1. How should we offer the downloads? 1 Combined zip or 2 separate
EXE's? or 2 separate Zips? (each seperate ZIP / EXE will be 35mb and
the combined will be 70mb)
I'm a Mac user and not your target market--but I would imagine that
users can handle seeing that there are two options, Toolbar Toggle and
the Lite version, looking at a page that compares the features in an
easy to understand matrix, and picking which one they want to download.
I see this exact progress on a lot of small developer sites.
I would be much more confused to download something and then discover
that there were two programs and have to investigate what I wanted to do
with them at that point--especially since, as I surf the web, I'm in
"investigate, gather info, make a decision" mode. Once I've downloaded a
program, I'm in "install and experiment" mode, not decide whether I want
the Lite or Full version.
2. If your answer above is seperate downloads, what is a way to
explain it that is less confusing to the non-technical user? If you
know of any sites that explain this well that would help?
This is deep overkill for you plus a complex program, but an example I
was just at yesterday:
http://devon-technologies.com/products/devonthink/comparison.html
But an FAQ "what's the difference between full and Lite" would be plenty.
3. Should we have text telling people the size and expected download
times - does that help?
Absolutely! Probably just the size is enough, as times vary. Anyone
still on dialup probably has a sense of how their system works. I'd link
to "why so large?" because people are concerned about downloading spyware.
4. What else is needed but wouldn't be confusing for the non-technical
user?
I find the downloadable PDF FAQ annoying. Make it a webpage, and make it
more prominent, as it has some of what I suggest above, but chop it
up--some of it belongs under Support, some under Benefits. How to
Install belongs under both Trial and Support. Etc. As is, people
effectively have to read the entire FAQ before even deciding if they
want to download, that's silly. Consider the stages a potential user
will move through--"what is this and do I want it? now that I have it
how do I use it? ai-yi-yi it went wrong, what do I do? how do I remove
it?" and give them supporting information at each stage, not all at once.
People on dialup don't view Demos, making the Benefits page effectively
useless for them, they can't even focus on those moving toolbars. Also,
Why, Benefits, and Features all speak to the same issue "what does this
program do" and thus the person who comes to the page trying to
investigate this doesn't know which one of those to click on.
People have also said they wanted better and bigger screenshots of what
the program looks like installed.
And, in general, I don't like programs with only a 10 day trial. 30
days is much more common (in my Mac world), and anything under two weeks
just seems cheap. Especially since your target market probably includes
people who only open Word/Excel once a week.
Hope that's useful--an attractive site, though the inability to link
directly to a Features Page is annoying.
Daiya
