Create Browser UI indication for current circuit status and exit IP
As we try to transition away from Vidalia (#6009 (moved)), one feature I expect people will miss is the Network Map. This will be hard to integrate with the browser in a way that normal people will understand, and initially the most expedient way to provide it will be through a separate download of Vidalia.
However, according to http://petsymposium.org/2012/papers/hotpets12-1-usability.pdf, unpredictable browsing delay is a major usability issue. The best way to solve this would be to provide some kind of circuit progress information in the browser toolbar, and provide a way to see your current circuit and current exit IP for that tab.
This is technically impossible for us to do until we have SOCKS username+password support (see #5752 (moved) and child tickets), but once we have that, we should implement this notification.
Activity
Yes. That funding was granted and that work was carried out independent our organization and prior to our input. The approach they user-tested involved a vidalia-esque side-panel approach we are unlikely to deploy. The right place for load progress information and circuit/exit status UI under our planned circuit isolation scheme is in a location that is specific that url bar/tab only (such as the existing URL bar progress indicator/spinner), rather than a separate, network status pane that provides global details.
Trac:
Cc: mcs, brade, gnorcie@soic.indiana.edu to mcs, brade, gnorcie@soic.indiana.edu, arthuredelstein@gmail.comI'm thinking about how to implement this UI. I'm imagining a design that consists of two components:
(1) a small indicator that fits inside the URL bar with the exit IP/country code and a small progress wheel indicating circuit status, and (2) a pop-up overlay that shows more detailed information (a list of circuit nodes, an indication of circuit status, exit country name), a "New Identity" button, and any other relevant information.
Interesting to hear what Mike and the TBB team think! Thanks.
Replying to arthuredelstein:
(2) a pop-up overlay that shows more detailed information (a list of circuit nodes, an indication of circuit status, exit country name), a "New Identity" button, and any other relevant information.
I tend to think that a sidebar would be more appropriate. I've seen people who kept Vidalia open at all time to always have an eye on the relays they were going through. If “New identity” is a global action, it should probably not be together with the per tab indicators. I think most people rather want a way to say “please exit from this country” or other ways to work around blocks.
One idea I had which might go in this is a “report suspicious exit” button. But this is probably an entirely different discussion.
Replying to lunar:
I tend to think that a sidebar would be more appropriate. I've seen people who kept Vidalia open at all time to always have an eye on the relays they were going through. If “New identity” is a global action, it should probably not be together with the per tab indicators.
Since this patch is part of our effort to isolate circuits by URL bar domain (#5752 (moved)), I think a circuit diagram and "New Identity" button per URL bar domain makes sense. That way you can stay logged into, say, Twitter, while creating a new identity for the next Google search.
But I think a sidebar is an interesting thought, especially for users who want circuit details permanently visible. On the other hand, it's nice not to take up more screen real estate than necessary.
I think most people rather want a way to say “please exit from this country” or other ways to work around blocks.
One idea I had which might go in this is a “report suspicious exit” button. But this is probably an entirely different discussion.
That's a nice idea.
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Replying to arthuredelstein:
Since this patch is part of our effort to isolate circuits by URL bar domain (#5752 (moved)), I think a circuit diagram and "New Identity" button per URL bar domain makes sense. That way you can stay logged into, say, Twitter, while creating a new identity for the next Google search.
Is this “New identity” button going to clear out cookies, history and the like?
Here is the story from support point of view: people used to be able to use a “New identity” button in Vidalia. It was bad because it actually only changed Tor circuits, and did not provide a new identity for web browsing at all as all the fingerprints were still the same. Then with Tor Browser 3.5, users were sad because when they clicked “New identity”, they were loosing all their open tabs. So we had to explain that what they had previously were actually not what they wanted.
I'd rather not go through a third mental model change in less than 2 years.
Replying to arthuredelstein:
I'm thinking about how to implement this UI. I'm imagining a design that consists of two components:
(1) a small indicator that fits inside the URL bar with the exit IP/country code and a small progress wheel indicating circuit status, and
Sounds good to me.
(2) a pop-up overlay that shows more detailed information (a list of circuit nodes, an indication of circuit status, exit country name), a "New Identity" button, and any other relevant information.
I am not sure about that "New Identity" button yet. I am inclined to like having a different bug for this taking discussions in #10400 (moved) and the like into account to solve the issues with it (what to erase/to close and how to do this) once and for all. This bug is mainly concerned with UI for displaying circuit status/exit IP. "New Identity" behavior seems orthogonal then. But having a panel showing additional information is a nice idea, though.
I am not sure about that "New Identity" button yet. I am inclined to like having a different bug for this taking discussions in #10400 (moved) and the like into account to solve the issues with it (what to erase/to close and how to do this) once and for all. This bug is mainly concerned with UI for displaying circuit status/exit IP. "New Identity" behavior seems orthogonal then. But having a panel showing additional information is a nice idea, though.
lunar and gk: thanks for correcting me on the New Identity button. I think you're right that it shouldn't be part of this ticket, and there are serious problems with it that would need to be solved.
Replying to arthuredelstein:
I'm thinking about how to implement this UI. I'm imagining a design that consists of two components:
(1) a small indicator that fits inside the URL bar with the exit IP/country code and a small progress wheel indicating circuit status, and
That sounds OK, although it would be great to see a simple mockup. One concern that Kathy Brade and I have is that the space within the URL bar is very limited, at least vertically. But hopefully it is large enough to show what we need to show. Also, will the circuit status indicator be able to provide enough information to reduce users' complaints about unpredictable browsing delays? Firefox has basically moved to a "loading" / "done loading" indicator without any indication of progress, so if the real delay is in loading of web page content I am not sure how much circuit status info will help people. Will the circuit progress information include information about the progress of streams, e.g., a connection to encrypted.google.com:443?
(2) a pop-up overlay that shows more detailed information (a list of circuit nodes, an indication of circuit status, exit country name), a "New Identity" button, and any other relevant information.
Interesting to hear what Mike and the TBB team think! Thanks.
A popup seems like a natural approach, but it has the disadvantage that it must be dismissed before you can do anything else. If information needs to be visible at all times, a sidebar (as suggested by lunar) or an increase in the height of the toolbar area might be a better solution (kind of like a custom toolbar). We should keep in mind that Mozilla seems to be moving away from both sidebars and custom toolbars. For example, the downloads arrow on the Firefox toolbar opens a popup, which includes a button, which opens a persistent window that provides more functionality.
A hybrid approach might be to have a popup with an option within it to "pin" the info to keep it visible (either in a separate window, a sidebar, or by expanding the toolbar area somehow).
Another consideration is how to best use the available screen space. Today, most LCD displays are wide rather than tall so using a sidebar (and not reducing the vertical space available for content) makes sense. On the other hand, if we eventually want to show a map like Vidalia does, a sidebar seems like a bad choice because it will probably be too narrow. But I am not sure if people really need a map or just a list of country/node info.
Replying to mcs:
Thanks for your very helpful feedback. I agree with your concerns about screen real estate. Also your discussion about popups is interesting.
So here's my current idea. I would expand TorButton menu to include a Tor circuit display:
and for indicating Tor status to help the user understand delays, I would simply add more status messages to the ephemeral status panel at the bottom of the browser:
Admittedly this doesn't entirely address the limitations of popups. We could potentially consider creating an optional sidebar or separate Vidalia-like window with more details for serious torheads.
Any feedback will be much appreciated!
Replying to lunar:
It's nice. Unfortunately it doesn't cover third party content which will be fetched over different circuits.
I've written some patches for #3455 (moved) (under review) that fetches third party content over the same circuit. So there will only be one circuit per URL bar domain.
