888292 - De-emphasize plugin icon in the Address Bar when it doesn't need to catch the user's attention

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Firefox :: Address Bar, defect, P3)

Description

[Larissa Co [:lco]]

Based on feedback that the blue click-to-play plugin icon is too visible in the URL bar, we want to show a muted, grey plugin icon for the following cases:

* when there is in-content plugin UI (i.e. if the user has other means of enabling the plugin, besides clicking on the icon in the Address bar)
* if the user has already enabled the plugin (because this conveys that he's made a decision and probably is less likely to want to interact with the icon any further)

Thus, the only cases in which we want to emphasize the plugin icon are the following:
* red when insecure plugins are present (current behavior)
* blue when there is a *hidden* click-to-play plugin present that the user won't see on the page

Comment 1

[Larissa Co [:lco]]

@shorlander, we should discuss whether "color" is the right way to call attention to the hidden plugin-- I'm slightly worried that the user will interpret it as color == plugin enabled, grey == plugin disabled, which is the opposite of the actual behavior. I'm wondering if rather than changing the color of the icon, we create a "spotlight" convention instead (kind of like what happens when a pinned site changes).

Comment 2

[Dão Gottwald [:dao]]

This is going to be 100% front-end code, moving to the Firefox product.

Comment 3

[Larissa Co [:lco]]

After more discussion with bsmedberg, we also want to use the muted version of the icon for ALL cases when the plugin is set to "always activate" or "never activate". For these cases, the user has already made a general decision, and doesn't need to be distracted by the blue icon.  

(We would still like to see an icon in these pages instead of removing it completely to make the user aware that there's non-Web content running on their page)

Comment 4

[Benjamin Smedberg]

Attachment: De-emphasize the plugin icon in the address bar when it doesn't need to catch the user's attention. With this change, the only time the icon will be "alert blue" is when a plugin is click-to-activate and it's too small to show the overlay inline in the pa

Comment 5

[Benjamin Smedberg]

Comment on attachment 773707 [details] [diff] [review]
De-emphasize the plugin icon in the address bar when it doesn't need to catch the user's attention. With this change, the only time the icon will be "alert blue" is when a plugin is click-to-activate and it's too small to show the overlay inline in the pa

argh, somehow this never ended up with a review request

Comment 6

[Jared Wein [:jaws] (please needinfo? me)]

Comment on attachment 773707 [details] [diff] [review]
De-emphasize the plugin icon in the address bar when it doesn't need to catch the user's attention. With this change, the only time the icon will be "alert blue" is when a plugin is click-to-activate and it's too small to show the overlay inline in the pa

Review of attachment 773707 [details] [diff] [review]:
-----------------------------------------------------------------

::: browser/base/content/browser.xul
@@ +507,2 @@
>              <image id="blocked-plugins-notification-icon" class="notification-anchor-icon" role="button"/>
> +            <image id="web-notifications-notification-icon" class="notification-anchor-icon" role="button"/>

Why change both of these? This will just make the web-notifications-notification-icon blame incorrect.

::: browser/themes/osx/browser.css
@@ +3187,5 @@
> +
> +  #plugins-notification-icon:hover,
> +  #alert-plugins-notification-icon:hover,
> +  #blocked-plugins-notification-icon:hover {
> +    -moz-image-region: rect(0, 64px, 32px, 16px);

This doesn't seem right. I'm pretty sure it should be rect(0, 64px, 32px, 32px);

::: browser/themes/windows/jar.mn
@@ +73,5 @@
>          skin/classic/browser/webapps-16.png
>          skin/classic/browser/webapps-64.png
> +        skin/classic/browser/notification-pluginNormal.png           (../shared/plugins/notification-pluginNormal.png)
> +        skin/classic/browser/notification-pluginAlert.png            (../shared/plugins/notification-pluginAlert.png)
> +        skin/classic/browser/notification-pluginBlocked.png          (../shared/plugins/notification-pluginBlocked.png)

You'll also need to add these for aero.

Comment 7

[Ryan VanderMeulen [:RyanVM]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/3f3a0ed44893

Comment 9

[Benjamin Smedberg]

Comment on attachment 773707 [details] [diff] [review]
De-emphasize the plugin icon in the address bar when it doesn't need to catch the user's attention. With this change, the only time the icon will be "alert blue" is when a plugin is click-to-activate and it's too small to show the overlay inline in the pa

[Approval Request Comment]
Bug caused by (feature/regressing bug #): bug 880735
User impact if declined: Blue plugin icon present in the location bar for most pages.
Testing completed (on m-c, etc.): landed, no regressions reported, manual testing verifies correct behavior
Risk to taking this patch (and alternatives if risky): not especially risky
String or IDL/UUID changes made by this patch: None

This request goes with two other bugs that landed at the same time: bug 889788, bug 888908.

Comment 10

[Ryan VanderMeulen [:RyanVM]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-aurora/rev/e31826fffdd4

Comment 11

[Paul Silaghi, QA [:pauly]]

(In reply to Larissa Co [:lco] from comment #3)
> After more discussion with bsmedberg, we also want to use the muted version
> of the icon for ALL cases when the plugin is set to "always activate" or
> "never activate". For these cases, the user has already made a general
> decision, and doesn't need to be distracted by the blue icon.  
1. Have outdated flash
2. Open youtube video - red icon
3. Click 'Allow now' - red icon remains
4. Click another video
AR: Grey icon
Is this expected?

Comment 12

[Paul Silaghi, QA [:pauly]]

Also can anyone please provide a link to a page with hidden plugins?

Comment 13

[Benjamin Smedberg]

http://benjamin.smedbergs.us/tests/ctptests/flash-hidden.html

re: comment 11, that sounds like a bug (worth filing), but it is not a blocker in any way and fixing it will be hard.

Comment 14

[Larissa Co [:lco]]

(In reply to Paul Silaghi [QA] from comment #11)
> 1. Have outdated flash
> 2. Open youtube video - red icon
> 3. Click 'Allow now' - red icon remains
> 4. Click another video
> AR: Grey icon
> Is this expected?

No, definitely looks like a bug. I'd say the the expected result is to have the red icon persist since the user has enabled the outdated plugin and we want to remind him of that. Not a blocker.

Comment 15

[Paul Silaghi, QA [:pauly]]

One more question:
1. Have Flash CTP
2. Open http://benjamin.smedbergs.us/tests/ctptests/flash-hidden.html - see the blue icon
3. Click 'Allow now' - blue icon persist
4. Refresh - grey icon
Which step is broken - 3 or 4 ?

Comment 16

[Benjamin Smedberg]

It should probably turn grey at step 3.

Comment 17

[Paul Silaghi, QA [:pauly]]

Verified fixed FF 24b1, 25.0a1 2013-08-05

Comment 18

[Larissa Co [:lco]]

(In reply to Benjamin Smedberg  [:bsmedberg] PTO 8-Aug until 18-Aug, workweek high latency 19-Aug through 23-Aug from comment #16)
> It should probably turn grey at step 3.

Initially I was of the opinion that the icon should always be discoverable when there's an invisible plugin. But I think I've changed my mind and now am ok with a less obtrusive icon. It might also help feel confident that they actually enabled something (since there's no in-content UI to tell).