Add New identity button to toolbar

Please, make possible to put a "new identity button" in the toolbar.

Trac:
Username: isnaiter

added TorBrowserTeam201910R actualpoints::0.75 component::applications/tor browser owner::tbb-team parent::10760 points::0.5 priority::high reporter::isnaiter resolution::fixed severity::normal sponsor::9 status::closed tbb-9.0-must-alpha tbb-newnym type::enhancement ux-team labels

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Owner: N/A to tbb-team
Component: - Select a component to Applications/Tor Browser

Yes, we are working on that during our security slider redesign. This is done in #25658 (moved), thus marking this bug as a duplicate.

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

Actually we might want to think about New Identity in this bug and about how we could expose it better in Tor Browser.

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Resolution: duplicate to N/A
Keywords: N/A deleted, ux-team, tbb-newnym added
Cc: N/A to antonela
Status: closed to reopened
Summary: New identity button to Add New identity button to toolbar

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Parent: N/A to #10760 (moved)

Marked #29827 (moved) as duplicate.

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Cc: antonela to antonela, lg

Will it be possible to remove this button? I want it hidden deep down somewhere to prevent accidential clicks (yes I know that you have to confirm but it is very easy to click Yes without thinking).

And rename the whole thing. What is "new identity"? It is very unclear.

Trac:
Username: lg

Replying to lg:

Will it be possible to remove this button? I want it hidden deep down somewhere to prevent accidential clicks (yes I know that you have to confirm but it is very easy to click Yes without thinking).

Yes, as with any toolbar button you can hide it by customizing the toolbar.

And rename the whole thing. What is "new identity"? It is very unclear.

I agree. We'll rename it as well.

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Sponsor: N/A to Sponsor9

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Just a suggestion, in case you find it useful.

Perhaps you already know, I saw via Customize... this Forget UI (attached screenshot). It does something apparently similar to New identity, ends up closing all windows and opening a new one, but of course does much less stuff under the hoods than New Identity. I think this Forget makes less sense than New identity for most Tor Browser users, and was thinking whether it would make sense to recycle it and convert it into the new New Identity exposed in toolbar. I guess this would replace the current New identity prompt, since there is already some explanation (that we could extend) and a button to confirm.

Forget makes sense in per-site scenario only (to avoid NI when some site behaves bad). But this request was ignored. NI makes sense until Multiple Identities can be adopted. And no toolbar button, please.

Trac:
Keywords: N/A deleted, TorBrowserTeam201908, tbb-9.0-must-alpha added

Moving must-alpha tickets to September.

Trac:
Keywords: TorBrowserTeam201908 deleted, TorBrowserTeam201909 added

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Priority: Medium to High

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Points: N/A to 0.5

A while ago, I dropped some ideas at a similar TBA ticket.

https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/28800#comment:8

What do you think? When do you think users need a New Identity? When do you think users actually use a New Identity?

Replying to antonela:

A while ago, I dropped some ideas at a similar TBA ticket.

https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/28800#comment:8

What do you think?

I think that comment makes sense to me. I am totally fine with renaming that feature as "New Identity" might be a concept that's too hard to grasp. So, anything that's easier here to understand and does the same under the hood is a win in my opinion.

For the remaining dev questions:

1. ephemeral tabs: that could be an idea but we should discuss it in a different ticket, not one related to new identity as I would assume both might live together in the browser (i.e. the ephemeral tabs would not replace New Identity)

2. New Identity on TBA: Yes, TBA should replicate the behavior as we have it on desktop (although that's not relevant for this bug)

3. New Identity without closing the window: I am afraid it's already hard to get rid of all browser state the way we are doing it right now. So, to be sure we get rid of all window state the only option we have so far is closing the window and create a new one. We might get away from that requirement if we audited all the relevant parts properly but that's a tricky task and would definitely be something for a new ticket.

When do you think users need a New Identity?

That's hard to generalize as it depends on the browsing behavior and context they are in, whether they have JavaScript enabled, whether they shut down their Tor Browser regularly anyway because they power down their laptop at least once a day etc. I think it could be worth answering that question in the context of different personas instead of in a generalized manner.

When do you think users actually use a New Identity?

Dunno. Right now probably not very often as it is buried in some menu (which I hope we can change by putting it on the toolbar). I think users knowing about the concept might use it if they don't want to have sessions where the logged in correlated (e.g. after doing their online banking and getting asked by the bank to close the tab/session).

Trac:

As we signed the last meeting, I worked in some options to choose:

1. This is Firefox's Delete icon. I included it as an option; some of the reasons are described here.

2. As suggested by acat in comment:9, I've tried a version with the Firefox's Forget icon. We experienced some issues in the past using Firefox's feature icon (Tor Browser Security Settings shield vs. Firefox Content Blocking shield). My recommendation is not using the same icon Firefox is using for different features. Instead of being simpler for users, it becomes confusing. If Firefox's Forget feature becomes at some point a Tor Browser's New Identity, then we can share icons.

3. I did a Clean icon here. Some of the reasons are described here. It could work.

4. I did a literal New Identity icon, with a regular ID and a plus icon.

We're not renaming this feature in this iteration. Maybe, is a path to explore during TB 9.5.