Revision 4514 "Donate" button(s)

As big a fan of HeidiSQL that I am, the big fat "Donate" green button is tacky and obtrusive. Please consider removing it.

It's just fair to display such a button. If you are a donator, you can enter your email address in the Help > About dialog to hide that button.

I'm good now. Rather easily found a hack/bug to disable the Donate button from showing.

I agree with angsar, such a good software deserves at least a donation button. totally OK !!!

Thanks!

Just for the records: HeidiSQL is not limited in any way for non-donators.

Totally agree - HeidiSQL is excellent software at any price - even better when you consider it is free.

One problem though - I went to make a donation but the PayPal page is entiry in German (which I can't understand - sorry) and I could not find Uk or England or Great Britain or GB etc in the list of countries.

Oh shit, did not realize that. Going to check that at PayPal immediately.

Fixed...

hmm... PayPal shows me that landing page one time in German and the next time in English.

Please shout if you see German again. I'm unsure if that's really fixed now.

hmm.. Still shows German when I go in to it (Shall I post a screen shot?)

Still?? wtf. PayPal... sigh...

Does this link also show up in German for you?
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=M6L4BZ3HEWT9E&lc=GB

I found some hints on that "lc" parameter, which I probably populated with a wrong "EN", where "GB" is probably the right one. Not sure, as sometimes that works here, and the next time it's in German again.

The button donate links me to PayPal in English, not german for me.

Thanks, that's good news. Obviously, I used the wrong locale code "EN" instead of what I'm using now: "GB". Everything peachy now.

I never said it wasn't worth donating to, in fact, when I did try to donate, I encountered the same issue with everything on paypal being in German.

I was stating that the overstated and over vibrant "DONATE" button was obtrusive, which it is. I never said donating was bad.

Wonderful software, works well, well worthy of donations.

But since you decided to nag me with a highly obtrusive "DONATE" button that is permanently on the screen at all times while I am using HeidiSQL, I have decided it is time for me, and thee to part company.

I wouldn't have objected to such a button if it was more subtle, but bright green like that? No, just no.

Goodbye and thanks for all the fish.

If it's bugging you so much, what about donating? You can hide that button by putting your email address into the box in the about dialog.

Just donated 1.28 Euro! (It's not a lot, but I hope that helps!)

Thanks a lot!

Notice the EUR sign after your username here on the left of your posts :)

Thanks worked for me!

I 100% support donations to authors who choose to make their software free. As a developer, I find the gesture of releasing free software to the world to be very noble. Unfortunately, the new persistent banner is a bit of an eye-sore and is not exactly the best way to my wallet. I find the principle of pestering non-donators to be the wrong route to take. Even though it's your software and you're free to do with it what you like, you have gained a huge following by listening to what the people want. In a way, HeidiSQL has been shaped by many different people through the input and suggestions you receive on your site.

The banner is not the worst thing in the world, but the execution comes off a bit forced and I think that's why people are commenting on it. Personally, I feel much more likely to support a project I believe in when they have annual or semi-annual pledge drive. All I need is an email or two reminding me you're trying to raise X amount of dollars to cover server costs and I can donate and forget about it for the time being. Having HeidiSQL as part of my daily tools is wonderful, but I think the constant begging may turn some folks off altogether.

I do intend on donating in the near future, but for now, I'll stick with v8.0 (https://code.google.com/p/heidisql/downloads/detail?name=HeidiSQL_8.0_Setup.exe&can=2&q=).

Feel very free to do that.

I don't agree here, that the green banner is annoying people to a point where they get off. You can get used to see that button, and that's very ok. There are in sum 3 people having left a negative comment in here - that's not much, is it?

I'd hardly count my review as negative, I was just trying to politely share my opinion. With all due respect, I think you have done a great job with this software, I just wanted to suggest you implement an alternate means of requesting donations. Perhaps you're right, most people may not care at all--I certainly don't speak for everyone. Given the gentle color-scheme of the software though, there's no denying that green button sticks out like a sore thumb!

No, sorry, I did not mean negative in that way, I meant negative in the way of "i don't like that button, it's ugly and/or disturbing in some way". I appreciate any opinion here, as long as it's shared politely as you did. Please read above - not everyone is so polite :)

I just think the donate button is not too annoying. Everyone can happily ignore it the whole life long. That's the basic idea of donations - they are and will always be voluntary. The button is not meant to be a begging button, just a reminder for users that he's using a totally free software for enterprise business tasks. Of course this is just what I am intending - you can be right too, this depends on what the individual user feels when his eyes are caught by that button. Hmm.

Point taken, thanks for taking the time to interact with your forum users!

Donation earned :)

What about that: Restore the position of the toolbar on which the donate button sits. That's not done yet. Anoyed users could move that toolbar to the very right and it would keeps being there after a HeidiSQL restart.

Btw, nice username: "causeless effect"...

If you search "Firefox" in Google and you inadvertently click on the first result, you'll end up downloading a copy of Firefox modified by a third party that will happily crowd your computer with spyware, useless search bars and God knows what else. I've seen the same problem with many other popular open source programs. That's what I thought that had happened to me when I first saw the Big Fat Donate Button, until I remembered I was using the official update channel and found the changeset in the Subversion repository.

Believe it or not, people does not always complaint massively about everything and I definitively kept my feelings to myself. For whatever the reason, Anse has decided to deprive himself of sleep hours in order to maintain HeidiSQL so he can qualify for harsh recriminations, hosting service bills and hordes of grouppies. I simply didn't feel right to complaint. Don't take me wrong: I honestly think it's okay to ask for donations and it's fairly obvious by now that the Big Fat Donate Button has increased donations. But I do not like the button at all: it's too outstanding and gaudy; it makes HeidiSQL feel like dubious shareware.

I'm not willing to grab a Delphi compiler, edit out the Big Fat Donate Button and get my own Big Fat Donate Button-fee binary. I love that Anse (or Anse's scripts or Anse's sweatshop kids) does all that annoying work for me. Thus I will not complaint.

But I'll be amused it the toolbar button gets a more subtle design.

kalvaro, I love your comments so much. Please keep them up and keep me reading. They're always very polite. You have the ability to convince me about things I never took into account.

So, what about that:
* I'll restore the button position after moving its toolbar and restarting HeidiSQL
* Secondly, the button itself will get a subline "Support HeidiSQL" and the "Donate" text size gets decreased a bit.

This way, it's probably more clear you did not grab some shitty dubious shareware, and the smaller font size is less intrusive than now.

Just registered today. I forgot where the selection was to enter my email to disable the "donate" button. Maybe a right click on the button could give a hint. Found it of course after googling. Otherwise I think the layout is fine and I have no issue with this feature.

You should have got an email after doing the donation, which instructions on how to hide the button.

I was never rude, I was direct and to the point. Ansgar, you know I've posted nothing but positive and constructive comments here, and on the code.google site (I'm the "XI...DO.COM@gmail.com" user that always attaches videos of errors in flash format).

Anyway, as I've stated above, there is a very simple hack to stop those donate buttons from appearing and the program works fine. I'm one of those people who would donate, if we could compromise on the donate button. Let that DONATE button be as big and multi-colored as you wish on the server logon screen, but then once you've connected and are working with a database, ... *poof* it should be gone. Unless we click the "Help->about", the donate button should go away while we're working in the program.

This is my opinion. I have every freedom to not use your software if I wish, I understand that. I'm not being argumentative or rude. You've done FANTASTIC and very praise worthy work with HeidiSQL. I absolutely love it, albeit the Donate button once you've logged onto a server. Sorry, I don't coddle or sugar coat the facts no matter how well your program is and how popular it is. The way you have the donate button now is tacky and obtrusive. It is what it is.

Hold on. I am working on that currently. I planned to place some clickable "Update available" hint somewhere on the wasted space of the toolbar or the menu. The donate button should also live there, as a label, not as that big button. Here's what I currently have:

This is much work, as the current main menu does not accept right aligned labels which I wanted to have. So I was trying out the different menus and toolbars available in Delphi, avoiding third party components. I decided for the "TCoolBar", which is in my understanding a pure Windows control without much code from Delphi itself (which is the case for TControlBar). First the TCoolBar looked totally buggy when I was dragging its bands up and down and right and left. But it turned out I had to carefully set the properties of its bands, and then it worked stable, and I even can store+restore its positions and widths. So you will be able to drag the main menu into the same row as the toolbar, to save space. The donate button is still right aligned and nice and small enough to satisfy all complaints, isn't it? Also, users with inactive "Check for updated builds" option get a descent hint with that label in the menu.

If the screenshot of what you posted should come to fruition, that would be fantastic! It's there, but not "glaring" at all. I am a very, very large fan of Heidi and have recommended it to my colleagues for years, thus, donation incoming. Thank you!

Thank *you* for the donation.

Will see if I can commit that myriad of GUI changes on the weekend.

That looks much better! Thank you for taking the time to listen to your users' feedback. It's rare to receive such prompt support and thoughtful replies from a developer, especially one that delivers outstanding free software!

Hopefully others will agree, but I think the design in the screenshot serves as a nice resolution to this thread.

Yes, hope so. And I hope it also displays well under Wine, which is problematic sometimes.

Et voilà: r4617. Please update to the latest build and see yourself.

Any Wine user here? Would be interesting to know whether Wine has issues with this TCoolBand. I wouldn't be surprised if so, as these coolband still feels a bit buggy.

Here's a screeny of the both bands (mainmenu + toolbuttons) dragged into one row, to save vertical space.

I rarely spend time on writing stuff like this, but I do feel this here is worth spending time on. I do this because I find this project worth spending time to share my thoughts of the banner about.

My first impression when I saw it after updating was quite unpleasant.

I ended up strongly debating with myself which of the following options to use.

*Go back to a previous version
Hate this, as it would mean I am not getting newest version, but so far seems like best solution.

*Find a hack to remove the banner
I kinda dislike that for several reason, both what will I get, and I am a strong believer of your tool, your choice.

*Try and ignore it
And hope you come to your senses and remove it/make it less obtrusive in the daily work.

*Feel forced to donate to get rid of it
But it gives me the feeling of the "terrorist win". So I highly doubt this will be the case.

*Find an alternative tool
Another great option as I see it, shame gotten used to this, like it.

---
The conclusion I reached is that I will continue with the tool as is the year out. If the banner is still there, I will look for another tool.

If the banner instead is gone/made less obtrusive to a level I do not feel it is an eyesore staring back at me when I use the tool, then I will be donating, and feel great knowing that a good choice were made.

Did you update your build recently? It is already a "descent" label in the upper right, not a big image anymore.

I updated it yesterday, when I saw it, and saw this thread about it.

I am on Version 8.1.0.4545

I just updated again, can see there was an even newer version without the Green nagging, and instead a nice "calm" Donate option.

You win, donation heading your way for a great tool :)

I would like to disable the donate button and therefore want to donate some €. I will not use paypall ( they want me to sell my soul for transfering some euros. wtf? ) I would like to send the donation to IBAN: DE22403619064441777201. But how can I disable the button if I do so? Shall I put my email-address into bank transfer formular?

Donating should be easier. I know that I payed some services online with my credit card without giving away so much information and allowing them to send it to everyone (like schufa). Just the information from the credit card, thats it. And I want to disable the button now and not in 3 days when the money arrives at its destination. Money transfers still not solved :-(

You're right. It's just that most payment providers want huge fees. If you can recommend some good one which does not want the soul of the payer, please tell me.

For the IBAN thing: yes, you can put the email into the subject of the transfer. Or, send me a separately and include the id of the transfer or something like that. My email address is displayed on the imprint page.

I've donated, but the Donate button keeps coming back after every restart of HeidiSQL. It remembers my email but the button just keeps coming back. v9.3.4984, and v9.3.5104 both have this problem. Please fix!

There is an online-check if the address really has done a donation, so you need an internet connection. If you don't have one, HeidiSQL cannot check it and will show the donate button. Probably there is a firewall problem too? Not sure. Does it take some time (more than 10 seconds) for HeidiSQL to start?

yes

Hello I am reopening this thread because the tacky and obtrusive big the big fat "Donate" green button is back in release 10.2.0.5599 :(

I like the button!

The old link was less intrusive than this big button and much more efficient

This donate button is really not bad at all. I've been using Heidi for years now and never really noticed it. So many other freeware programs do it worse. Popups repeatedly asking for you to donate. One small banner like this is in my opinion very reasonable.

I decided to donate, not to get rid of this button (I wouldn't even care if donating didn't remove it) but because I've tried other software and none are as easy to use. Keep up the good work!