258751 - usability feedback for consideration

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[chris hofmann]

suggestions regarding wording/default preference settings recieved from a
feedback alias

1.  "Allow Web sites to install software" isn't clear that it isn't
allowing _all_ sites. I would recommend "Allow some Web sites to
install software" with the button "Advanced". At the moment the
"Exceptions" button looks like it is saying that it is a black list
(when the pref is checked) or a white list (when it is not).

2.  "All files downloaded to: [&] Desktop" should look like a link when
you hover over it, not like a button. The button style used is not the
same as other buttons, and it isn't clear it's taking you somewhere. 

3.  The JavaScript prefs should automatically *default* to disabling JS
movement of windows and focussing windows, IMHO. No user actually
wants windows doing that. (Resizing, sure. Moving? Focussing? No.)

4.  There is a pref that says "Move system caret with focus/selection
changes". I've seen the same pref in IE. I had no idea what it means.
It should probably be renamed to "Show system caret when
focus or selection changes (F7)".

5.  There is a pref "use autoscrolling". It is not clear what this does.
Better (on X, at least) would be a radio button:
   (o) Use middle mouse button for panning
   ( ) Use middle mouse button for pasting URIs
Even better would be to remove the pref, always have it on on Windows,
and on X have the middle mouse button check the CLIPBOARD selection,
paste if there is one, and failing that, pan.

6.  I have no idea what "Select new tabs opened from links" means.

7.  The "Bookmarks > Quick Searches > Open in tabs" menu item is a useless and
somewhat confusing feature.

8.  Image resizing should not have a pref. It doesn't need one. It should
just remember the last state.

9.  How to create and use a Web page in a sidebar is not clear at all. I
have seen several users attempt (of their own accord) to use this
feature (which they assume must exist) and have great difficulty.

10.  If I want to add a keyword for a search, I don't want to have to give
a name as well, since I'll never be using the search as a bookmark.
Just use "Keyword search '%s'" as the name, where %s is the keyword.

11.  Shouldn't keyword searches be always in their own folder in bookmarks?
Or at least by default in a folder that only appears in the Manage
Bookmarks window or something?

12.  The monospace font size should default to the same value as the 
proportional font size.

Comment 1

[Peter van der Woude [:Peter6]]

(In reply to comment #0)
> 6.  I have no idea what "Select new tabs opened from links" means.

This issue was brought up in the bug about the new UI (can't find the #) and
there were quite a few who thought like you (I was one of those).
At the end eveything was rejected and the current worthing was kept.
If I remember well "Open links in New Tabs" was proposed and rejected as
alternative.

Comment 2

[Prognathous]

Chris, see Bug 273241 - "Better default prefs through machine learning (add
logging facility to help decide usability issues)". This could help in choosing
the right defaults, but it probably won't do much for fixing the wording.

Prog.

Comment 3

[Bastian Grupe]

(In reply to comment #0)

I think [12.] is particularly annoying. Go to
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/is-null-optimization.html for example.

There are several sites that do not consider Firefox' smaller relative fontsize
for monospace fonts