344634 - Allow to clear single items from the Clear Recent History dialog via per-item "Clear Now" buttons

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Firefox :: General, enhancement)

Description

[Simon Bünzli]

... by adding "Clear ... Now" (or similar) buttons after all items. This nicely allows to drop these buttons from the reorganized pref window (as done in bug 340677) but still prevents unnecessary clicks, i.e. you don't have to uncheck all items if you e.g. only want to clear the cache.

Comment 1

[Lu-Tze]

I think this is a very good idea but there will still be a problem if "Ask me before..." is not checked.

Comment 2

[Simon Bünzli]

(In reply to comment #1)
> I think this is a very good idea but there will still be a problem if "Ask me
> before..." is not checked.

People who uncheck this should still be able to clear single items from Tools > Options > Privacy > Settings... (or wherever it's located in the new pref window). 

OTOH I'm not sure if there's really a use case for people who want to immediately clear private data (without the IMHO needed dialog for confirmation) and at the same time might want to clear an additional one item.

And even if there is, the proposed solution would still improve the current state introduced with bug 340677 (see bug 343773):
* if you have the option checked, clearing an individual item is as simple as Ctrl+Shift+Del -> Clear [...] Now -> Cancel (which should rather read Close)
* otherwise it's Tools > Options > Privacy > Settings... > Clear [...] Now > Cancel > Cancel

Mike: Any chance you'd approve an IE7 like UI for this one?

Comment 3

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

We're not going to block Firefox2 on this piece, although fwiw, I agree that it's something we should do in this dialog!

Comment 4

[Simon Howes]

I thought of this the other day  as well.  Gets my vote.

Comment 5

[Simon Bünzli]

Attachment: suggestion (screenshot)

One suggestion which could also be implemented after l10n freezing:
* append a "Clear Now" button after every checkbox (the groupbox ensures that those buttons aren't aligned with the "Close" button at the bottom)
* always display that dialog when clicking "Clear Now..." in the Options dialog (i.e. don't change to "Clear Now" when the "Ask me [...]" pref is unchecked)

The second change has the side effect that people won't have to notice the subtle ellipsis change. It introduces one additional click at the advantage that those people can also always choose between clearing individual items or the usual range of items.

The "Clear Now" row does seem somewhat massive already, for that reason I wouldn't use "Clear [Browing History] Now" instead (which also introduces even more redundancy - the many "Now"s are already hitting the limit of what's tolerable).

Comment 6

[Rick Stockton]

I strongly agree that this would be a GREAT, IMPORTANT enhancement... much better than spending our time copying tab-mix-plus.

I wonder, could we create the UI more easily via a "Tools" menu item? In my current 2.0 Build, I've got a "Cookie Editor" which is very analogous to the kind of "Edit Saved Forms and Passwords" which we're looking to do.

Is "Cookie Editor" standard UI? If so, then I think "Edit Saved Forms and Passwords" belongs in "Tools".

Comment 7

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

*** Bug 356194 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 8

[Eugenia Loli]

ok, I  found where the "clear history" option is now, I could not find it anywhere as I explained on Bug #356194. It's on the "clear private data" dialog. Problem is, there is a discoverability issue there. I would not dare to click that button in fear that it would clear out my cookies and forms.

I talked to a friend of mine who couldn't find the "clear history" button either, and he had EXACTLY the same problem like I did. Our conversation:

eugenialoli: it's under "clear private data"
 Thom: doesnt clear private data destroy my pwds and such?
eugenialoli: that's what I thought
eugenialoli: but instead of doing that, it actually opens a dialog
eugenialoli: and then you confirm
eugenialoli: discoverability issue
 Thom: there needs to be an option in the history menu
eugenialoli: yeah
 Thom: the menus CALLED history for gods sake
eugenialoli: :D
 Thom: history != private data

As you can see, you have a discoverability/usability issue there, at least with older users.

Comment 9

[Eugenia Loli]

I think part of the problem is the fact that the button is actually called "Clear Now...". This "now" creates an urgency, that something will happen immediately. As a user, it makes me scared to press it. I think it's part of the discoverability problem.

Comment 10

[Jo Hermans]

Eugenia: The ellipis (...) is a standard convention, that indicates that there will be a dialog first, that the action is not immediate. I agree that not everyone knows this, but if even Apple uses it ... Even extremely dangerous actions like 'Initialize Disk...' are labeled this way.

Comment 11

[Eugenia Loli]

The thing is that I didn't even think to look there originally, because in the past and on other browsers "History" is just not grouped there. And the "Now" word did not make things easier.

Comment 12

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

Comment on attachment 232920 [details]
suggestion (screenshot)

This is on the right path, but looking at the mockup, it's really hard to understand what the checkboxes do, since the "Clear Now" buttons are so obvious.

If we add "Clear Now" buttons down the right hand side, I think we'll probably want to:

 - move the "Clear Private Data Now" button into the group box

 - change the "Clear Private Data Now" button to be "Clear Selected Now"

 - only close the dialog when the user clicks "Close"

 - grey out items as soon as they are cleared

Comment 13

[Lu-Tze]

The mockup looks beautiful.  Two suggestions. (Not to add further to the previous "now" discussion.
1. The "Clear Now" column could be just "Clear" (Since Now is kinda obvious at this point.
2. "Clear Private Data Now" button can be simplified to "Clear All" or "Clear Everything".

Comment 14

[Graeme McCutcheon [:graememcc]]

Attachment: Prototype patch (Version A)

This patch implements the mockup in comment# 5, with changes made as per comment# 12. 

Ideally, after performing any type of "clear" action (either using the individual buttons, or the Clear Selected Items Now button) the checkboxes and buttons should be enabled as per the result of the Sanitizer's canClear function for that item. However:

- Authenticated sessions and cache will always report that they can be cleared, as the interfaces for these items do not currently provide any way to examine whether they contain any information

- Cookies have been set to always report they can be cleared because of bug 352704

- Browsing history will always report it can be cleared because of bug 347231

With these constraints in mind, this patch disables the checkbox and "Clear Now" button for the relevant item to provide the user with feedback of a successful operation, except for the browsing history and cookies cases, where these checkboxes must remain available.

Comment 15

[Graeme McCutcheon [:graememcc]]

Attachment: Prototype patch (Version B)

This alternate patch disables only the "clear now" button, and not the preference checkbox. This still allows for user feedback whilst avoiding the problems with browsing history and cookies.

Comment 16

[AndrewM]

Version should be changed to Trunk :)

Comment 17

[(mostly gone) XtC4UaLL [:xtc4uall]]

i guess this is expired/wontfix now because of the work done to that dialog in the 3.5 cycle, no?

Comment 18

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

Yup, this is now INVALID as we've changed the clear private data design.