1827388 - Browsing history checkbox is redundent

Status: NEW

(Firefox :: Migration, defect, P3)

Description

[Dave Townsend [:mossop]]

Attachment: Screenshot 2023-04-11 at 12.19.24.png

In the new migration wizard on macOS I see a single checkbox for the data to import and then buttons to proceed with or cancel the import. Unchecking the checkbox makes it impossible to proceed so it seems that this checkbox is redundant implying that I have two choices to make when really I only have one, either I want to import the data or not.

I'm guessing that in some cases there are more data types available (passwords, etc.) and so there could be multiple checkboxes which would make more sense but maybe when there is only a single checkbox it should instead be just a plain text note that browsing history is the only data supported in this case. Might be nice to know why passwords aren't supported mind you.

Comment 1

[Sören Hentzschel]

While I understand that you don't really have anything to choose from, I still think that the current UI with the checkbox is the best choice for two reasons:

1. It's consistent. I don't think that it would be less confusing to have a different UI depending on whether you only have one option vs. two or more options.
2. The checkbox shows the relevant information in the most compact form, that's easy to parse.

Especially since you can switch between different browsers in this dialog, I would argue that it can be confusing to see that browser A can import the history because it's offered as a checkbox, and then, for browser B where the history is the only option, you maybe expect the history to be displayed as a checkbox as well, and you may not immediately notice this relevant information.

Comment 2

[Dave Townsend [:mossop]]

(In reply to Sören Hentzschel from comment #1)

While I understand that you don't really have anything to choose from, I still think that the current UI with the checkbox is the best choice for two reasons:

1. It's consistent. I don't think that it would be less confusing to have a different UI depending on whether you only have one option vs. two or more options.
2. The checkbox shows the relevant information in the most compact form, that's easy to parse.

Especially since you can switch between different browsers in this dialog, I would argue that it can be confusing to see that browser A can import the history because it's offered as a checkbox, and then, for browser B where the history is the only option, you maybe expect the history to be displayed as a checkbox as well, and you may not immediately notice this relevant information.

I take your point but I think you've hit upon another problem I hadn't noticed. When I first tested this I thought all of the browsers in the drop-down allowed me to import the same data. Going back to look it turns out that Chrome lets me import just "Browsing history" while Safari lets me import just "Bookmarks" but I guess because the UI didn't change significantly enough I missed that detail.