I'll preface this with a statement that as a European I want European alternatives to succeed, and MS-owned GitHub to shrivel and disappear.
But in case anyone from Codeberg reads this, IMO landing and signup pages need a lot of improvements:
> Codeberg is a non-profit, community-led effort that provides services to free and open-source projects, such as Git hosting (using Forgejo)
OK, so do I register for Codeberg or Forgejo? Do I need to click through to Forgejo (it's a hyperlink)? Do I care it's Forgejo?
"Software development, but free!" Free is the biggest selling point? Well GitHub is free too. WHY should I sign up?
Why is there no signup email address on the homepage like GitHub?
Why is the Register CTA off to the side, looking like a header instead of a button?
Why no screenshots of the Codeberg (Forgejo?) UI / wowing me with features? (None on the Forgejo homepage either)
Why is the signup behind that Anubis anime girl AND I need to enter a CAPTCHA after passing that?
> Confirm Password
That's extra friction and AIUI an outdated UI practice.
> We are planning to drop the captcha by improving moderation and spam detection. (state: March 2025).
OK...it's been over a year.
> Using Codeberg to spread SEO spam, malware, links to IPTV services ("tvbox") or pirated content will result in an immediate ban with no prior warning.
Too many words, pushing the "Register" button even further down. Just put it in the Terms of Service
Just copy these things from GitHub, it's not that hard. Right now it looks like a conference registration landing page or something
Codeberg is not a commercial product, they've got a mission to provide a forge for active FOSS contributors, not to increase conversion rates. Reducing friction would be nice, that much is good feedback, but their target user is probably picking between them or self-hosting, so fixing half of these isn't urgent. As for the other half:
> OK, so do I register for Codeberg or Forgejo? [...] Do I care it's Forgejo?
If you don't know what Forgejo is or that you can't register for Forgejo, you probably aren't their target user.
> "Software development, but free!" Free is the biggest selling point?
If you don't get which meaning of free is used here, you definitely aren't their target user.
> Why no screenshots of the Codeberg (Forgejo?) UI / wowing me with features? (None on the Forgejo homepage either)
If you've never interacted with an existing Forgejo instance before (including theirs), you probably aren't their target user, again.
It was not meant as whining. Did you fail to realise my points were aimed at gaining a bigger audience and increasing sign ups? An attempt at constructive criticism
> not everyone wants to copy big tech.
Yeah sure increasing signups is the same as copying the entire big tech industry. Please. What a ridiculous leap
I don't think Codeberg wants to be a GitHub alternative. In particular, I don't think they want to support the use cases of someone hosting a bunch of private repos, or someone hosting commercialized code.
If we can't ship to your country yet the button is disabled so you don't go through the whole flow and hit a dead end. Working on expanding shipping though. Where are you located? Would help me prioritize.
I've added a few requested countries and am adding a bunch more right now. Give me a few minutes and I should have most places that Printful ships to (sorry Russian, UAE and Pakistan)
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