917707 - [app manager] help tab, AMO and MDN should refer to the ADB addon with the same name

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(DevTools Graveyard :: WebIDE, defect, P1)

Description

[Alexandre Poirot [:ochameau]]

We shouldn't consider app developers know about ADB, nor require them to learn what it is.
So that we should avoid speaking about adb, unless explicitely required.
The adb helper addon is here to completely abstract the connection process,
we could connect via wifi, it would be the same.
Adbhelper is a good codename product in its current state, but it will be way easier to understand the purpose of this addon with a name like "Device connection helper".

(We end up with Device connection helper, but I'm fine tweaking this name)

Comment 1

[Alexandre Poirot [:ochameau]]

Attachment: Rename Adb helper to Device connection helper

Comment 2

[Paul Rouget [:paul]]

> We shouldn't consider app developers know about ADB, nor require them to learn what it is.

I strongly disagree with that. Hiding the name of the tool because we think it's better for the user will only bring confusion:

1) many app developers have heard about ADB
2) if there's an issue, then they know that it might be related to ADB, and then search on google ("adb problem on linux")
3) "Device connection helper" is not less confusing that "ADB Helper". Why would you need a "connection" helper in the first place?
4) being clear that an extra step is needed to connect the device, and this step is named adb, will help when people will ask questions "the adb step doesn't seem to work". "connecting" is waaaay to vague (plugging to the USB port, connecting with ADB, connecting with Firefox, connecting the toolbox). Naming things is good.

Comment 3

[Alexandre Poirot [:ochameau]]

Adb shouldn't come first. Right now, if you open the app manager you can very briefly learn about a simulator addon and a adb one. "simulator" should ring a bell. I'm not confindent about "adb".
For someone that doesn't know adb, and I hope that the majority of the developers they would just ignore this "adb thing" and dismiss the landing page.
I would prefer to talk about adb only in a second step, only if something goes wrong, or if the user want to know more. It's a typical thing for Troubleshooting.

Having said that I can see your point and I'm not really against hiding completely ADB, I mostly against calling it just "Adb helper". It very badly describes its feature which is to be able to detect devices and connect to them. And keep it mind that its main benefit is to be able to use the app manager whithout having to know anything about android SDK, nor adb...

Given that my main fear is that developer would skip/ignore this addon because of its current name, I'm ok to keep adb as soon as it get more explicit for someone that do not know adb.

What about: adb connection helper, adb devices helper, adb device connection helper, ...

Comment 4

[Paul Rouget [:paul]]

I still think we should call this addon "ADB Helper, and that should be reflected on the AMO page.

(In reply to Alexandre Poirot (:ochameau) from comment #3)
> I'm not confindent about "adb".
> For someone that doesn't know adb, and I hope that the majority of the
> developers they would just ignore this "adb thing" and dismiss the landing
> page.
> I would prefer to talk about adb only in a second step, only if something
> goes wrong, or if the user want to know more. It's a typical thing for
> Troubleshooting.
> 
> Having said that I can see your point and I'm not really against hiding
> completely ADB, I mostly against calling it just "Adb helper". It very badly
> describes its feature which is to be able to detect devices and connect to
> them. And keep it mind that its main benefit is to be able to use the app
> manager whithout having to know anything about android SDK, nor adb...
> 
> Given that my main fear is that developer would skip/ignore this addon
> because of its current name, I'm ok to keep adb as soon as it get more
> explicit for someone that do not know adb.
> 
> What about: adb connection helper, adb devices helper, adb device connection
> helper, ...

Alex, if I'm not mistaken, what you're saying here is that you're afraid people might not understand that they need this addon. I actually _do_not_ expect people to look at the addon, what ever its name is. Because of this necessary ADB step, the workflow is not ideal. The name of the addon won't change anything.

To solve the workflow problem, we have 2 solutions: a connection assistant (bug 916074) and libadb builtin. But none of these is ready for Firefox 26.

So instead of offering a perfect connection experience, and instead of trying to hide the ADB step, I prefer us to be very clear about this ADB step. Hopefully the doc on MDN will help to explain ADB (and promote the addon).

About the other names you're suggesting: "connection" is already used a few times for other type of connections (as I explained before). "devices", I don't see how that would help.

From bug 915261:

(In reply to Dave Townsend (:Mossop) from comment #6)
> Seems a valid point. My question is going forwards will new Firefox OS app
> developers know what ADB is or will it just be a confusing abbreviation to
> them that when they google find is android related?

It's very possible that a large part of our users might have never heard of ADB. But I believe it's ok to educate them about ADB, and say that we can save them some troubles by just installing an addon.


--


For Firefox 26 (and maybe 27), we can't perfectly hide the ADB step. We can't rely on the fact that the user will install the Addon. Installing the ADB addon is not mandatory. So what ever happens, we will HAVE TO explain ADB. So we can say: "You need ADB. You can install it yourself or install our ADB Helper addon that does all the things for you".

But maybe a better option is to make the ADB addon installation mandatory.

Comment 5

[Paul Rouget [:paul]]

Current situation:
help: Adb Helper Add-on
MDN: ADB Helper Add-on
AMO: Device connection helper

It's easier to fix the page on AMO :)

Comment 6

[Paul Rouget [:paul]]

Alex and I agreed to start with "ADB Helper Add-on" on AMO.

Comment 7

[Alexandre Poirot [:ochameau]]

(In reply to Paul Rouget [:paul] from comment #4)
> Alex, if I'm not mistaken, what you're saying here is that you're afraid
> people might not understand that they need this addon. I actually _do_not_
> expect people to look at the addon, what ever its name is. Because of this
> necessary ADB step, the workflow is not ideal. The name of the addon won't
> change anything.
> 
> To solve the workflow problem, we have 2 solutions: a connection assistant
> (bug 916074) and libadb builtin. But none of these is ready for Firefox 26.

We should feel confident about the addon. Most of its code comes from the simulator and has been tested in various platforms. So yes, I introduced some bugs when extracting it out of the simulator addon, and yes, noone faced the startup hang while compiling a big project. But I hope that we get a rock solid addon by the time FF26 bumps to beta. There is even space for shipping the libadb version of it by the time FF26 becomes the stable release!

We should make it clear that, if you want to use a device, you shouldn't think twice and install the addon right ahead, and avoid at all cost anyone to even start thinking/knowing about adb.
Then there is the driver/udev step required. It is up to us to document that, we shouldn't let developers google "ADB firefox" and find help related to android devices and let them a chance to install the android SDK!!!

Having a first run experience or shipping libadb shouldn't change much, it is about what we say in docs, blog posts and first landing page. "If you have a device, install the addon.". I actually think the addon isn't an option for device development. Only extreme developers would use manual adb connection. Even for us, or gaia developers, it is way easier to use the addon than manual adb settings...

> For Firefox 26 (and maybe 27), we can't perfectly hide the ADB step. We
> can't rely on the fact that the user will install the Addon. Installing the
> ADB addon is not mandatory. So what ever happens, we will HAVE TO explain
> ADB. So we can say: "You need ADB. You can install it yourself or install
> our ADB Helper addon that does all the things for you".

"You want to connect to a device? Install this [addon].
Otherwise connect to you phone throught adb [more info]."


But as I don't want to loose more time discussing this, I renamed it on AMO, until better days come...
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adb-helper/

Comment 8

[Paul Rouget [:paul]]

Alex re-named the AMO page.