[Bioc-devel] Distinction between release and devel package websites

Julian Gehring julian.gehring at embl.de
Tue Jul 22 03:39:48 CEST 2014


Hi,

Can we make the package websites for the devel and release version of a 
package more distinguishable?

To elaborate on this: In the past, I have seen several users having 
problems with using bioconductor because they ended up on the wrong page 
(mostly the devel page when they would have needed the release).  This 
resulted in getting the wrong documentation or installing the wrong 
package.  The pages are well designed, and there is no reason to change 
this.  However, the websites for the devel and release version of a 
package look almost identical, and that these two get confused seems to 
happen to many users (me included).

If you search for a package within the bioc website, the release version 
always comes first in the search results.  If you are coming from the 
outside (e.g. google), this may not be the case.  In fact, googling a 
few packages names often returned only the devel page in the top 10 
search results.

What are the feelings regarding this? We could add a header section on 
the devel page that states that this is an unstable version not meant to 
be used in production settings, and provide a link to the respective 
release version?

Best wishes
Julian



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