x/website: improve downloads page

[adg]

The current downloads page leaves a lot to be desired. It provides an overwhelming amount of information, but not the essential pieces.

Ideally it should be the single page a user needs to visit to set up a working Go tool chain.

Here's my proposed download page flow:

• Step 1: on page load

Show a set of radio buttons for the user to select their OS/ARCH combination:
(Use the User-Agent HTTP header to detect the relevant OS/Arch combination and
pre-select it.)

    Operating System        Processor Architecture
    [ ] Windows             [ ] 64-bit x86 (amd64)
    [ ] Mac OS X (darwin)   [ ] 32-bit x86 (386)
    [ ] Linux
    [ ] FreeBSD

                    [ Download ]

• Step 2: the file is downloading

When they click Download, replace the os/arch form with an installation message:

    You are now downloading go1.4.linux-amd64.tar.gz.
    (If the download does not start automatically, [click here].)

    Once you have downloaded the archive, you should install it:

            $ sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.4.linux-amd64.tar.gz

    Add `/usr/local/go/bin` to your `PATH` environment variable,
    and set the `GOPATH` environment variable to a suitable location 
    (NOT the installation path; see [this document] for more about GOPATH).

(With different variations for OS X, Windows, etc.)

Obviously we'll need some finessing on the messaging around GOPATH, but the central idea is hiding all the irrelevant options and providing basic installation instructions.

[adg]

cc @broady

[adg]

The line

Add `/usr/local/go/bin` to your `PATH` environment variable,

could have a little link "How?" which pops up a little box explaining how to edit .profile or whatever it is on your system.

Similarly, the mention of GOPATH could also have "What is GOPATH?" which pops up a similar explanation.

[adg]

This has improved a lot with the Go 1.5 release, but it could still be better.

The downloads page now provides the user with a list of popular downloads, and when they click through they get the specific installation instructions for that platform as the download begins.

[minux]

even though I clicked msi download link windows, the page http://golang.org/doc/install?download=go1.5.windows-amd64.msi still uses the Unix syntax for setting GOPATH (in Test your installation section)

[mh-cbon]

can you consider to add a short link to last download ?

I mean, I have a script which needs to download go and install it on windows,

wget https://storage.googleapis.com/golang/go1.7.4.windows-amd64.msi
vagrant winrm -c "COPY C:\\vagrant\\go1.7.4.windows-amd64.msi C:\\go.msi"
vagrant winrm -c "msiexec.exe /i C:\\go.msi /quiet"
vagrant winrm -c "setx GOPATH C:\\gopath\\"
vagrant winrm -c "ls env:GOPATH"
rm go1.7.4.windows-amd64.msi

rather than wget https://storage.googleapis.com/golang/go1.7.4.windows-amd64.msi, i wish i could do wget https://storage.googleapis.com/golang/go-stable.windows-amd64.msi

And i will happily use unstable it there was a next short link such as wget https://storage.googleapis.com/golang/go-next.windows-amd64.msi pointing to last rc.

[broady]

One way to do that, today:

wget https://storage.googleapis.com/golang/$(curl https://golang.org/VERSION?m=text).windows-amd64.msi

[seankhliao]

I believe this is now the install page https://go.dev/doc/install