655700 - Console should visually obsolete output from previous contexts

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(DevTools :: Console, enhancement, P3)

Description

[Cedric Vivier [:cedricv]]

It is confusing currently that the console output persists despite the page/context has been reloaded.

Eg.
[20:36:03.693] x = 1
[20:36:03.698] 1
-- reloaded the page
[20:36:37.553] ReferenceError: x is not defined
[20:36:37.546] x


The lines before I reloaded the page should be grayed out to make clear they belong to a previous context that is not valid anymore.
Maybe it would be nice to also have a separator line appended as well.

Comment 1

[Cedric Vivier [:cedricv]]

Above example should read 
[20:36:37.546] x
[20:36:37.553] ReferenceError: x is not defined

Weird that my clipboard somehow inverted the lines.

Comment 2

[Rob Campbell [:rc] (:robcee)]

not sure why you uncomfirmed this.

Comment 3

[Cedric Vivier [:cedricv]]

It was not intended. I guess because I clicked the wrong "edit" link when I edited the title.

Thanks for making things right!

Comment 4

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

(In reply to comment #1)
> Weird that my clipboard somehow inverted the lines.

sounds like bug 626484 :)

Comment 5

[Kevin Dangoor]

Actually, there *is* a separation, and saving this data between requests is a feature, IMHO. But, you're likely correct that the separation is too small.

Comment 6

[Panos Astithas (he/him) [:past] (please ni?)]

A very useful feature I might add. It's like Firebug's "persist" button that excites every web developer I've ever shown it to.

Comment 7

[Cedric Vivier [:cedricv]]

Attachment: Current separator (if any? :D)

Hmm, maybe I'm missing a patch because I really do not notice any separation? (screenshot attached)

I do not question the feature of persisting data between contexts. I agree this is a very cool feature, that I also happen to use on Firebug ;)

However it would be nice to make a bit easier to navigate imho, by having a clear visual distinction between 'current data' and 'past data', especially when scrolling is involved.
The same issue happens on Firebug actually, it happens sometimes (at least to me and some people I worked with :p) that you are analyzing the logs of the page currently loaded... realizing only some time later that you are looking to 'obsolete' data (from previous context) because you scrolled a bit too far in the past mistakenly (and then "bad words" happen :D ).

To clarify I'm not sure 'just' a separator line is enough as it would not solve the issue with scrolling, imho it should be a bit more useful, like a slightly different background (mockup attached).

Comment 8

[Cedric Vivier [:cedricv]]

Attachment: Mockup for visually obsoleting previous contexts

Comment 9

[Cedric Vivier [:cedricv]]

Attachment: Mockup B (timestamps for active context are bold + bg)

Comment 10

[Cedric Vivier [:cedricv]]

Attachment: Mockup C (timestamps for active context bold, separator line)

Comment 11

[Kevin Dangoor]

Attachment: Current Mac appearance

Attaching a screenshot from Firefox 4.0.1 on the Mac. Perhaps this is just a linux bug?

Comment 12

[Kevin Dangoor]

I rather like that the current implementation is subtle. Adding "uiwanted" for feedback from the ux team.

Comment 13

[Cedric Vivier [:cedricv]]

Attachment: Mockup D (current separator style + font-weight on timestamp)

Oh, looks like a linux bug indeed.

Attached more subtle mockup D, that still allows one to realize he/she is looking at 'previous context data' (when scrolled up too far) through the timestamp font-weight only.

Comment 14

[Kevin Dangoor]

Nice. Thanks for the mockups. Let's see what the ux folks think.

Comment 15

[Alex Limi (:limi) — Firefox UX Team]

Separator + gray out the previous text makes sense to me. I wouldn't go too far on any other graphics (backgrounds etc), it should be subtle.

Comment 17

[Paul Rouget [:paul]]

We need something that would work with the future dark theme: bug 704110

Comment 19

[Paul Rouget [:paul]]

From Ian Bicking (:ianb), bug 755528 comment 0:
> Each time a new page is loaded (e.g., through navigation or reload) the
> console should visually group messages so they are clearly associated with
> the page.  This could also make reload boundaries clearer.
> 
> Ideally navigation would also be easily bounded to these page changes,
> particularly looking at the messages that started *when the current page was
> loaded*, distinct from previous messages.  This is one of the primary
> reasons to scroll back through the console, but if you don't carefully clear
> the console at the right times this simple action is nearly impossible to
> do, as old messages intermingle with new ones.
> 
> One can imagine messages from past pages being folded, still available but
> visually distinct.

Comment 20

[Biju]

One question. 
If the page being shown have contents with IFRAME and user action is only refreshing the contents of the IFRAME what will be the expected behavior? 

An additional suggestion, please put a collapse/uncollapse button once for every web page request, that will collapse/uncollapse all the lines comes under a webpage request including the request of the css, js, img (frame/iframe ?) on it.

Comment 21

[Mihai Sucan [:msucan]]

(In reply to Biju from comment #20)
> One question. 
> If the page being shown have contents with IFRAME and user action is only
> refreshing the contents of the IFRAME what will be the expected behavior? 

Iframe navigation is not taken in consideration here. Only top window navigation will be considered as a previous context.

> An additional suggestion, please put a collapse/uncollapse button once for
> every web page request, that will collapse/uncollapse all the lines comes
> under a webpage request including the request of the css, js, img
> (frame/iframe ?) on it.

This has already been discussed as a possibility. We will need to decide about the best way to do things here.

Comment 22

[Mihai Sucan [:msucan]]

We clear output on page reload/navigation. If persistent logs are enabled we add a marker to separate between the messages from the previous context and the new messages.

We can mark this as WONTFIX. If someone disagrees, please reopen.

Comment 23

[Girish Sharma [:Optimizer]]

(In reply to Mihai Sucan [:msucan] from comment #22)
> We clear output on page reload/navigation. If persistent logs are enabled we
> add a marker to separate between the messages from the previous context and
> the new messages.
> 
> We can mark this as WONTFIX. If someone disagrees, please reopen.

Not if Net filter is disabled !.

Comment 24

[Mihai Sucan [:msucan]]

(In reply to Girish Sharma [:Optimizer] from comment #23)
> Not if Net filter is disabled !.

We should fix that bug then. Can you please open a bug about it?

Please do not reopen unless you have better reasons.

Comment 25

[Girish Sharma [:Optimizer]]

filed bug 987920