784010 - history sidebar should at least optionally show hidden places

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Toolkit :: Places, defect)

Description

[al_9x]

https://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.dev.apps.firefox/browse_thread/thread/4f07fe7f580fa841

Why should there be history entries that a user can't see and delete if need be?

Comment 1

[Martijn Wargers (dead)]

See bug 97470.

Comment 2

[Marco Bonardo [:mak] (Away Apr 25 - May 5)]

That's cause Places manages many pages, presenting all the pages to the user without any sort of "usefulness" filtering is not really useful, the sidebar is a mess as it is already. If and when we will design a new history search interface, this may be evaluated, though for now this is likely wontfix cause those pages have a really low value.

Comment 3

[al_9x]

There has to be at least a possibility that lets one see everything, otherwise the user is not in control of their own history.  What happened to your "putting you in control" standard?

What is the objection to a hidden pref that ignores the hidden flag when querying for history for the sidebar?  I think this should be trivial, one or a few lines of code?

Comment 4

[Marco Bonardo [:mak] (Away Apr 25 - May 5)]

Vast majority of users won't need that data, adding an option that would benefit just a small percentage of advanced users is useless complication for all the others.  That said, it should be trivial to make an add-on adding the includeHidden=1 option to the sidebar queries, but if nobody did could just be there is no request for it.

Comment 5

[al_9x]

(In reply to Marco Bonardo [:mak] from comment #4)
> Vast majority of users won't need that data,

That's not a valid argument for a browser that intends to put the user in control.  Having history entries that are inaccessible by the user is a clear violation of that principle.  Being able to do more than what the average user might need is the strength (perhaps not for long, if views like yours now hold sway) of Fx.

> adding an option that would
> benefit just a small percentage of advanced users is useless complication
> for all the others.

This is trivial to implement as you acknowledged, and adds 0 complication for those who would not use it.  So the above is a nonsensical excuse and not an argument.  

> That said, it should be trivial to make an add-on
> adding the includeHidden=1 option to the sidebar queries, but if nobody did
> could just be there is no request for it.

I don't think anyone one knows that Fx stores history that can not be viewed or deleted (individually).  I certainly didn't, until I had reason to delete something that affected autofill.  Why don't you proudly advertize this wonderful feature, then we can know if any one wants to be in control of their history.

Comment 6

[Gian-Carlo Pascutto [:gcp]]

>That's not a valid argument for a browser that intends to put the user in 
>control.  Having history entries that are inaccessible by the user is a clear 
>violation of that principle.

Buh, overwhelming the user with data doesn't put them in control, it tends to generate the opposite feeling.

From the logic in the code it seems the idea was to avoid exposing the entries the user didn't consciously visit or would adversely affect back/forth navigation.

I don't see any reason not to put them in the "Show All History" view though. And that already presents a "load of data" to the user, so adding these intermediate entries there is less of an issue. And it's the place where you go to to edit your history (I think?).

Comment 7

[Marco Bonardo [:mak] (Away Apr 25 - May 5)]

we currently show hidden pages when a user performs a search in history, this is to allow proper cleanup of history for privacy reasons.
There's no plan to do further so far.