Closed Bug 1097758 Opened 10 years ago Closed 8 years ago

Make it more obvious where apps can be installed

Categories

(DevTools Graveyard :: WebIDE, defect)

defect
Not set
normal

Tracking

(Not tracked)

RESOLVED WONTFIX

People

(Reporter: jryans, Unassigned)

References

Details

Many users have tried to install apps to runtimes that don't support apps. WebIDE does not make it easy to understand it's semi-awkward dual purpose in life: * Making apps and installing them to a few runtimes (FxOS) * Debug running tabs in many more runtimes I believe there's still room for improvement here. It make take several kinds of changes to make this more clear: * Disable install buttons when they are not appropriate (done in 36, bug 1093883) * Better error messages than "didn't work, sorry" since these are complex situations * Welcome screen to explain the dual purpose * Better docs on MDN and more links to them from WebIDE
Paul and Jen, do either of you have ideas on how we could make this situation less confusing?
Flags: needinfo?(paul)
Flags: needinfo?(jfong)
I think the options suggested above work as solutions to reduce confusion - in particular, I think better error messages help. For instance, if the user is getting "Operation failed: installing and running app: Can't install", if we can specify something like "App installations are currently supported in the following: Firefox OS simulators, Firefox OS devices" or something like that. The wording on the welcome screen has to be minimal - if we explain too much about what this does and doesn't do it could confuse people more. Then as a secondary measure, the docs on MDN should provide further detail for which the error message(s) can link to.
Flags: needinfo?(jfong)
We disabled the install button. But the user doesn't know why it's disabled. I think we should add a check in the validator: if (runtime && runtime.doesntSupportApp) error("Runtime doesn't support HTML5 aps"); ... then it will show up in the main project screen (details.xhtml).
Flags: needinfo?(paul)
We intend to move remote debugging into about:debugging (bug 1212802) and then remove WebIDE (bug 1314811), so there are no plans to improve the WebIDE UX at this time.
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 8 years ago
Resolution: --- → WONTFIX
Product: Firefox → DevTools
Product: DevTools → DevTools Graveyard
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