[tor-bugs] #23150 [Applications/Tor Browser]: Re-evaluating tor browser's security controls: let's have one place to adjust all per-tab, global, persistent, and per-session security preferences. (was: Re-evaluating the tor browser toolbar)

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#23150: Re-evaluating tor browser's security controls: let's have one place to
adjust all per-tab, global, persistent, and per-session security
preferences.
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 Reporter:  linda                     |          Owner:  linda
     Type:  project                   |         Status:  new
 Priority:  Medium                    |      Milestone:
Component:  Applications/Tor Browser  |        Version:
 Severity:  Normal                    |     Resolution:
 Keywords:  ux-team                   |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:  #20843                    |         Points:
 Reviewer:                            |        Sponsor:
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Old description:

> This project is to re-evaluate what buttons we are going to place in the
> toolbar, and what purposes they would serve. We've been having an ongoing
> discussion of it here: https://pad.riseup.net/p/toolbar-torbrowser.
>
> We're trying to fix the following problems:
> * user confusion with what settings is global and what is for a tab
> * all features are hidden under one icon or under the security
> preferences (which is buried)
> * the settings overlap and need to be used together (security slider +
> noscript), which is hard
> * in general, the buttons at the top (NoScript, torbutton) are confusing
> * the buttons don't have a 1:1 corespondence with what users need
>
> This project was inspired by Nina's document that proposes changes to the
> Tor Browser toolbar,
> ([https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/21183 ticket]
> [https://share.riseup.net/#a147BiCUXfeCQ3ezzgFkag pdf of suggested
> changes]. Not all the proposed changes are good ideas, but were good to
> spark discussion.

New description:

 = Background =

 Currently, it's hard to get Tor Browser to do behave the way that you
 want. And the controls for these security preferences are scattered across
 dialogues that are asked once, the security slider, and the noscript
 extension. We should combine this all in a way that makes sense, adding
 and removing some options if need be.

 The document that sparked this discussion is
 [https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzRaXGZ006aoWHJLd0hBT3IyRUE/view here].
 The document suggests re-evaluate what buttons are in the toolbar, and
 what purposes they would serve. While this is definitely a part of the
 project, the purpose of the project is to organize the security controls,
 not design the toolbar. We also do not plan to respond to all the proposed
 changes, and took inspiration from a subset of them.

 = Objective =

 We're trying to fix the following problems:
 * user confusion with what settings is global and what is for a tab
 * all features are hidden under one icon or under the security preferences
 (which is buried)
 * the settings overlap and need to be used together (security slider +
 noscript), which is hard
 * in general, the buttons at the top (NoScript, torbutton) are confusing
 * the buttons don't have a 1:1 corespondence with what users need

 = Discussion points =
 * What do users want to be able to toggle, but cannot?
 * Does the current design allow for any mistakes? (i.e. leaving the
 security slider on low all the time so that it's more convenient when
 visiting one website regularly)
 * Should we prioritize building a mental model/guiding user behavior
 (putting tab specific settings in toolbar, global settings in preferences)
 or should we cater to what users want to do most (putting most used things
 in toolbar, less used things in preferences)?
 * how many buttons should there be in the tool bar, in what order, with
 what icons?

--

Comment (by linda):

 I updated the title and body to better explain the project.

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/23150#comment:4>
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