Closed Bug 200729 Opened 22 years ago Closed 20 years ago

Improve web features option window

Categories

(Firefox :: Settings UI, enhancement)

Product:
Firefox
Component:
Settings UI
Type:
enhancement
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
normal

Tracking

()

Status:
RESOLVED INVALID

People

(Reporter: andrea.m, Assigned: bugzilla)

Details

User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.1) Gecko/20030312 Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.4a) Gecko/20030403 Phoenix/0.5 The web features window in option does not look very professional. In particular, there is an asymmetry between block popup (the list of sites has a big text input box) and images (exceptions sites visible only when "permissions" is clicked. The button text should be reworked. My suggestion: remove checkboxes and replace them with radio buttoas, eliminate the popup exceptions input box and make it accessible through a button with button text "specify exceptions" (or "manage exceptions") Same thing with images. Something like this: o Block |--------------------| Popup windows | Specify exceptions | o Allow |--------------------| o Block |--------------------| Image loading | Specify exceptions | o Allow |--------------------| You may want to go as far as replacing the button text with "except for sites listed here" Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce:
I should also say: the "enable java" "enable javascript" are totally misterious (I got more information clicking on "advanced". Also there should be a white/black list here too, why not?
it's different because the functionality is different - image blocking is blacklist only (or no loading at all), popup blocking is whitelist (or allowing all popups), and java and javascript have no means of making exceptions. to improve the interface, the functionality would need to be enhanced, so this is an enhancement request. confirming as such.
Severity: trivial → enhancement
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Ever confirmed: true
Depends on: 201213
Depends on: 201214
No longer depends on: 201214
No longer depends on: 201213
I agree, that the current web features option window is not the best thing in terms of usability, but I would not go so far as Andrea suggested and rework it from the ground up, but instead stay with the checkboxes. The huge input box for managing popup windows should be put behind a button, just as it is done with image management. Then we could use the saved space for a "Scrolling" section with the autoscroll and smoothscroll prefs. Both are classic "some people hate it and some people love it" features just as Automatic Image Resizing, which should be included in the image section. Then we'd have a cleaner and more functional UI and everyone would be happier. Here's how it would look with my proposal: _ ______________________ |_| Block Popup Windows | Manage Popup Windows | |______________________| -------------------------------------------------------------------------- _ |_| Enable autoscrolling _ |_| Enable smoothscrolling -------------------------------------------------------------------------- _ |_| Enable Java _ _____________ |_| Enable Javascript | Advanced... | |_____________| -------------------------------------------------------------------------- _ ________________ |_| Load Images | Permissions... | _ |________________| |_| for the originating web site only _ |_| Enable Auztomatic Image Resizing --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Comments?
Looks familiar... :) My patch to bug 203098 might be a good place to start, if you haven't already: http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/attachment.cgi?id=123787&action=view Let's hope that by cleaning up the UI at the same time we can convince the PtB to put these things in...
I like comment 3 except autoscrolling/smoothscrolling sounded funny to me. should be autoscroll/smoothscroll
While this is a good start, I don't know that autoscroll/smoothscroll need an exposed pref over other items like Download Sidebar vs. progress dialogs. What really needs to happen is twofold: a) find out what ben is doing with the coming Helper Apps UI blake mentioned b) look at ALL the pref UI features that are being requested/demanded and prioritize them for inclusion in the prefs dialog. Scrolling options are low-priority to me, as the majority of users will expect autoscroll if they're switching from IE (does IE even let you disable it other than in mouse drivers?). Once there is a pref, those who really dislike it will have a method to disable it, but the screen real estate is limited and should be reserved for the most common/needed prefs. Having UI to turn on a feature (smoothscroll) that's disabled by default and still considered buggy is wasteful IMO. FYI, b) will be done by tomorrow
Well how does one define common/needed prefs? When I create a new profile I typically change a bunch of things to begin with and then never change them again. About the only things I change are in Extensions and occasionally proxy info in Connection Settings, as well as Cache clearing from time-to-time. I suspect the same is true of many others as well, so on that basis we only need a UI with Themes, Extensions, Cache and Connection Settings... Smoothscroll is supposed to be on by default; it's off right now because it is buggy, but once it is fixed it'll be back on. For the sake of the ~50% of people who hate this feature - even when it works - we should include an easy way to turn it off. Downloading should be handled in the General Pane - it isn't a "Web Feature" like anything that is there or the scrolling prefs. As to the task-at-hand, I would tend to use "Resize Images automatically" rather than "Enable Automatic Image Resizing". We've got enough "Enable"s on that pane already. We could also use "Employ Smooth Scrolling" and "Enable Autoscroll" to shake things up a bit.
>While this is a good start, I don't know that autoscroll/smoothscroll need an >exposed pref over other items like Download Sidebar vs. progress dialogs. That's debatable for sure and is purely based on subjective reasons. >What really needs to happen is twofold: > >a) find out what ben is doing with the coming Helper Apps UI blake mentioned When and where did Blake mention that? >b) look at ALL the pref UI features that are being requested/demanded and > prioritize them for inclusion in the prefs dialog. Hide tab bar, autoscrolling, smoothscrolling and especially helper apps are the most widely requested things AFAICS. >Scrolling options are low-priority to me, as the majority of users will expect >autoscroll if they're switching from IE. We shouldn't focus too much on IE. Surely a growing portion of firebird users will come switch from IE, but in the coming months the biggest group to switch are former seamonkey navigator users and those will be irritated by this. >Once there is a pref, those who really dislike it will have a method to disable >it, but the screen real estate is limited and should be reserved for the most >common/needed prefs. Because window space is limited, where are proposing the outsourcing of the popup whitelisting input box into an additional button as described and outlined by me. >Having UI to turn on a feature (smoothscroll) that's disabled by default and >still considered buggy is wasteful IMO. Sure, but once smoothscrolling is stable enough, we should think about UI inclusion.
I really like comment #3 's suggestion... It has everything anyone would want to toggle
I would like to disable image resizing,load images for origniating web site only and no pref for smoothscroll until it doesn't suck
taking QA contact, sorry about the bugspam
QA Contact: asa → mconnor
It would make more sense (to me) to put the scrolling preferences in the General options right below the Window and Tabs preference. If it really needs to be in the Web Features section, so does Windows and Tabs. They are conceptually similar (affect how user interacts with browser). I think that Web Features should be restricted to the concept of how the web interacts with the browser, thus my recommendation for the General group.
Ok, I think we can resolve this. Blake just checked some stuff in, bringing back UI preferences for smoothscrolling, automatic image resizing, hiding the tab bar when only one tab is open, loading links in the background. All this stuff went into an advanced panel.
True, but the pop-ups whitelist is still bad UI and ought to be in a button-launched manager type thing.
With such a formulation ("improve web features option window") you will never close this RFE :-) But it's not my fault so here you go: make sure to offer a list of checkboxes allowing to enable disable installed plug-ins (Flash, Real, etc.) instead of just Java.
"With such a formulation ("improve web features option window") you will never close this RFE :-)" Well, you'll never close it as fixed, anyway. Resolving INVALID - the prefs have changed significantly since this was filed, and they are about to change completely again. If issues remain, file a new bug based on the new options when they get checked in.
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 20 years ago
Resolution: --- → INVALID
sorry for bugspam, long-overdue mass reassign of ancient QA contact bugs, filter on "beltznerLovesGoats" to get rid of this mass change
QA Contact: mconnor → preferences
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