1888466 - Unmerge "Browsing & Download History" and "Form & Search History" in the new Clear Data/History dialog

Status: ASSIGNED

(Toolkit :: Data Sanitization, enhancement, P3)

Description

[aoia7rz7l]

The "new" Clear Data/History dialog has merged "Browsing & Download History" and "Form & Search History" into a single option, UI-wise in Bug 1856415 and pref-wise in Bug 1861450 (Apparently there was some effort to re-separate "Download History" at one point but I am not sure that's too relevant here).

Why is this a good idea?

If you look under about:preferences#privacy >History > Use custom settings for history, you can see there are separate options for Remember browsing and download history (which controls places.history.enabled) and Remember search and form history (which controls browser.formfill.enable). How are users supposed to clear one thing but not the other with this "new" dialog?

I was going to say that this is another "chrome-parity" thing but when I actually booted up chrome, they do have a "Autofill form data" clearing option separate from "Browsing history", so I have absolutely no idea what's going on here.

Comment 1

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

The Bugbug bot thinks this bug should belong to the 'Firefox::Search' component, and is moving the bug to that component. Please correct in case you think the bot is wrong.

Comment 2

[Harshit Sohaney [:hsohaney]]

I can see how the new dialog has removed this functionality, and I would recommend switching back to the old dialog if this is a real pain point right now. We will consider adding a separate option in a later version of this dialog, and until then, you can keep the pref privacy.sanitize.useOldClearHistoryDialog set to true.

Comment 3

[Paul Zühlcke [:pbz]]

If we do decide to split those options up again I think they should be in an "advanced" view which offers more fine grained control.

Comment 4

[08xjcec48]

On Nightly, the advanced/custom history clearing options in about:preferences#privacy also use the new dialog by default now. According to the reporter, they didn't when this issue was filed.

The new design looks nicer and is easier to understand, but instead of merging Browsing/Download/Form, I'd rather separate Browsing from Download too.

Users very often create forum threads asking us how to delete form entries. After just a few days of browsing, they may include dozens of strings we have no use for, including misspellings and very specific search queries. People appreciate it when we tell them that they can set Firefox to clear those entries automatically.

Unlike the menu that only clears your recent history, this specific dialog is usually only seen once in a lifetime. Please don't simplify it to the point of removing a feature that is essential for us.

Comment 5

[08xjcec48]

I've found out that this isn't just a GUI change. It also uses a new unified prefs.js entry for browsing, download, and form history, so if you end up leaving it like this, and then remove privacy.sanitize.useOldClearHistoryDialog later on, we won't even be able to use about:config to set it to clear only form entries.

Edge has a very nice "Clear browsing data on close" page with separate options for everything. It also allows users to set cookie clearing exceptions from the same page.

Comment 6

[Marco Bonardo [:mak]]

(In reply to 08xjcec48 from comment #4)

I'd rather separate Browsing from Download too.

That'd be complex to do, and confusing, because downloads are browsing history. Thus removing browsing history should also always remove downloads, or it would be a privacy hit (Edge is likely not minding these privacy subtleties). Removing downloads without removing history is instead already possible from the Library window. But showing that kind or hierarchy in a dialog would be, imo, very confusing for the user.

Comment 7

[08xjcec48]

My point is that, in my opinion, it would make more sense to add new granular options instead of removing Form & search history.

Anyway, this is what the addition of a new "Downloads" toggle could look like:

[ ] Browsing history and downloads
[x] Downloads 

Result: it performs the same action that Clear Downloads does in the Library window.

[x] Browsing history and downloads

Result: the separate Downloads item is automatically checked too and grayed-out.

Comment 8

[Marco Bonardo [:mak]]

(In reply to 08xjcec48 from comment #7)

[x] Browsing history and downloads

Result: the separate Downloads item is automatically checked too and grayed-out.

Me and you understand that... unfortunately many users would wonder why it's disabled, and we'd get bugs on file for it.
Surely one could indent downloads under browsing history, but I still don't see a strong use-case into clearing downloads but not history, from a privacy point of view.
That said, this is matter for UX, more than engineering.

Comment 9

[Dan]

(In reply to 08xjcec48 from comment #5)

if you end up leaving it like this, and then remove privacy.sanitize.useOldClearHistoryDialog later on, we won't even be able to use about:config to set it to clear only form entries.

Or on the other hand, only site and download history, without clearing form entries.

Comment 10

[08xjcec48]

This is the current top thread on the Firefox subreddit: Mozila needs to learn that Chrome's UI/UX is not the "correct UI" for a browser.

Comment 11

[Dan]

Wow, good, more users are tuning in! Great post by "fsau" there too.

Comment 12

[08xjcec48]

To the developer who hid my last comment: there's no "advocacy" in sharing a relevant forum thread with the opinions of many users.

Such links are usually added to the "See also" field of issues so that other developers and Mozilla product managers may become aware that a feature is actually useful for people, especially when the Bugzilla issue in question is a discussion where you've said that you aren't sure if you should add an option back to Firefox.

Please remove the "advocacy" tag from my comment, add that link to the "See also" field of this issue, and also add this other link: https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/128-0-unified-history-simpler-but-worse/td-p/61902 .

Comment 13

[Dan Mehic]

We're aware and appreciative of all the feedback.

Comment 14

[Harshit Sohaney [:hsohaney]]

Attachment: Bug 1888466 - (Part 1) Unmerge form data from the history and downloads pref. r?pbz"

Comment 15

[Harshit Sohaney [:hsohaney]]

Attachment: Bug 1888466 - (part 2) Add a seperate formdata field and preference in the new clear history dialog. r?pbz

Comment 16

[Harshit Sohaney [:hsohaney]]

Attachment: Bug 1888466 - (part 3) Update clear history dialog tests to reflect browsing history and formdata seperation. r?pbz

Comment 17

[Harshit Sohaney [:hsohaney]]

Attachment: WIP: Bug 1888466 - (part 5) Update policies to split formdata from history. WIP

Comment 18

[Harshit Sohaney [:hsohaney]]

Attachment: Bug 1888466 - (part 4) Fix the browser_sanitize-formhistory test to test using the relevant cleaners. r?pbz