Re: [Tails-ux] Fwd: Tails Server GUI Design

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Author: segfault
Date:  
To: George Kadianakis, anonym, sajolida, Tails user experience & user interface design
Subject: Re: [Tails-ux] Fwd: Tails Server GUI Design
George Kadianakis:
> Looks very nice to me :)

Thanks :)

>
> I'm not sure how much nitpicking should be done at this early point, but here
> are some questions just to keep things moving:

Please nitpick as much as you can :)

>
> a) This window is TAILS greeter? Is it the window that is presented to the user
>    before the desktop interface loads up?

No, this is not supposed to be part of the Greeter. The current plan, as
discussed at least with anonym, is to integrate this in Tails as a
normal application, which can be started after login. The blueprint is
outdated and I see that this is confusing and I really need to update it
soon.

>
> b) If 'Persistent' is chosen before the desktop loads up, does the user have
>    the option to change their mind later? Can I make my TAILS server persistent
>    even if I chose "no" in the beginning?

I think a) clarifies this, as the application is not started before the
desktop loads up. The user should also be able to modify this option
after the Server was started.

>
> c) That address is a textbox because the user can edit it? Or is that TAILS
>    giving the user the address of their hidden service? If that's the case,
>    why is it a textbox?

Of course the user can not edit the address, as the address is derived
from the key used for the hidden service. I thought about using a label
instead of a textentry. But the textentry looks more appropiate, as it
is more obvious to the user, that he can easily select and copy the text
inside. Also a label only allows selecting with the mouse, while the
textentry also allows selecting with ctrl+a, ctrl+arrow and
ctrl+shift+arrow. This is also how it was solved in some other
applications, e.g. gitlab [1] and github [2], which both use something
like a textentry to provide the (not-editable) git URL.

[1] https://gitlab.com/segfault_/tails_server
[2] https://github.com/torproject/tor

>
>    Also, how can TAILS know the address of the hidden service if it hasn't
>    started already? Is it because it can look in the persistent folder?  What
>    happens if this is before the first time it ever loads up? The hidden
>    service address should not be known at that point, except if the HS gets
>    started.

The onion address would only be shown after the service was started for
the first time.

>
> d) If I don't autostart my hidden service how do I start it up?

Autostart means that it starts automatically on bootup of Tails. The
other way would be to open the Tails Server application and use the
on/off switch to start the service.

>
> e) What is "Allow LAN"?

This option sets iptables rules to allow connections to the service port
from the local area network. Do you have suggestion to rename this
option into something that makes it's purpose more clear?

>
> Feel free to ignore some or all questions if you find them unproductive at this
> stage of development.
>
> Cheers!
>
> PS: I also included the tails-ux mailing list without being a subscriber.
>     I hope it goes through.

I'm not sure, it seems like I only got this mail from you, not from the
list, which I am a subscriber of. But at least my answer will be on the
mailing list.

Thanks a lot for the feedback.

Cheers