784254 - After bug 747186, display a nice message rather than a blank box when click-to-play is true but blocked on the current site

Status: NEW

(SeaMonkey :: UI Design, enhancement)

Description

[Tony Mechelynck [:tonymec]]

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:17.0) Gecko/17.0 Firefox/17.0 SeaMonkey/2.14a1 ID:20120820003006 c-c:8e502ee509af m-c:c676b554c7bb

When plugins.click_to_play is true, the plugin area on sites which are "blocked" (from activating them) by the Data Manager is currently just a featureless white rectangle.

It would be nicer to have something less impersonal instead. Maybe a grey area (of a colour similar to that of the click-to-play placeholder) but with a red X over the Lego block and a message, hm, let's say "Plugin activation is currently disabled for www.example.net".

Warning: For testing this bug, disable or uninstall Adblock Plus, NoScript, Greasemonkey, Request Policy and Redirector unless bug 782644 is FIXED first (see bug 747186 comment #13 item 7) AND RESTART (even if it was only Adblock Plus) (see bug 747186 comment #13 items 8-10 vs. #14 items 12-15 and #15 ,item 16.

Comment 1

[Jens Hatlak (:InvisibleSmiley)]

Tony, I'm not sure I understand this bug. Do you have a test case / STR? Is this Modern only maybe? I thought we display the grey area in all cases where a plugin is not activated? How does FF handle your case?

Comment 2

[Tony Mechelynck [:tonymec]]

(In reply to Jens Hatlak (:InvisibleSmiley) from comment #1)
> Tony, I'm not sure I understand this bug. Do you have a test case / STR? Is
> this Modern only maybe? I thought we display the grey area in all cases
> where a plugin is not activated? How does FF handle your case?

I hadn't thought of checking with Firefox… let's see…

For some reason I seem to be unable to upload attachments to BMO today, in both SeaMonkey and Firefox, so I've uploaded them to my home site.

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:17.0) Gecko/17.0 Firefox/17.0 SeaMonkey/2.14a1 ID:20120820003006 c-c:8e502ee509af m-c:c676b554c7bb
Sm snapshot 1: http://users.skynet.be/antoine.mechelynck/other/userblok.png
Sm snapshot 2: http://users.skynet.be/antoine.mechelynck/other/legoblok.png

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:17.0) Gecko/17.0 Firefox/17.0
http://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/360ab7771e27
Fx snapshot 1: http://users.skynet.be/antoine.mechelynck/other/fxflash1.png
Fx snapshot 2: http://users.skynet.be/antoine.mechelynck/other/fxflash2.png

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Help → Restart with Add-ons Disabled
2. Set plugins.click_to_play to true in about:config.
3. Browse to some page with embedded Flash: I suggest http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD_vLRkybWU which is a Vivaldi concerto.
4. Tools → Data Manager
5. Search domain "youtube.com" → Permissions
6. Add → www.youtube.com → Activate Plugins → Add
7. Uncheck "Use Default" → Block
8. Go to the tab loaded at step 3.
9. Click the Reload button (don't hit Ctrl+R or Ctrl+Shift+R, it might get passed to Flash instead of to SeaMonkey)
==> The embedded Flash area is featureless. (Snapshot 1, "bad")
10. Go to the Data Manager tab. Check "Use Default" for "Activate Plugins" for the "www.youtube.com" domain.
11. Go to the YouTube page. Click the Reload button.
==> The embedded Flash area is grey with a Lego block and a click-to-play message. (Snapshot 2, "good")

IOW I see it in both Firefox and SeaMonkey, and regardless of the theme in use.

The behaviour observed may be intentional (if Flash is disabled, fall back to the HTML page's background, if any, for that part of the page). I'd still like it better with some kind of "Plugins disabled" message.

Comment 3

[Tony Mechelynck [:tonymec]]

P.S. Of course, in Firefox there is no Data Manager and the permissions are set via the Page Information dialog (Ctrl+I).