925509 - [ux] File saving and opening is inconsistent in Australis

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox :: Menus, defect)

Description

[Olli Pettay [:smaug][[e-mail]](vacation until Nov 16)]

By default saving a file button is visible in the hamburger button, but
opening a file isn't. That is a very odd inconsistency in the UI.

Comment 1

[:Gijs (out for now; he/him)]

Zhenshuo, what do you think?

Comment 2

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

Australis provides both an Open File and a Save Page button. Save Page is placed in our menu panel by default, but the Open File is located in our palette by default (not visible unless the user customizes it).

This is intentional. Not all actions need to have their complimentary action placed at the same visibility. A user has many more reasons to save a page than they do to open a file, so exposing these two actions with the same visibility would be counter-intuitive. Users who open files often can move the Open File button to the menu panel at their preference.

Comment 3

[Olli Pettay [:smaug][[e-mail]](vacation until Nov 16)]

Everything in palette is effectively not there at all for novice users.
I can't imagine my parents for example ever find it from there, and open file is rather basic thing.

Comment 4

[:Gijs (out for now; he/him)]

(In reply to Olli Pettay [:smaug] from comment #3)
> Everything in palette is effectively not there at all for novice users.
> I can't imagine my parents for example ever find it from there, and open
> file is rather basic thing.

I don't think novice users are likely to use "open file" with their web browser. Heck, I don't recall ever using it myself. It's not even in the app menu on Windows on current versions of Firefox. Anyway, let's check with the UX team.

Comment 5

[Olli Pettay [:smaug][[e-mail]](vacation until Nov 16)]

From my experience (looking from the back when novice users to something), open file is used, say
when an .html email attachment is saved locally and then opened.

Comment 6

[:Gijs (out for now; he/him)]

(In reply to Olli Pettay [:smaug] from comment #5)
> From my experience (looking from the back when novice users to something),
> open file is used, say
> when an .html email attachment is saved locally and then opened.

People send .html files by email? I don't think I know anyone who does that. I know a lot of people who send HTML email (rather than plaintext), but nobody who attaches HTML files.

More generally, if I save a file locally, I'm much more likely to then use my email program's "downloads/saved files" UI to cmd-o/doubleclick/enter the file to open it in the default program, rather than having to look through directories to see where it was saved in the "open file" dialog of the program that is necessary to open it.

Comment 7

[Zhenshuo Fang (:fang) - Firefox UX Team]

Second Jared. Also based on a heatmap study we did last year, save file does have more usage (6%) than open file (1%)

Heatmap Study link: https://blog.mozilla.org/ux/2012/06/firefox-heatmap-study-2012-results-are-in/

Comment 8

[:Gijs (out for now; he/him)]

Per comment #7.