301486 - Sanitize Firefox disables items without explaining why

Status: NEW

(Firefox :: Settings UI, defect)

Description

[Jesse Ruderman]

Steps to reproduce:
1. Get a new profile
2. Sanitize

Result: "Download history" is checked and disabled, while "Saved Passwords" is
unchecked and disabled.  This makes it look like Firefox is going to delete your
download history whether you like it or not.  (I know that it's only disabled
because it's empty, but other users might not figure this out.)

Possible solutions:
* Add (empty) or (none) next to the names of disabled items.
* Uncheck empty items in addition to disabling them.

Comment 1

[Giorgio Maone [:ma1]]

>This makes it look like Firefox is going to delete your
> download history whether you like it or not.  (I know that it's only disabled
> because it's empty, but other users might not figure this out.)
> 
> Possible solutions:
> * Add (empty) or (none) next to the names of disabled items.
> * Uncheck empty items in addition to disabling them.

I prefer the former or both, because simply unchecking empty items would make
the same "dumb" user think that he cannot erase his private data, even if he
wants to.

Comment 2

[Robert Claypool]

My preference is for not disabling them.

Comment 3

[Robert Claypool]

I like being able to attempt something even though it has no effect. With
QuickBasic you can run a completely empty program. With any shell, nothing stops
you from typing a delete command in an empty directory.

Comment 4

[Jesse Ruderman]

As pointed out by bug 311648, this bug introduces an inconsistency between the
Clear Private Data dialog depending on whether it is accessed through the Tools
menu or through the Options window, in addition to the other problems it causes.

Comment 5

[nrlz]

I agree that it is very confusing. I was just about to file a similar bug, but for a different reason. In fact, I totally misunderstood what the disabled checkboxes meant. And what's worse, I had 2 wrong interpretations of that dialog before stumbing upon this bug report and finding out its true meaning.

When I first saw the disabled checkboxes in the "sanitize now" dialog, I thought it meant that I was not allowed to modify the settings from that dialog and must only do it through the Options/Settings dialog. I thought this was just to prevent people from changing things and incorrectly thinking that they would be saved, since that dialog does not have a "save" button.

Then just this morning as I was playing with it, I saw the checkbox for "Ask me before..." on that same dialog and I wondered why they even had to show that option since I could not change it anyway. So then I had a revelation and thought that the checkboxes were in fact used as a checklist and that as each item was sanitized, the checkbox would automatically check to tell the user that it was successful. And that it was disabled, because it was only used as an indicator.

It was then that I decided to file a bug report to recommend that you skin the checkboxes differently to give a hint that it was not a "user control" but more of an "indicator". I was going to suggest using bullet points that morph into checkmarks and to remove the sunken borders on the checkboxes.

Then as I was searching I found this bug and finally understood that the checkboxes were disabled, because I had already cleared my data on an earlier occasion!

Comment 6

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

The bug assignee is inactive on Bugzilla, so the assignee is being reset.