There has been some discussion on IRC about this, and a few of us agree that the "Red X" icon is too strong a symbol to use here.

When I see a Red X, I immediately think something is critically broken, and having "broken" releases on every module page projects the wrong image.

I would like to suggest a couple alternative symbols to use in place of the Red X icon:

1. The Caution Symbol: Somewhat ambiguous, and still bordering on "something is broken", it's at least less "critical" than the Red X. It does a decent job of getting the "this is potentially dangerous" message across, and is generally recognized internationally.

2. The Construction Symbol: Less ambiguous, it still represents caution, but explains why at the same time. "Take caution, this is under contruction." This symbol is well recognized in North America, but I'm not sure how widely used it is globally.

Comments

harry slaughter’s picture

harry slaughter
Location Omaha NE USA
commented

+1

Something like the stop sign with the hand on it is a better choice, or a caution symbol. The current symbol doesn't convey the intended meaning very well IMHO.

drewish’s picture

drewish commented

I agree, I'd expressed some reservations about using the red X when reviewing the patch. I still think it's a bit too strong but I understand dww's motivation. Module maintainers should be creating releases and the X should scare the users into demanding one.

catch’s picture

catch
he/him
Primary language English
commented

Although I understand the motivation for putting the big Red X there, I think the disparity between the X and the green tick is so sharp that it both oversells the modules with official versions (because they could still be complete crap), and is a bit too stringent on modules with dev versions (because they can be better than modules with official versions despite the annoyance of not using the release system).

If the background for the releases was yellow, with the 'caution' symbol, I reckon it'd still have the same effect of deterring users from -dev versions, but less potentially misleading.

dww’s picture

dww
we/he/they
commented
Status: Active » Closed (won't fix)

We use yellow and the caution icon for branches that are supported but not recommended (e.g. older branches that are still supported but the maintainer is recommending a newer version, or, for example, in the case of signup, for the latest new feature branch which works but isn't recommended for stable sites).

In terms of the icon itself, I'm just reusing the standard icons that come with Drupal core.

Bottom line: I'm going to be quite resistant to changing this. If you don't want the red X, make an official release. -dev releases *are* critically broken when it comes to people downloading things from these pages to build their sites with, which is exactly the audience that these colors and icons are trying to reach. It's really *not* that hard to make official releases. If our project pages are overflowing with red X's, we should address the underlying problem (sloppy/careless release management), not the symptom.

If someone wants this changed, they can reopen this, but they'd need a) some *very* compelling arguments and b) to provide .png files for their alternative icon proposal. The ones in the original post won't cut it, since the caution triangle is already in use, and I think the in-construction icon looks pretty crappy. ;)

nedjo’s picture

nedjo
he/him/his
Primary language English
commented

I think the current symbols work for the intended outcome: to help move us as module maintainers to better and more consistent release practices. Meantime, yes, there's a disconnect between the symbols and the actual state of projects. The xes help create the incentive to close that disconnect.

Personally, I likely will keep some of my modules without stable releases. These are the modules I've written posted but don't have time or focus to maintain to a high public standard. So the xes are appropriate.