1625283 - Hard code list of regions we may want to turn on for stories in newtab.

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Firefox :: New Tab Page, enhancement, P1)

Description

[Scott [:thecount] Downe]

We should figure out a rough list of regions (and then map them to locales) we may want to have stories on in the future.

Comment 1

[Scott [:thecount] Downe]

For which regions see stories, we generally control this via this pref: https://firefox-source-docs.mozilla.org/browser/components/newtab/docs/v2-system-addon/preferences.html#browser-newtabpage-activity-stream-discoverystream-region-stories-config

This pref is a csv of regions we want stories on, it's pretty simple.

The bit in that doc that makes this a little complex, and why we still have a bit of hard coded bits in this, is the bit that says "then looks for a matching locale".

What "then looks for a matching locale" means is, when we want to turn on stories for US, we don't want to turn on stories for US for users using a non English browser. (as an example, but isn't the only case)

The existing list is this: https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/source/browser/components/newtab/lib/ActivityStream.jsm#614

Also documented here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1omclr-eETJ7zAWTMI7mvvsc3_-ns2Iiho4jPEfrmZfo/edit

We need to be able to map the locales supported by the regions. Right now that is hard coded, and a limited list.

We right now could add in a bunch of regions and just not use them until we are ready.

Comment 2

[Gavin Suntop [:gvn] (they/them)]

Tawanda, can you list all the regions we want?

Comment 3

[Scott [:thecount] Downe]

Attachment: Bug 1625283 - Initial list of locale/regions for pocket stories

Comment 4

[Tawanda Kanhema]

We can go broader, but let's include the following:
en-AU
en-NZ
en-IN
en-ZA
fr-FR
fr-BE
de-AT

Comment 5

[Gavin Suntop [:gvn] (they/them)]

@Scott - Jess has requested an uplift on this if it's possible.

Comment 6

[Jessilyn Davis]

• an uplift into Beta 76 if the code freeze means no nightly landing until next week.

Comment 7

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/43f3b4e93116
Initial list of locale/regions for pocket stories r=gvn

Comment 8

[Bogdan Tara[:bogdan_tara | bogdant]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/43f3b4e93116

Comment 9

[Valentina Virlics [:vvalentina], Ecosystem QA]

I have verified this using Firefox Nightly 76.0a1 (Build ID 20200405212522) on Windows 10 x64, and observed "Recommended By Pocket" stories for the following combinations of regions and locales:

1. Regions: AU, NZ, IN and ZA and "en-GB" locale build. (as we noticed in some bugs, all mentioned locales were included in the en-GB one)

   • Popular Links are displayed in these cases;

2. Region AT and "de" locale build.

   • Popular Links are displayed in this case;

3. Region FR, BE and the "fr-FR" locale build;

   • No Popular Links;

@Scott: Please let me know if these check results are correct and enough. Thanks!

Comment 10

[Scott [:thecount] Downe]

You should only be seeing stories in the following regions: US,DE,CA

If you're seeing them in AU, NZ, IN, ZA, AT, FR, BE and GB, it's likely you need to restart after changing the regions.

I'll provide more accurate steps to test.

Also I found this link to e helpful in which locales have a shipped browser: https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/source/browser/locales/shipped-locales

First two cases are known locale/regions, with stories enabled by default.
Third case is a known locale/region with stories disabled by defailt.
Fourth test case is an unknown locale/region combination.

Using an en-US browser:

1. set the browser.search.region pref to "US" or "CA"
2. Restart, you should see stories

Using a de browser

1. set browser.search.region pref to "DE"
2. Restart, you should see stories

Using a "fr", "it", "es", "pl", "ja", etc. browser. For the purpose of this test, we'll use "fr"

1. set browser.search.region pref to "FR"
2. Restart you should not see stories.
3. Now set browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.discoverystream.region-stories-config to "US,DE,CA,FR"
4. Restart, you should see stories

Finally:

1. set browser.search.region pref to "NL"
2. Restart you should not see stories.
3. Now set browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.discoverystream.region-stories-config to "US,DE,CA,NL"
4. Restart, you should still not see stories

Comment 11

[Valentina Virlics [:vvalentina], Ecosystem QA]

(In reply to Scott [:thecount] Downe from comment #10)

Thank you for clarification!

I have verified this using Firefox Nighlty 77.0a1 (Build ID 20200413225327) on Windows 10 x64, Linux Ubuntu 18.04, Mac OS 10.14 and obtained the expected results:

• en-US locale build - US and CA regions => stories listed
• de locale build - DE region => stories listed
• fr locale build - FR region => no stories
  • set "browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.discoverystream.region-stories-config" to "US,DE,CA,FR" => stories listed
• nl locale build - NL region => no stories
  • set "browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.discoverystream.region-stories-config" to "US,DE,CA,NL" => no stories