Mods Streamlining Mod Update Workflow

[Syrchalis]

As a large mod author on this site, I regularly get annoyed by the process of updating mods. The workflow is unoptimized and tedious. Note that I use Firefox as browser - it is possible some features aren't working as they do in Chrome or other browsers.

 

The current workflow and where improvements are needed:

• Navigate to the file section of the mod I want to update (this is fine, I can access this easily from my "My Mods" page directly)
• Hover over "Manage" on the file I want to update
• Click "Upload new version" (alright, so far fine)
• Copy-paste the same exact file name this file had before (this should really be done automatically)
• Extra tedious if the file name is long and doesn't fully show in this UI, forcing me to go to my mod's download page to copy the name - or I have to type it out manually
• Manually type in the version number (again, this should be done automatically - simply copy the version number of the old file that you are updating, then the mod author can manually increment the right number, rather than typing out the entire version every time)
• Set all three checkboxes (Newest Version, New Version of this File, Remove old file) - (this should potentially be the default)
• Delete new paragraphs in the description (in Firefox, if you write two lines in the description that are seperated by a paragraph, every time you upload a new version another paragraph is magically added that has to be deleted manually)
• Drop the file in the relatively small (even on a 2560x1440 monitor) box - if missed, closing the dialogue carefully or risk undoing all work done so far
• Save File
• Scroll up
• View Mod Page

The length of this list should give an idea why this workflow is tedious. There are several steps that can be shortened by 90% or eliminated entirely. Many of these may be different for other authors (e.g. they might not want the 3 checkboxes to be default ticked). So, it wouldn't be hard to save these things as defaults. Either make a setting screen for mod updates to set many of these processes (copy old file name yes/no, copy old file version yes/no, default ticked checkboxes etc.) and/or add another checkbox at the bottom "use these settings as default upload settings".

 

Overall the time wasted by the poor workflow is not huge, but when you are maintaining 25 mods with regular updates it adds up a lot.