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

Thu May 31 17:45:31 UTC 2012

On 31 May 2012 18:07, Mark Wainwright <mark.wainwright at okfn.org> wrote:

> 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.
>

I think we have 3 different things here

1) local data
2) remote data the clicking the link downloads the file
3) a link to some webpage

The first 2 feel like they should say `download` and 3 should say `view
data` or similar
I don't think the user will distinguish between 1 and 2 even if we see them
as being very different
distinguishing between 2 and 3 is harder for us but not impossible - though
it might be occasionally incorrect

I don't like the fact that `download` currently behaves inconsistently

Toby

>
> 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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> ckan-dev at lists.okfn.org
> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/ckan-dev
>
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