622289 - Add a link to release notes in the About Window

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[Alex Faaborg [:faaborg] (Firefox UX)]

This is a follow up bug from bug 607234.  With the removal of the menu command, users have no path to the release notes for a specific version of Firefox.  I recommend that we either linkify the version number and point that to the release notes, or place it at the bottom with license, end user rights, an the privacy policy.

Comment 1

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

see bug 494786

Comment 2

[Alex Faaborg [:faaborg] (Firefox UX)]

hm, the other option was to place them on about:home in the footer.  Personally I prefer the about window so we don't clutter every single first run experience.

Comment 3

[Reed Loden [:reed]]

Note that currently, we don't have any way to view the release notes, either via the website or through the app itself.

Comment 4

[Justin Dolske [:Dolske]]

How about we just do nothing?

Relnotes are already a bit of a joke in the industry ("who reads those?!"), and our release notes already (rightly) don't really contain anything particularly interesting. I think effort would be better spent on the SUMO side, so that common problems/issues are easy to find through the usual support channels.

Alternatively, toss a link somewhere into the firstrun / whatsnew pages.

Comment 5

[Reed Loden [:reed]]

Considering links on our release notes pages have brought down our infrastructure (including Bugzilla and other systems) multiple times due to heavy use by users getting upgrades, I disagree with your assertion that nobody reads the release notes.

Also, as one of the people who wrote quite a few number of release notes pages over the years, I don't really consider them a joke considering the time spent ensuring they are updated and correct for each release.

All said, I'd be happy if we had a link on the whatsnew page, but I believe that was explicitly removed recently.

Comment 6

[Mike Beltzner [:beltzner, not reading bugmail]]

We should not link to the relnotes from the About window, at least not in the release version. Might be something we want to do in the nightly builds, if there was a reasonable target. Presently there isn't, so resolving this as WONTFIX for now.

I agree that the website should make it easier to get to release notes for a given version, and possibly the SUMO landing page should do some sniffing and offer up the releasenotes for a version.