky at okfn.org> wrote:
> When the QA extension is enabled, we know whether the resource is an
> actual data file or some other unrecognisable link. For the latter, we
> can change the download button to something like 'view source'
>
> How does that sound?
>
> On 31 May 2012 13:48, Mark Wainwright <mark.wainwright at okfn.org> wrote:
>> ... which I have now ticketed here:
>>
>> http://trac.ckan.org/ticket/2483
>>
>> Mark
>>
>> On 31 May 2012 13:21, Mark Wainwright <mark.wainwright at okfn.org> wrote:
>>> Someone contacted us using the form on ckan.org because of a broken
>>> link on thedatahub.org - specifically the 'Download' button at
>>>
>>> http://thedatahub.org/dataset/dnb-gemeinsame-normdatei/resource/d6216bd7-386a-443c-a826-d518b16df6e3
>>>
>>> Of course, it's not up to us to fix broken links in people's datasets.
>>> However, I do think this points up a flaw in the UI. A 'Download'
>>> button should only be for resources stored locally. Having a
>>> 'Download' button that just means 'follow this link' is just asking
>>> for trouble (and could mislead users as to what's going on).
>>>
>>> This is related to another small UI issue: I think the URL of a
>>> resource should be much more prominent, not buried in the 'Additional
>>> Information' table.
>>>
>>> Suggested fix:
>>>
>>> - Put the URL prominently at the top of the resource page (above the preview)
>>> - Disable the Download button unless the resource is stored locally.
>>>
>>> By the way the same user had tried e-mailing the maintainer - which
>>> may well mean someone at the publishing organisation who had never
>>> heard of CKAN. This is more support for the idea of separating these
>>> roles as in another thread. But it also raises the idea in my mind of
>>> adding the ability to send messages to other user accounts.
>>>
>>> Mark
>>>
>>> --
>>> Mark Wainwright, CKAN Community Co-ordinator
>>> Open Knowledge Foundation http://okfn.org/
>>> CKAN on Twitter: @CKANproject
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Mark Wainwright, CKAN Community Co-ordinator
>> Open Knowledge Foundation http://okfn.org/
>> CKAN on Twitter: @CKANproject
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> ckan-dev mailing list
>> ckan-dev at lists.okfn.org
>> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/ckan-dev
>
>
>
> --
> Irina Bolychevsky
> CKAN Product Owner
>
> The Open Knowledge Foundation (http://www.okfn.org)
> Our community data hub: http://thedatahub.org/
> More information on CKAN: http://ckan.org/
>
> Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/shevski
>
> _______________________________________________
> ckan-dev mailing list
> ckan-dev at lists.okfn.org
> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/ckan-dev



-- 
Mark Wainwright, CKAN Community Co-ordinator
Open Knowledge Foundation http://okfn.org/
CKAN on Twitter: @CKANproject




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