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Comment by jasonkester | Hacker News Reader

I'd love to, but I can't:

- You linked me to a source control repository instead of a product page.

- There's a download button, but it seems to want to give me source code.

- reading comments here, it seems that the source is actually only compilable on a Mac.

In short, you have not produced an App. Even if I wanted to use your product, and had the right system to use it on, I couldn't.

If you want this to be software the people use, you'll need to register a domain name and build a site for it. That site will need to describe what it does (which, incidentally, your github description fails to do), and provide me with a prominent Download button that links to an installer or at least an executable.

Once you do that, please post it back here, and I'll be happy to give you feedback.

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You linked me to a source control repository instead of a product page.

Have you never downloaded apps from SourceForge, Google Code, GitHub, etc? It's really not that unusual or difficult.

There's a download button, but it seems to want to give me source code.

No, the download button gives you PNGSquash.tar.gz, which contains PNGSquash.app, the application, not source code. Since you are opening it on an operating system other than OS X, it opens like a directory when double clicked. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APP_(file_format)

reading comments here, it seems that the source is actually only compilable on a Mac.

Yes, it is a Mac app - at the top of the page it says "Description: A PNG compressor app for OS X." And no, it does not require compiling if you download the binary (the huge "Download" link next to the logo).

In short, you have not produced an App.

Yes he has. Witness all of the comments from folks who have used it.

Even if I wanted to use your product, and had the right system to use it on, I couldn't.

You could learn to do it in a few seconds: http://guides.macrumors.com/Installing_Applications_in_Mac_O...

That site will need to describe what it does (which, incidentally, your github description fails to do)

Again, at the very top of the page: "Description: A PNG compressor app for OS X."

provide me with a prominent Download button that links to an installer or at least an executable.

That is already the case.

Try not to blame the messenger. He asked to have his application reviewed, so I reviewed it. That was my customer experience trying to download and install his product.

Here, for a counterexample, is the homepage for a different open source software product:

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/firefox.html?from=getfi...

You'll notice some key differences. That page describes exactly what the software does and how it will benefit me as a user. It includes a prominent link to an installer right off the page.

That's what the public face of a software product should look like. That's the message I was trying to convey to the original poster. Dropping potential users off at Github is a dead-end for most of them. An explanation as to why can be found here:

http://www.kalzumeus.com/2009/03/07/how-to-successfully-comp...

If you scroll down there's an executable download, description and screenshots. Kind of counter-intuitive I know (although there is at least one other app doing it http://github.com/rentzsch/clicktoflash), but there isn't really any other way to do it on github. It is Mac-only but I don't think that disqualifies it from being an app.

I have registered a domain name (http://pngsquash.com), but it currently just redirects to the github page because I thought that was adequate.

There is a row of buttons at the top of the page, one of which is labeled "download" (though it seems to have lower importance on the page than, say, "fork"). Clicking that gave me a pile of source code. Are you saying that the text link further down the page is hooked up directly to the executable?

Definitely put up a real site for this if you care about it.

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