2038194 - Make it more visible in browser UI that geolocation is being accessed

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Firefox :: Site Permissions, enhancement, P3)

Description

[Emma Zühlcke [:emz]]

When a website accesses geolocation via previously granted permission we should highlight that better. This would help with cases like Bug 2036733. Since Bug 630614 we show an indicator when geolocation is in use, including when it was last accessed (via the permission panel). We should consider making that indicator red and flashing similar what we do for camera / screen / microphone permissions.

Comment 1

[Benjamin VanderSloot [:bvandersloot]]

Attachment: Bug 2038194 - Make it more visible in browser UI that geolocation is being accessed - r=emz!,saschanaz!,#urlbar!

Show the site permission box on SERPs with persisted search terms, where
the identity-box would otherwise be hidden by the invalid pageproxystate.
The lock/globe icon stays hidden and the permission box's own cascade
decides when it appears. Also wobble and tint geo/serial/webrtc sharing
icons while a capture is active.

Comment 2

[Benjamin VanderSloot [:bvandersloot]]

Attachment: old.png

Comment 3

[Benjamin VanderSloot [:bvandersloot]]

Attachment: new-granted-inactive.png

Comment 4

[Benjamin VanderSloot [:bvandersloot]]

Attachment: new-granted-active.png

Comment 5

[Emma Zühlcke [:emz]]

hmm it's adding quite a bit of padding. I wonder if we should decrease that.

Comment 6

[Benjamin VanderSloot [:bvandersloot]]

That would be because of https://searchfox.org/firefox-main/rev/22adc0417a3dbf478c7af00d45daa311e2efdf8b/browser/themes/shared/urlbar-searchbar.css#67-74. We can probably override that for this case.

Comment 7

[Dale Harvey (:daleharvey)]

https://phabricator.services.mozilla.com/D296287 should address the margin / padding issues

Comment 8

[Benjamin VanderSloot [:bvandersloot]]

I think I also found a way to fix it and worked in the patch. Happy to try to manage merge conflicts and figure out the best CSS that does both of these.

Dale: what you think of the color change and persistence of the permission item into SERP?

Comment 9

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/bc43d32bfb5a
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/109e6bcf66b9
Make it more visible in browser UI that geolocation has been accessed - r=emz,saschanaz,urlbar-reviewers,desktop-theme-reviewers,daleharvey,hjones

Comment 10

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/23cdb0f6f6b5
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/a96c25e743c4
Revert "Bug 2038194 - Make it more visible in browser UI that geolocation has been accessed - r=emz,saschanaz,urlbar-reviewers,desktop-theme-reviewers,daleharvey,hjones" for causing failures at browser_searchTerms_revert_keyboard.js.

Comment 11

[Atila Butkovits]

Backed out for causing failures at browser_searchTerms_revert_keyboard.js.

Backout link: https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/a96c25e743c4

Push with failures: https://treeherder.mozilla.org/jobs?repo=autoland&resultStatus=testfailed%2Cbusted%2Cexception&classifiedState=unclassified&revision=109e6bcf66b942623b114dc4ff74490f297355c2&selectedTaskRun=SXfKsdyjTRGMmvMJ-gvo7Q.0

Failure log: https://treeherder.mozilla.org/logviewer?job_id=569065854&repo=autoland&task=SXfKsdyjTRGMmvMJ-gvo7Q.0&lineNumber=52931

Comment 12

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/797d2cca9ac6
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/f80c897e9689
Make it more visible in browser UI that geolocation is being accessed - r=emz,saschanaz,urlbar-reviewers,desktop-theme-reviewers,daleharvey,hjones

Comment 13

[Serban Stanca [:SerbanS]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/f80c897e9689

Comment 14

[Manuel Bucher [:manuel]]

I think this would be good to include in release notes. @ben do you mind adding release-notes request?

Comment 15

[Benjamin VanderSloot [:bvandersloot]]

Release Note Request (optional, but appreciated)
[Why is this notable]: Commonly visible UI will change.
[Affects Firefox for Android]: No
[Suggested wording]: Permissions are now visible when the search mode switcher is visible; geolocation permission indicator now turns red when the Geolocation API is used.
[Links (documentation, blog post, etc)]: n/a

Comment 16

[Pascal Chevrel (relman team) -> :pascalc]

Note added to our 153 nightly release notes in the New section with this wording:

The location permission icon in the address bar now turns red while a website is actively accessing your location, making it easier to notice when your location is being shared.

I reworked the suggested wording to be more user-focused. I also added a screenshot of the address bar with the red icon.

I am keeping the relnote-firefox? flag set until we include this note in our final 153 release notes, thanks.

Comment 17

[Emma Zühlcke [:emz]]

(In reply to Pascal Chevrel (relman team) -> :pascalc from comment #16)

Note added to our 153 nightly release notes in the New section with this wording:

The location permission icon in the address bar now turns red while a website is actively accessing your location, making it easier to notice when your location is being shared.

I reworked the suggested wording to be more user-focused. I also added a screenshot of the address bar with the red icon.

I am keeping the relnote-firefox? flag set until we include this note in our final 153 release notes, thanks.

This description only covers one aspect of the change. The other part that isn’t mentioned is that we show permissions for SERP pages now. The main motivation was the permission reuse between Google maps and search.

Comment 18

[Pascal Chevrel (relman team) -> :pascalc]

How about:

Firefox now highlights the location permission icon in red while a website is actively reading your location. The permission icon is also now visible on search results pages where it was previously hidden.

Comment 19

[Emma Zühlcke [:emz]]

(In reply to Pascal Chevrel (relman team) -> :pascalc from comment #18)

How about:

Firefox now highlights the location permission icon in red while a website is actively reading your location. The permission icon is also now visible on search results pages where it was previously hidden.

I like it! We also show other permission icons on SERP now, but maybe that’s not as important to point out.

Comment 20

[Nicolas Chevobbe [:nchevobbe]]

Benjamin, if I'm reading the code correctly, the icon will change its color depending on the state? (not sure because in the screenshots you posted, we only see the geolocation icon in red and not in another color)
If that's the case, we might consider switching to a different icon (or adding a small "badge" to it) to improve accessibility (we shouldn't convey a state change only by changing the color , see https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/use-of-color.html )

Comment 21

[Benjamin VanderSloot [:bvandersloot]]

That's correct. I agree that it's an accessibility bug. Unfortunately it applies to all permission indicators that have a sharing state (e.g. webRTC). I'll file another bug here.

Comment 22

[Benjamin VanderSloot [:bvandersloot]]

I've filed Bug 2045700.

Comment 23

[Pascal Chevrel (relman team) -> :pascalc]

I am keeping the relnote-firefox? flag set until we include this note in our final 153 release notes, thanks.

(Change of internal process)

Comment 24

[Kagami Rosylight 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ [:saschanaz] (they/them)]

(In reply to Pascal Chevrel (relman team) -> :pascalc from comment #18)

How about:

Firefox now highlights the location permission icon in red while a website is actively reading your location. The permission icon is also now visible on search results pages where it was previously hidden.

"actively reading your location" is wrong, once the page gets the location it stays red.

Comment 25

[Kagami Rosylight 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ [:saschanaz] (they/them)]

The commit message jumped back and forth somehow?

Comment 26

[Pascal Chevrel (relman team) -> :pascalc]

(In reply to Kagami Rosylight [:saschanaz] (they/them) from comment #24)

"actively reading your location" is wrong, once the page gets the location it stays red.

Or let's change to:

Firefox now highlights the location permission icon in red whenever a website has access to your location. The permission icon is also now visible on search results pages where it was previously hidden.

Comment 27

[Kagami Rosylight 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ [:saschanaz] (they/them)]

That sounds better 👍🏻