Basic Usability Issues

Hi:

I'm a longtime UX'er, and new to using Tor. Some very basic heuristics I felt compelled to respond to, in a PDF—and was advised by a FOSS person, to submit in a ticket, here.

Namely:

• The "Tor Button" is illegible (recommended replacement included)
• The "NoScripts" icon is illegible (recommended replacement included)
• Most of the functionality behind the TorButton should be in a preferences pane, not a toolbar button
• The three pieces of functionality appropriate for toolbar buttons, should each have their own buttons. Replacement icons and interaction pane recommendations, included.

Document here, if I'm not able to upload it myself: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzRaXGZ006aoWHJLd0hBT3IyRUE

Trac:
Username: ninavizz

added component::applications/tor browser parent::20843 priority::medium reporter::ninavizz resolution::fixed severity::normal status::closed torbrowser type::defect ux-team labels

ok, my file was too big to upload—just use link to gdoc

Trac:
Username: ninavizz

Trac:
Username: i139
Parent: N/A to #20843 (moved)

very nice, I relly need this in the next TBB series

Trac:
Username: i139

Are there no paid designers or design leaders on the Tor project? These fixes were pretty obvious to me (a full time designer), and took less than an hour to bang out.

Trac:
Username: ninavizz

Replying to ninavizz:

Are there no paid designers or design leaders on the Tor project? from what I know are based on some encryption experts, but not any designer.

TBB was much worse than that, see older releases.

one big problem is the patches, who have to be rebased at every new Firefox ESR series released, it need a lot of redundant work, now exist the Firefox uplift proposal for soften this.

Trac:
Username: i139

User-centric designers, not electronic/cryptography systems designers. :)

Ok, so that needs to change. Tor needs to become more usable and more cognitively accessible to more humans everywhere. Research and academia are only a small part of that—but they do nothing, if there's nobody in the mix to create and drive solutions.

Trac:
Username: ninavizz

Trac:
Cc: N/A to arthuredelstein

I agree, these look like great UX improvements.

Trac:
Cc: arthuredelstein to arthuredelstein, micahlee

Trac:
Username: i139
Cc: arthuredelstein, micahlee to arthuredelstein, micahlee, i139

Some plan who to deploy it? the new Tor Browser ESR52 migration looks a good time to implement those resources

Trac:
Username: i139

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Cc: arthuredelstein, micahlee, i139 to arthuredelstein, micahlee, i139, linda

Trac:
Cc: arthuredelstein, micahlee, i139, linda to arthuredelstein, micahlee, i139, linda, brade, mcs

I don't think we have a specific plan to deploy it, but these do look like great changes we want to integrate sometime.

what I understand about this changes. now TBB use TorButton with six 'elements'

A. new identity
B. new tor circuit for this site
C. security settings
D. tor network settings
E. check for tor browser updates
F. tor circuit for this site

in this propose, those elements will be implemented in three buttons, rather than just one. but maybe two is enough.

well

The TBB will count on

1. intenty button (A. new identity)
2. circuit button (B. new tor circuit for this site F. tor circuit for this site)
3. security button (C. security settings)

at least, two elements have to be put in another place

D. tor network settings
E. check for tor browser updates

in my vision is more logical start with those changes moving elements D and E. I think put one shortcut in the 'Firefox menu' is enough for maintain they visible on TBB

Trac:
Username: i139

@i139 Linda is the UX director at Tor, and has implementation details (for all ux things, not just this one) carefully weighed in recommendations she makes to the internal dev leads. She's got lots in store, and I'm siked to see how Tor's usability improves over the next year!

Trac:
Username: ninavizz

Trac:
Component: Webpages to Applications/Tor Browser
Keywords: UI, UX deleted, ux-team added

Trac:
Username: tseretni-rmd
Cc: arthuredelstein, micahlee, i139, linda, brade, mcs to arthuredelstein, micahlee, i139, linda, brade, mcs, tseretni-rmd

Trac:
Cc: arthuredelstein, micahlee, i139, linda, brade, mcs, tseretni-rmd to arthuredelstein, micahlee, i139, antonela, brade, mcs, tseretni-rmd

We'll implement a "security button" over in #25658 (moved) and moved the circuit display out of Torbutton into the URL bar (#24309 (moved)). The New Identity button will move to the toolbar, too, sooner or later. We have #27511 (moved) for that.

Trac:
Status: new to closed
Resolution: N/A to fixed