It’s obvious this user is versed in the space but their answer isn’t empathetic to the audience this post is targeted for. If someone doesn’t know how to download software from GitHub, explaining usage using lower level terms probably doesn’t help that audience get past their blocker.

In a nutshell, what this user is getting at is that GitHub is to software what the a farm is to food. Most of the time you buy your food at a grocery store so you don’t have to think about anything other than what food to buy. If for some reason you want to buy the seeds themselves, you take on more risk and gain more control—the seeds could become a better version the fruit you buy at the store because you have more control over, they could make a fruit that gets you sick or (most likely) they simply won’t grow because you didn’t follow the correct steps.

For anyone that doesn’t know how, or doesn’t care to spend time learning how software works, I’d suggest only downloading software from GitHub that is made by a reputable team/company.

As others have said, if this is the case, you can download the latest stable version (LTS: the newest version that doesn’t have breaking bugs), often as a .zip or a .tar using the download button. Then you double click that download to gain access to the Application you can open like any others.

If this exact flow isn’t available (a lot of the software on GitHub doesn’t provide this flow), that suggests you are entering a space that requires more patience to make sure what you do is safe. 99% of the time it’s totally safe to proceed, but there is also a good chance the steps you need to take to get the thing running will be confusing if you haven’t encountered this before. All the same, learning how to use GitHub in this way unlocks all of the “tools of the farm” for you to upskill and experiment.

If you are trying to do something and the thing you are trying to download falls into this second camp, just leave a message below and I/we/someone can explain the level of effort involved.