Closed Bug 1587710 Opened 6 years ago Closed 6 years ago

We need an informative banner before each update that brings major changes.

Categories

(Firefox :: Messaging System, enhancement)

Product:
Firefox
Component:
Messaging System
Version:
69 Branch
Type:
enhancement
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
normal

Tracking

()

Status:
RESOLVED WONTFIX

People

(Reporter: amylovendaal, Unassigned)

Details

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:69.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/69.0

Expected results:

At least one week before each update users should see a banner, informing them about imminent changes.
This banner should not just appear on Mozilla pages, but on each page that people visit using Firefox - it should have a "learn more" button and a closing X.

The support forum gets inundated with complaints when once again "things have changed" and users weren't warned about upcoming changes.
They find out when it's too late.

See this thread :
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/forums/contributors/712657

i think the idea of a banner is contentious, as the general aim should be to reduce distractions and update fatigue - having an indiscriminate "in your face" bar for the whole user-base ahead of each update might do more harm than good.

in bug 1561009 there's a new mechanism developed to message users about what's new in firefox (you can also have a look at the mock-ups there) - this might cover part of what you're asking for, but i think the exact content that is to be shown there is also up for discussion and probably won't go into too much technical nitty-gritty other than linking to the release notes.

Component: Untriaged → Messaging System

@ philipp :
The "update fatigue" you mention : I think that is mainly caused by all the changes; changes, users weren't warned about.
In so many threads users ASK to be warned about upcoming changes ......

it's in the nature of a support forum though, that we only get to see users who have some sort of problem/gripe with an update there.
for the overwhelming majority of the userbase updates will go smoothly and for those the priority in my opinion should be to minimize any interruption of their workflow and avoid making them anxious about upcoming changes without necessity.

I did not file this bug report to start a "You're wrong - I'm right" discussion.
I filed this bug report because users want/need to be warned about upcoming changes.
I want what's best for Firefox users and I want what's best for Mozilla.

Naturally, this wouldn't be possible for every release, since some are rapid patches. However, I would like to see this for major changes.

I actually think that Mozilla already does this for certain features when they are discontinued. When I open the Scratchpad tool in Firefox 70, I get a banner telling me it's going to be removed in a future update. I've had that happen with some other features as well.

I'm not really sure how many people would actually care enough to see what changes are coming. After all, if you are actually interested in the new features, you can look at the release notes before the update is released. Something worth exploring I guess though.

The average user (read : not people like SUMO contributors, Mozilla employees, but people who use the internet for email, search, YouTube etc.) doesn't know what release notes are or where to find them. The average user doesn't know what Firefox menu and options are.
When they finally read the release notes, it's too late.
And of course I am talking about a banner that will inform users about major upcoming changes.
A banner that will have a "Learn More" button and a closing X, like I mentioned in my first post.

We see banners asking to take a survey; we see banners telling us that a "web page is slowing down the browser" etc..

I think that an informative banner about upcoming (major) changes is just as (if not : more) important.

Hi Amy,

Thanks for this. I believe the product team needs more study to actually assess this need. Putting a banner on each page whenever people using Firefox is a huge deal. I don't know if I would agree on this. However, I do acknowledge your point on having a preventive action to actually notify people on the upcoming changes in Firefox.

Do you have a better idea of how we can do this than putting a banner?

Flags: needinfo?(amylovendaal)

Hi Kiki,

That banner should of course only be shown before an update, and even then when that update includes major changes.
Like I mentioned before : that banner doesn't have to be more than one line, with a "Learn More" button and a closing X.

Flags: needinfo?(amylovendaal)

Aaron, you want to weigh in on this from an UX perspective?

Flags: needinfo?(abenson)

Bugs need to be filed as problem statements and not solutions to potential problems. This particular problem is anecdotal at best and not backed by findings by our User Research Team.

Given Firefox's relatively frequent update cycle, a banner that forewarns of updates is unnecessarily interrupting users and potentially creating apprehension around browser updates which would not be beneficial for the user, or Firefox. For people that want more control over when updates are installed, there is a preference for turning off automatic updates.

Status: UNCONFIRMED → RESOLVED
Closed: 6 years ago
Flags: needinfo?(abenson)
Resolution: --- → WONTFIX

@ Aaron Benson :
This is not about control over when updates are installed.
This is about warning people about upcoming major changes. On the support forum people ask to be warned - now they find out when it's too late.
And it's up to contributors to try and do some "damage control" - users often say that they will switch to another browser beause of these changes they didn't know were coming.

"This is not about control over when updates are installed."

I disagree. A warning, as you've described it, is meant to provide information to users so that they can decide whether or not to update their browser. If the problem statement is, instead, to provide information about updates so that users know what has been updated, we have a solution for that as described in Comment 1 and bug 1561009.

Aaron Benson, please READ what I have posted before. See the thread on the contributor forums I linked to !
This bug report has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do whith what you are talking about.
Please stop posting comments here if you're going to keep doing this.

Summary: We need an informative banner before each update. → We need an informative banner before each update that brings major changes.

I added "that brings major changes" to the header of this bug report, cause apparantly some people seem to think that I meant every little change.

(In reply to McCoy from comment #13)

Aaron Benson, please READ what I have posted before. See the thread on the contributor forums I linked to !
This bug report has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do whith what you are talking about.
Please stop posting comments here if you're going to keep doing this.

Hey McCoy, I've read the bug and the support links. I understand you want a banner that shows up before "non major" software updates. I'm trying to help you understand that your proposed solution isn't as obvious as you think it might be -- and that understanding the problem here is very important.

  • If people want information about software updates so they know what has changed from update to update, we have provided a solution to that with the What's New Panel.
  • If people want information about software updates so they can elect to install the updates or not, we have provided a solution to that in turning off automatic updates.

As part of the Firefox UX team, I can tell you that we take product messaging very seriously and with each message comes an element of interruption. I've closed this bug as wontfix since we would not consider the solution has you've described it. And I'll reiterate that bugs need to be filed as problem statements and not solutions to potential problems.

(edit: I said "non major" when I meant major)

Aaron Benson, I did NOT say that want a banner that shows up before "non major" software updates - I said before MAJOR updates.
I have been pleading for such banner for over two and a half years - not, because I have nothing better to do with my time, but because I want to help Firefox users. And to have people say that Firefox is the number one browser.
Firefox users who notice that important things have changed, which causes them an awfull lot of work, and being upset because they were not informed about these changes : I call that e problem. A problem that needs to be fixed.

Appparantly I've been waisting my time, so I'll leave others to deal with unhappy users, saying that they are switching to another browser.

I give up.

See :
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1271176
Even a moderator says in this thread : "now "someone" changed that without prior warning."

The update to Fx 70 brought so many changes that even we, contributors, should have been warned about ahead of time :
Many contributors use "copy and paste" answers and quite a few of them need to be rewritten, should have been rewritten before the update was released .....
A banner, informing about these changes, would also have meant less questions on the support forum, less confusion, less work ....

See : https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1261193
In this thread "scope999" says : "wish I had known before updating" .......

So now users get a "What's new" button after each update - really good alternative for a banner !

(In reply to McCoy from comment #19)

So now users get a "What's new" button after each update - really good alternative for a banner !

Great! I figured you'd appreciate that. Also, see Comment 12 :)

Yes, I do appreciate it ! (I wonder what inspired the developer(s) to come up with the idea .....)

Now we get complaints (of course .... ) about how some users can't get rid of the button.

I'm working on it : https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1271264

"My" banner would have a closing X, and would only be shown when an update brings major changes.

But I think this "What's new" button is a great idea !

(In reply to McCoy from comment #21)

Yes, I do appreciate it ! (I wonder what inspired the developer(s) to come up with the idea .....)

Now we get complaints (of course .... ) about how some users can't get rid of the button.

I'm working on it : https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1271264

"My" banner would have a closing X, and would only be shown when an update brings major changes.

But I think this "What's new" button is a great idea !

We're working on a preference that would turn off things like "Product news/information notifications" and effectively remove the gift icon from the toolbar. It would still be available in the Application Menu.

See the (at the time I'm writing this) last post from "cranky goat":

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1271264

The "What's new" feature - in cases where an update will bring major changes : too late !

We need (users need) an informative banner, about two weeks before the update is released.

Closing this bug report isn't going to change that .......

See : https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1279681

The OP says :

"''Those, who made this change, without ANY warning,''"

But no banner needed (just every once in a while), eh ?

Showing a banner, asking to do a survey, is of course way more important.

See :
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1286320

But by all means, keep this bug report closed.

Who cares what Firefox users need.

We are being inundated with threads like this one :

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1286439

But the mighty dev who decided to close this thread of course knows best .....

See this thread :
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1286904#answer-1312524

Who is going to explain to the OP why he did not get a warning ?

See :
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1293527

The OP says :
"PLEASE!!! Firefox is not doing anyone favors by forcing new features without warning "

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