tarball:
- find the website
- find download link
- download the tarball
- navigate to the tarball (using a GUI file browser)
- extract the tarball (using a GUI extractor)
- navigate to the extracted directory (using the shell)
- and finally...
$ ./configure && make && sudo make install
VCS:
- find the website
- find clone link
- clone the repository
- navigate to the cloned directory (using the shell)
- and finally...
$ ./configure && make && sudo make install
So, that's 2 extra steps for going the tarball way.