1295571 - The technical information link on cert error pages is confusing

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Core Graveyard :: Security: UI, defect, P1)

Description

[Johann Hofmann [:johannh]]

This is a followup from Bug 1290927:

STR:

Go to https://wrong.host.badssl.com/

- click on Advanced -> SSL_ERROR_BAD_CERT_DOMAIN
- you can see some technical information now
- scroll up to show the SSL_ERROR_BAD_CERT_DOMAIN link again
- click the link, expecting to be taken to the technical info panel again
- nothing happens, because the panel is "hidden" now

Problem:

This is confusing. Hiding the panel has no use since it is already largely out of sight of the user when they clicked the link for the second time. No other information is hidden by showing the panel, why would the user want to close it?

Also I would argue that having what appears to be a link toggle between two non-apparent states is an anti-pattern.

My suggestion: Let's not close the technical information section after it was opened the first time.

Comment 1

[Johann Hofmann [:johannh]]

Bram, what do you think? :)

Comment 2

[Bram Pitoyo [:bram]]

(In reply to Johann Hofmann [:johannh] from comment #0)
> My suggestion: Let's not close the technical information section after it
> was opened the first time.

I see what you’re saying, and I agree. Let’s not close the technical information after you expand it. Instead, if you click on that link again, we simply go to the anchor again. Makes sense?

Comment 3

[Johann Hofmann [:johannh]]

Makes sense! I'll get a patch! Thanks! :)

Comment 4

[Johann Hofmann [:johannh]]

Thinking about it, this is an excellent good first bug. Here's how to solve it:

At https://dxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/fe895421dfbe1f1f8f1fc6a39bb20774423a6d74/browser/base/content/aboutNetError.xhtml#425, simply remove the call to toggleDisplay() and instead always set the display style of `debugInfo` to "block".

If you're completely new to contributing to Firefox check out https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Tools/Contributing to get started.

Comment 5

[Bill Gianopoulos [:WG9s]]

(In reply to Johann Hofmann [:johannh] from comment #4)
> Thinking about it, this is an excellent good first bug. Here's how to solve
> it:
> 
> At
> https://dxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/
> fe895421dfbe1f1f8f1fc6a39bb20774423a6d74/browser/base/content/aboutNetError.
> xhtml#425, simply remove the call to toggleDisplay() and instead always set
> the display style of `debugInfo` to "block".
> 
> If you're completely new to contributing to Firefox check out
> https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Tools/Contributing to get started.

This is actually more complicated.  In order to comply with the requirements stated here https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1290927#c18,  it would be necessary to add another button next to the "Copy text to clipboard" labeled either "Dismiss" or "Cancel" to eliminate the technical info.

Comment 6

[Johann Hofmann [:johannh]]

(In reply to Bill Gianopoulos [:WG9s] from comment #5)
> This is actually more complicated.  In order to comply with the requirements
> stated here https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1290927#c18,  it
> would be necessary to add another button next to the "Copy text to
> clipboard" labeled either "Dismiss" or "Cancel" to eliminate the technical
> info.

No. If you read this patch again Bram clearly states

> Let’s not close the technical information after you expand it.

Closing the technical info is not required, it's not visible to the user anymore anyway.

If you want to have such a button please file a follow-up bug where we can discuss the benefits.

Comment 7

[Bill Gianopoulos [:WG9s]]

(In reply to Johann Hofmann [:johannh] from comment #6)
> (In reply to Bill Gianopoulos [:WG9s] from comment #5)
> > This is actually more complicated.  In order to comply with the requirements
> > stated here https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1290927#c18,  it
> > would be necessary to add another button next to the "Copy text to
> > clipboard" labeled either "Dismiss" or "Cancel" to eliminate the technical
> > info.
> 
> No. If you read this patch again Bram clearly states
> 
> > Let’s not close the technical information after you expand it.
> 
> Closing the technical info is not required, it's not visible to the user
> anymore anyway.
> 
> If you want to have such a button please file a follow-up bug where we can
> discuss the benefits.

OK but when you click on the link you provided it opens a several page scroll thing of certificates to import with a "Copy text to clipboard" thing that there seems to be no way to dismiss I thought this was exactly the same issue.

Comment 8

[Bill Gianopoulos [:WG9s]]

(In reply to Bill Gianopoulos [:WG9s] from comment #7)
> (In reply to Johann Hofmann [:johannh] from comment #6)
> > (In reply to Bill Gianopoulos [:WG9s] from comment #5)
> > > This is actually more complicated.  In order to comply with the requirements
> > > stated here https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1290927#c18,  it
> > > would be necessary to add another button next to the "Copy text to
> > > clipboard" labeled either "Dismiss" or "Cancel" to eliminate the technical
> > > info.
> > 
> > No. If you read this patch again Bram clearly states
> > 
> > > Let’s not close the technical information after you expand it.
> > 
> > Closing the technical info is not required, it's not visible to the user
> > anymore anyway.
> > 
> > If you want to have such a button please file a follow-up bug where we can
> > discuss the benefits.
> 
> OK but when you click on the link you provided it opens a several page
> scroll thing of certificates to import with a "Copy text to clipboard" thing
> that there seems to be no way to dismiss I thought this was exactly the same
> issue.

clicking on something that opens something there is no way to dismiss.

Comment 9

[Johann Hofmann [:johannh]]

> OK but when you click on the link you provided it opens a several page
> scroll thing of certificates to import with a "Copy text to clipboard" thing
> that there seems to be no way to dismiss I thought this was exactly the same
> issue.

No, that's a separate issue, but I understand what you mean. Feel free to open a bug.

> clicking on something that opens something there is no way to dismiss.

Technically you can simply click the [Advanced] button again to hide it, which is about as obvious as clicking the link.

Comment 10

[Alessio]

Attachment: Disabled toggle in debugInfo on aboutNetError

Comment 11

[Johann Hofmann [:johannh]]

Comment on attachment 8782602 [details] [diff] [review]
Disabled toggle in debugInfo on aboutNetError

Review of attachment 8782602 [details] [diff] [review]:
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Looks good, thanks! There is a test that includes opening the technical info already, so we shouldn't need to add one.

Since I'm not a peer I'll let Gijs take another look at it. Thanks!

Comment 12

[Johann Hofmann [:johannh]]

https://treeherder.mozilla.org/#/jobs?repo=try&revision=fff6f503ca7f

Comment 13

[Johann Hofmann [:johannh]]

Great! Now this needs a run on our try server, to check if tests are still green. (https://wiki.mozilla.org/ReleaseEngineering/TryServer). I just did that for you, but in the future you might want to consider getting your own try access. I've also set the checkin-needed flag. This flag signals that we want the patch merged. If the try looks good, someone will come around and check it in for us.

Comment 14

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/mozilla-inbound/rev/f0a49e4df7c7
Disable toggle in debugInfo on aboutNetError. r=johannh, r=Gijs

Comment 15

[Wes Kocher (:KWierso) (Not reading bugmail; email directly if needed)]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/f0a49e4df7c7

Comment 16

[Paul Silaghi, QA [:pauly]]

Verified fixed FX 51.0a1 (2016-08-23) Win 7, Ubuntu 14.04, OS X 10.12

Comment 17

[Alessio]

:johannh is this all good here? I've lost myself in all the flags :D Is there a wiki about flags or how does the flow works?

Comment 18

[Johann Hofmann [:johannh]]

Alessio, everything is great. This is RESOLVED which means it's, well, resolved. Your code is currently in Nightly but will "ride the trains" on version 51 all the way to stable eventually. The VERIFIED flag just means that someone from QA looked at it to make sure this works as expected.

Don't worry about the whole Whiteboard stuff, that's mostly specific to the team that owns the component.

You can read up on the workflow again here if you want https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Tools/Contributing (It's by the DevTools team but most of it applies to all of Firefox).

I absolutely encourage you to work on some more stuff that look interesting to you. The whole flow starts to make total sense once you solve a couple of bugs. :)

A good starting point for that is http://www.joshmatthews.net/bugsahoy/

Thanks for contributing!!!