Open Bug 479922 Opened 15 years ago Updated 2 years ago

[meta] Network error pages should give me tools instead of asking me questions

Categories

(Core :: DOM: Navigation, enhancement)

enhancement

Tracking

()

People

(Reporter: jruderman, Unassigned)

References

(Depends on 9 open bugs)

Details

(Keywords: meta, ux-error-recovery)

Firefox's network error pages ask me a bunch of questions that Firefox could answer more easily than me.

For example, here are the four questions Firefox asks me when I point it toward http://example.example.com/, and ideas for what Firefox could do instead of asking me questions:

1. Did you make a mistake when typing the domain? (e.g. "ww.mozilla.org" instead of "www.mozilla.org")
--> If it's definitely a typo (e.g. www.mozilla..com), fix it for me (bug 175634).
--> If it's probably a typo (e.g. ww.mozilla.com), give me a prominent link with the typo corrected.
--> Offer to search Google for the hostname.  The user might have been trying to search to begin with (bug 273155), or Google might be able to correct a subtle typo (e.g. http://www.google.com/search?q=fivethirtyeigth.com).

2. Are you certain this domain address exists?  Its registration may have expired.
--> Offer to search Google for the page's supposed title, if I got here by clicking a bookmark.
--> Offer to take me to the corresponding archive.org page (bug 196227).
--> Offer to take me to the corresponding Google Cache page (bug 195164).
--> Tell me if the domain appears to be registered or not (bug 399129?).

3. Are you unable to browse other sites?  Check your network connection and DNS server settings.
--> Indicate the type of DNS failure: "can't find a local DNS server" is clearly a local issue while an authoritative "no such hostname" response is probably a site issue.  (Requires bug 196076)
--> Give me a button that kicks off a few DNS lookups and tells me whether DNS is working.
--> Give me some links to other sites, or a button that tries to load www.mozilla.com and reports the result.
--> Give me a button to open my OS network settings.

4. Is your computer or network protected by a firewall or proxy?  Incorrect settings can interfere with Web browsing.
--> Give me a button to open Firefox's proxy settings.
--> If I'm running a software firewall that Firefox recognizes, give me a button to open its settings.  (cf bug 308982)
Depends on: 308982
Depends on: 482874
Depends on: 484215
In addition to adding buttons to the proxy page (which is bug 484215, already a blocker), it would also be useful to add information to the error page about the proxy server (bug 380526).
Just wanted to mention that a Labs experiment, bug 552992, is related to this, as it involves prototyping Firefox-Herdict integration. Not adding it as a blocker, though, since it's a Labs experiment (addon) and not a change to product.
Depends on: 561916
Moving this to Core:Document Navigation since it is a UI-level feature and Necko doesn't or shouldn't do UI. AFAICT, the error pages are part of DocShell and definitely not part of Necko.
Component: Networking → Document Navigation
QA Contact: networking → docshell
Depends on: 802983
Depends on: 631853
Summary: Network error pages should give me tools instead of asking me questions → [meta] Network error pages should give me tools instead of asking me questions
Severity: normal → S3
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