1079757 - Solidify in-product feature name for 'tab mirroring'

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox for Android Graveyard :: Screencasting, defect)

Description

[Karen Rudnitski [:kar]]

'tab mirroring' has been used in-product to describe the action for sending (reflecting) the browser screen (tab) to the roku / chromecast / etc for viewing on the TV. 

This name is not yet an industry standard, and I'd like to ensure an appropriate in-product name is used that appeals to a general audience and not a more tech-savvy one. 

When coding the video casting support, we settled on an icon with a 'send to device' description. This best describes what a user is actually doing, rather than attaching an non-standard industry name to the function.

Currently, in tools, we have ' Mirror Tab ' as a placeholder. I stress placeholder as I don't think this is the right name for this, again to ensure larger general market understanding and appeal. 

Doing a search on the web, samsung talks about 'screen  mirroring' and only Chromecast is pushing a 'tab mirror' nomenclature. 

I still go back to a general, basic idea that as a user, I am sending X to Y. I know this has different (technical) connotations and usage (like sending [sharing] a link to email) but taking the step back to describing what activity I'm trying to perform, I'd like this described in a less-jargon way.

I'm adding Matej and Anthony for their thoughts on this since I'm not sure we had 100% agreement for this feature, and this needs to get locked down before uplift to Aurora in two weeks' time.

Comment 1

[Anthony Lam (:antlam) Find me, @antlam on Slack!]

I'd agree. "Mirroring" was always kind of confusing to me and hard to draw a mental connection with.

I think I suggested something like "passing" before but not sure what your guys' thoughts are on that? Tab passing, video passing, passing something to something else etc...

Comment 2

[Matej Novak [:matej]]

I got a little lost in comment 0. Can we not use "sent to device" now?

Comment 3

[Karen Rudnitski [:kar]]

We definitely can (which would honestly be my preference) but Brad has raised a few points to refer to it as something slightly different (although I can't 100% remember what that was).

Brad - could you please refresh the memory? We discussed it during the program review and I did think we compromised, but can't remember what that wording was. Plus it's good to get everyone on the same page anyway.

Comment 4

[Brad Lassey [:blassey] (use needinfo?)]

Mirror is an industry standard. On OSX, Linux and Windows (at least back when I used Windows) it is the term used for "show what's on this screen on that screen".

Sending a tab to a device is certainly not an industry standard. What's more, it is entirely confusing in that we use the same phrase to describe opening a tab from your desktop on your mobile (a not yet implemented, but much discussed feature). I think that that use of "send tab to device" more accurately reflects the action that's being taken, where you can then interact with that web page on the device you're sending it to as opposed to this feature where we are simply reflecting what's being rendered in firefox on the second screen.

Comment 5

[Matej Novak [:matej]]

(In reply to Brad Lassey [:blassey] (use needinfo?) from comment #4)
> Mirror is an industry standard. On OSX, Linux and Windows (at least back
> when I used Windows) it is the term used for "show what's on this screen on
> that screen".
> 
> Sending a tab to a device is certainly not an industry standard. What's
> more, it is entirely confusing in that we use the same phrase to describe
> opening a tab from your desktop on your mobile (a not yet implemented, but
> much discussed feature). I think that that use of "send tab to device" more
> accurately reflects the action that's being taken, where you can then
> interact with that web page on the device you're sending it to as opposed to
> this feature where we are simply reflecting what's being rendered in firefox
> on the second screen.

Do you think that's a materially different experience for the user? Maybe there's part of the functionality I don't understand, but it sounds like both of those end up with your browser window on another screen. The fact that it also remains on the original device in mirroring seems like a small detail.

Please let me know if there's more to it than that. Otherwise I would still go with "Send to."

Comment 6

[Brad Lassey [:blassey] (use needinfo?)]

(In reply to Matej Novak [:matej] from comment #5)
> (In reply to Brad Lassey [:blassey] (use needinfo?) from comment #4)
> > Mirror is an industry standard. On OSX, Linux and Windows (at least back
> > when I used Windows) it is the term used for "show what's on this screen on
> > that screen".
> > 
> > Sending a tab to a device is certainly not an industry standard. What's
> > more, it is entirely confusing in that we use the same phrase to describe
> > opening a tab from your desktop on your mobile (a not yet implemented, but
> > much discussed feature). I think that that use of "send tab to device" more
> > accurately reflects the action that's being taken, where you can then
> > interact with that web page on the device you're sending it to as opposed to
> > this feature where we are simply reflecting what's being rendered in firefox
> > on the second screen.
> 
> Do you think that's a materially different experience for the user?
Yes
> Maybe
> there's part of the functionality I don't understand, but it sounds like
> both of those end up with your browser window on another screen.
Well, this part isn't true. If you send a tab from your desktop to your mobile (or visa versa) they'll be rendered differently, at least because of the different screen sizes but also because one could ge the mobile version of the page and the other will get the desktop version.


> The fact
> that it also remains on the original device in mirroring seems like a small
> detail.
Not really, once I've mirrored a tab to my TV if I pan it on my phone it also pans on my TV. Same if I click a link on that page. If I send a page from my phone to my desktop they are entirely disconnected, what happens on one doesn't effect the other.
> 
> Please let me know if there's more to it than that. Otherwise I would still
> go with "Send to."

Comment 7

[Matej Novak [:matej]]

Thanks, Brad. That definitely helps, but those still sound like two different ways of "sending" content somewhere else.

Could the solution be that one is "Send to device" and one is "Send to screen"?

Comment 8

[Brad Lassey [:blassey] (use needinfo?)]

sure, in one case you're sending a tab to a device, in the other you're sending a video of you your phone rendering that tab to a device. What you're not doing is sending that tab to the screen.

Comment 9

[Karen Rudnitski [:kar]]

I've made this point to Brad as well, but just to throw my opinion into the bug. 

Ultimately, I want to convey a feature that is approachable and intuitive for the general user. We know there are technical intricacies involved in the various ways things operate, but I think that is ok. I want this to feel emotional and not too geeky, while giving the idea of the function to the user.

I don't want to over-complicate the terminology in order to encourage as much usage as we can. Aaaanndd it needs to be fairly localizable. 

It also should be applicable to our desktop users, too, as we're noticing on the 'sending video' bug as well. 

FWIW, 'send to screen' makes sense to me.

Comment 10

[karolinazilla]

Just FYI for those who may not be aware: in our most recent external communications about the video sharing feature, we went with 'send to device' as you can see in this Beta post - https://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2014/09/05/road-test-sending-video-to-chromecast-and-roku-in-firefox-for-android-beta/ - and as you will see in the upcoming 33 GA on Tuesday.

We're aware that the process for sending a video vs 'mirroring' (for argument's sake)/ sending a tab from Fennec to a second screen via CC or Roku is different in terms of user flow.  Our understanding is that unlike sending videos which relies on tapping an un-named icon, when sending a tab to a second screen, a user has to go to main menu/tools, at which point the option currently reads 'mirror tab'. We have used that in our early draft of the 34 Beta post but appreciate, based on these comments, that this might now change to something like 'send tab' or 'send tab to screen'- just let us know so we can update the wording in our upcoming 34 Beta post accordingly. 

Also, if that wording changes in the UX, we'd love a screenshot to show what the user will see :)

Thanks!
Karolina

Comment 11

[Deb Richardson [:dria] (plz NEEDINFO)]

Out of curiosity, have we done any user-testing around any of this terminology yet?

Comment 12

[karolinazilla]

Hi all, 

Just checking back in here to see if we have reached a consensus on the alternative wording for 'tab mirroring'. Also, what will appear in the UI when the user goes to  main menu/tools, where it currently reads 'mirror tab'.

We need this information early next week (Tuesday at the latest) to ensure that our Beta blog post goes out with the correct wording.

Many thanks,
Karolina

Comment 13

[Karen Rudnitski [:kar]]

Picking this back up. 

Can we settled on 'Send to screen' for in-product usage (to replace 'mirror tab')?

If so, when we want to stop sending the tab to the screen, would we say 'Stop sending' in the UI (to try and keep it short)?

We need an answer ASAP. 

Brad, could you live with that? Matej - further thoughts from you? Anthony - could this make sense?

Comment 14

[Matej Novak [:matej]]

(In reply to Karen Rudnitski [:kar] from comment #13)
> Picking this back up. 
> 
> Can we settled on 'Send to screen' for in-product usage (to replace 'mirror
> tab')?
> 
> If so, when we want to stop sending the tab to the screen, would we say
> 'Stop sending' in the UI (to try and keep it short)?
> 
> We need an answer ASAP. 
> 
> Brad, could you live with that? Matej - further thoughts from you? Anthony -
> could this make sense?

Is the act of sending considered a one time thing or is it continuous? "Stop sending" makes sense if it's continuous, but otherwise we might want something like "Return to device" (or even "Unsend," though I'm not sure we want/need to invent a word here).

So yes, I'm good with "Stop sending" if it makes sense to everyone else.

Comment 15

[Brad Lassey [:blassey] (use needinfo?)]

(In reply to Karen Rudnitski [:kar] from comment #13)
> Picking this back up. 
> 
> Can we settled on 'Send to screen' for in-product usage (to replace 'mirror
> tab')?
> 
> If so, when we want to stop sending the tab to the screen, would we say
> 'Stop sending' in the UI (to try and keep it short)?
> 
> We need an answer ASAP. 
> 
> Brad, could you live with that? Matej - further thoughts from you? Anthony -
> could this make sense?

In my opinion, "Send To Screen" is strictly worse and more confusing than "mirror tab"

Comment 16

[Matej Novak [:matej]]

(In reply to Brad Lassey [:blassey] (use needinfo?) from comment #15)
> (In reply to Karen Rudnitski [:kar] from comment #13)
> > Picking this back up. 
> > 
> > Can we settled on 'Send to screen' for in-product usage (to replace 'mirror
> > tab')?
> > 
> > If so, when we want to stop sending the tab to the screen, would we say
> > 'Stop sending' in the UI (to try and keep it short)?
> > 
> > We need an answer ASAP. 
> > 
> > Brad, could you live with that? Matej - further thoughts from you? Anthony -
> > could this make sense?
> 
> In my opinion, "Send To Screen" is strictly worse and more confusing than
> "mirror tab"

"Mirror tab" would confuse me as a user, but at this point we're just going around in circles based on our own opinions. Do we have the opportunity to test a few options with users to get a definitive answer?

Otherwise we just need someone to make a call and move forward.

Comment 17

[Karen Rudnitski [:kar]]

we have consensus on our plan of action with fennec stakeholders including Madhava. This allows us to move forward immediately and cause as little disruption as possible.

- We'll keep 'mirror tab' and 'stop mirror' in-product.
- We (Gemma!!) will pull together some alternate names and do quick user testing to ensure it's a name of a feature that speaks to a majority of our users ('mirror page', 'mirror tab', 'send to screen', <other>)
- Madhava will work with me (and others) to look at our medium-term roadmap so we can consciously name current and future features that have a 'send to' element so we can figure out the most appropriate structure balanced with the associated functionality.

If we need to change the name in the future, we'll do so if it is felt as required (ie current naming causes user confusion, doesn't expand well, etc).

Finally, PR & Marketing: please focus on the action itself (what the user is doing) and use the in-product name sparingly. Ie focus on the action (which can include the term mirror) but don't over-emphasize without explaining what it does in layman's terms as well. Also, play around with mirroring a 'page' as well as the 'open tab' a user is on. I don't want anyone thinking they can mirror a tab that is in your tab tray that you're not 'viewing'.

Closing this bug, and Gemma - perhaps we can open up another one for the user testing.