685685 - Negative feedback due to moving version compatibility to a hidden box

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 733089

(addons.mozilla.org Graveyard :: Public Pages, defect)

Description

[Philipp Kewisch [:Fallen][📱📆]]

Since the addon version display has moved into the initially hidden box at the bottom, I've been getting a bunch of 1-star reviews stating "Please update this to be compatible with <Old Version of Thunderbird, usually 3.1>".

I'd suggest to communicate version compatibility more obviously: 

The most verbose suggestion would be to move the compatibility of the latest version back up to the addon description and add a link like "For compatibility with older versions of $PRODUCT, check out the _old versions_ page". Maybe even a text that include version numbers, like "For compatibility with $MIN_OLD_COMPAT_VERION to $MAX_OLD_COMPAT_VERSION, check out the _old versions_ page".

Another suggestion would be to let the developer decide which versions are most relevant and show them in the addon description area. For example, since linux distributions are sometimes not up to date with the latest versions, I get a lot of requests for a Thunderbird 3.1 compatible version. If the addon description stated that the latest version is compatible with Thunderbird 5-6 and that a different, older version is compatible with Thunderbird 3.1, then users will likely be less inclined to ask for support in a review.

Comment 1

[Philipp Kewisch [:Fallen][📱📆]]

It has become particularly bad for Lightning 1.2. We released this early due to the major updates testday which caused some users to rant in the reviews section, giving us at least 5 one or two star ratings. One user has even posted three different such ratings at once.

I would be delighted if this bug could progress soon!

Comment 2

[Gregory Koberger (:gkoberger)]

Attachment: Screenshot

Philipp is correct. For non-Firefox add-ons (where we don't know the version of the product the user is on), the lack of compatibility checking is confusing for the user.

The best way would be to make it more obvious what application version the current add-on version is compatible with.

Note:

* We only want to show this for add-on buttons that don't come with compatibility checking. So, hide it until we know there is no compatibility checking being done.
* I don't care if we show compatibility for all applications or just the one the user is browsing. Whatever is easiest.
* The link goes to the Versions page.

Comment 3

[Wil Clouser [:clouserw]]

/me hopes the default to compatible spec takes this into account :)

Comment 4

[Gregory Koberger (:gkoberger)]

Thunderbird doesn't really fall under D2C stuff, I don't think -- but if it makes things easier, I can make sure to include it.

Comment 5

[Wil Clouser [:clouserw]]

I kind of assumed things were heading that way but I could be wrong

Comment 6

[Gregory Koberger (:gkoberger)]

I refiled the bug, so the dev doing it doesn't have to understand this whole discussion. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, Philipp :)