[tor-bugs] #24309 [Applications/Tor Browser]: Activity 4.1: Improve how circuits are displayed to the user

Wed Apr 4 11:32:08 UTC 2018

#24309: Activity 4.1: Improve how circuits are displayed to the user
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 Reporter:  isabela                        |          Owner:  tbb-team
     Type:  defect                         |         Status:  new
 Priority:  Medium                         |      Milestone:
Component:  Applications/Tor Browser       |        Version:
 Severity:  Normal                         |     Resolution:
 Keywords:  ux-team, TorBrowserTeam201803  |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:                                 |         Points:
 Reviewer:  antonela                       |        Sponsor:
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Comment (by isabela):

 Hi there! Jumping in the discussion :)

 Thanks Arthur for the work! Is looking great! Here are some thoughts:

 Replying to [comment:29 brade]:

 > Replying to [comment:26 arthuredelstein]:
 >
 >
 >
 > > ...
 > > It occurs to me that the Tor Circuit section needs an icon at left,
 similar to the lock in the "Secure Connection" section and the Permissions
 [✓|x] icon below. Any ideas what this icon should be? (An onion is
 probably not the right choice, because we're already using that for onion
 sites.) One possibility would be the "relay" icon in
 https://people.torproject.org/~irl/icons/
 > >
 > >
 > >
 >
 > I like the icon proposed by Antonela's attachment since I think it helps
 non-technical users understand what a "circuit" is (common understanding
 in US is that a circuit has to do with electronics).  I'm also OK with not
 having an icon since it does add some busy-ness to that section.
 >

 I am in for the icon. I think we need to start building more educational
 opportunities within our user interactions and this visual connection
 (using the relays icon that is used in other places) is a great thing for
 that.

 I don't believe is looking crowed. I actually think is making it more
 clear it's a thing of itself, not aggregated information related to what
 the user is used to see in this doorhanger (like certificate information
 stuff).

 >
 >
 > > Also I'm wondering if it's bad to have both the Guard (i) and "Learn
 More" links, since they seem to be redundant.
 > >
 > >
 > >
 >
 > I disagree that they are redundant but I defer to Antonela as the
 designer.  To me, the Guard (i) icon should provide a general explanation
 about guards and maybe circuits.  The "Learn More" link has to do with the
 specific issues that users are confused why the whole circuit doesn't
 change when they request a new circuit.
 >
 > Another thought or two about these links:  If we are going to remove one
 of the links, I'd remove the (i) icon.  I find that the (i) icon is much
 too small; it's just a purple dot and not very recognizable as something
 that is clickable to get more info.  We know that this is a common area
 where users have questions so having an explicit "Learn More" link will
 stand out more and hopefully reduce user support in this area.
 >

 For the links question - I am in favor of removing the (i) from Guard.

 The Learn More link ideally should be linking to the manual.

 But the manual page should be updated (in my opinion). Here is where it
 talks about it:
 https://tb-manual.torproject.org/en-US/managing-identities.html

 There is no way to link to the right section inside this page :/ and the
 text there is not explaining the point we would like to explain either. So
 I think we need to update that too.

 Right now the best link for it is the support site question "Why is the
 first IP address in my relay circuit always the same? "
 https://support-staging.torproject.org/#tbb-2

 >
 >
 >
 > > Also, I liked Sukhbir's suggestion about adding an "Exit" label. We
 could even add a "Middle relay" label or more information about an onion
 site's relays. But I don't want it to look too cluttered either. Maybe
 tooltips are the best thing? ...
 > >
 > >
 > >
 >
 > Mark and I think that including both "Exit" and the IP address will add
 a lot of clutter.  Do we need to provide the IP address?  Maybe it would
 be better for the IP address to be shown in a tooltip and we should show
 middle relay and exit with links to help.

 I like the idea to add the Exit label. I would change the whole thing
 though, and by that I mean I would have label for each  node (going back
 to the idea of using every moment to educate our users). I would have
 'Guard', 'Middle', 'Exit'.

 The IP addresses are something people sometimes want to know so I would
 try to keep them to make it convenient for the user. That said, I wonder
 if it will be indeed too crowed, for some reason I don't think it would.
 But I leave this to Antonela to decide :) if having it there is ok or if
 its better to put it in tooltip or something.

 >
 > One other comment about your prototype:
 > The "Load New Circuit" button label is new text for Tor Browser.  The
 current menu label for this functionality is "New Tor Circuit for this
 Site".  I think we should not use such different labels for the same
 functionality.  I propose labeling this button "New Circuit for this
 Site"; Mark proposes: "Reload Using a New Circuit".
 >

 Good point. Can we test these copies in English and Spanish to see how
 they fit?

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/24309#comment:33>
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