260365 - Minor usability issue with Tools/Options/Web Features

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox :: Settings UI, defect)

Description

[andrew.ferrier]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; rv:1.7.3) Gecko/20040911 Firefox/0.10
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; rv:1.7.3) Gecko/20040911 Firefox/0.10

In 0.10PR, the dialog in Tools/Options/Web Features, there are two tick boxes
at the top of the dialog:

Block Popup Windows
Allow web sites to install software

The defaults for these are great, as are the whitelisting of allowed sites
for both. However, logically, I think the description (and therefore value)
of one of these should be inverted. Currently ticking one implies a blocking
action (don't display popup windows unless in whitelist) whereas ticking the
other implies a positive action (allow web sites to install software as long
as in whitelist). If one were inverted, these would end up as:

Block Popup Windows (if not in whitelist)
Block Websites from Installing Software (if not in whitelist)

or

Allow Popup Windows (if in whitelist)
Allow Websites to Install Software (if in whitelist)

I think this would allow the same configurations as currently available,
but would be less confusing as it is more consistent. This doesn't mean the
effective default setup has to change, of course (nor should it) - as long as
the correct boxes are ticked or unticked by default that should be OK.

This is only based on my own usage of the software, not on any in-depth study,
obviously.

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:

Comment 1

[Mike Beltzner [:beltzner, not reading bugmail]]

The term "whitelist" is not very common, and would likely confuse most of the
users we're targeting here. From the layman's perspective, we're talking about
blocking popups and software installs so that they don't happen without explicit
permission (note: bug 248486 comment 2 which overlaps with this one
ever-so-slightly makes a good point about how we should explicitly detail what
we mean by "software").

I agree that checkboxes should always be used so that they express positive
actions (ie: a checkbox should never say "[ ] Turn something off"). My suggested
alternative:

[ ] Block popup windows                             [ Exceptions ...]
[ ] Block installation of extensions and themes     [ Exceptions ...]

This would be more or less consistent with the Cookies dialog (which, I suppose
for consistency's sake, should be reworded too ... if this gets accepted, I'll
open a new bug for that)

I should also note that this changes the functionality here a little bit, such
that if someone were to uncheck the box, it would be like adding *.* to the
whitelist. If you want to always block installation, simply never add something
to the exception list. This is also mentioned in bug 248486 comment 12, but I
think it might deserve its own bug for discussion.

Comment 2

[andrew.ferrier]

Sorry, the bits I'd put it brackets were meant as explanation, not as something
that would end up on the screen, so the user wouldn't be seeing 'whitelist'. But
I entirely agree, Mike, your proposal is clearer, and makes a lot of sense. I
think it would be good to see this happen.

Comment 3

[andrew.ferrier]

I have seen more than one other person encounter this usability issue. I am
starting to consider this as actually a bug, and not merely an enhancement issue.

Comment 4

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This is an automated message, with ID "auto-resolve01".

This bug has had no comments for a long time. Statistically, we have found that
bug reports that have not been confirmed by a second user after three months are
highly unlikely to be the source of a fix to the code.

While your input is very important to us, our resources are limited and so we
are asking for your help in focussing our efforts. If you can still reproduce
this problem in the latest version of the product (see below for how to obtain a
copy) or, for feature requests, if it's not present in the latest version and
you still believe we should implement it, please visit the URL of this bug
(given at the top of this mail) and add a comment to that effect, giving more
reproduction information if you have it.

If it is not a problem any longer, you need take no action. If this bug is not
changed in any way in the next two weeks, it will be automatically resolved.
Thank you for your help in this matter.

The latest beta releases can be obtained from:
Firefox:     http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/
Thunderbird: http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/releases/1.5beta1.html
Seamonkey:   http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/

Comment 5

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This bug has been automatically resolved after a period of inactivity (see above
comment). If anyone thinks this is incorrect, they should feel free to reopen it.

Comment 6

[andrew.ferrier]

This bug still applies (and it looks like it applies to the 'Content' panel in
the Options dialog for 1.5beta too).

Comment 7

[Mike Connor [:mconnor]]

sorry for bugspam, long-overdue mass reassign of ancient QA contact bugs,
filter on "beltznerLovesGoats" to get rid of this mass change

Comment 8

[Carsten Book [:Tomcat]]

no change in this bug since 2005 - marking as wfm since the option is also now called block pop-up windows as suggested in comment #1