1345487 - Firefox setup UX issues with network failures or outbound firewall

Status: NEW

(Firefox :: Installer, defect, P5)

Description

[Jukka Jylänki]

Attachment: firefox_setup_firewall.png

Attempting to install Firefox on Windows when an outbound firewall is active (such as Windows10FirewallControl), or when there is a bad network connection that times out, the UX dialog that is presented is not ideal. See the attached screenshot.

The dialog says

> Your download was interrupted.
> Please click the OK button to continue.
> [OK] [Cancel]

which is cryptic. Why give two button options if user should always click on one of them? What happens if user clicks on Cancel? Also there is no option to retry download, which is most likely what the user primarily wants to do, so the UX does not offer the desired option, but presents a "go back to go forward" pattern.

It would be better to have a dialog

> Your download was interrupted.
> Would you like to try again?
> [Retry] [Abort]

which would allow user to retry in case it was a network failure of some kind, or after configuring firewall to allow network connection.

Comment 1

[Molly Howell (she/her) (mostly inactive)]

I agree it isn't great. The OK and Cancel buttons don't actually do the same thing (cancel just exits, and OK opens a web page where you can download the full installer directly), but that certainly isn't at all clear, or as helpful as it could be.

I can't help pointing out that there is already an easy way to retry the download, which is just to run the installer again. As I said, not great, but a serviceable workaround.

Also, just to be clear, when you see that dialog box, the download has already been automatically retried a few times. Those retries obviously aren't doing anything for you if the problem is firewall configuration, but they do help with the more common situation of connection reliability issues.