Re: [Tails-ux] Improve Tails Installer UX

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Author: sajolida
Date:  
To: Tails user experience & user interface design, kurono
New-Topics: Re: [Tails-ux] Improve Tails Installer UX
Subject: Re: [Tails-ux] Improve Tails Installer UX
Susan:
> It is hard for me to weigh in on the label when I still don't know
> what the thing is for sure. My guess would be that ISO is
> International Standards Organization and that this label is not
> telling me what the image contains but rather that it's in a
> particular format. I am not sure how useful knowing the format may
> be. Like "Open Blue Book compliant CD-ROM" or "Use can opener to open
> can?" So if that's the case, I would need information about why I
> might want to do that, such as a few common use cases, in the Help
> text also.


Technically speaking, an ISO image is a "disk image" (which means a
single file containing the "image" of a complete file system) that
contains an "ISO 9660 file system" (which is the file system format used
on CDs and sometimes DVDs).

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iso_image

I admit that we've used this terminology since the project started
without really thinking about it and because it's the usual way of
referring to such files in the Linux world.

I looked only at how other projects refer to these files. All of them
still use the word "image" but almost none clarifies the format (which
might be different than ISO):

https://technet.microsoft.com/dd451080.ISOburn.jpg%28en-us%29.jpg

http://chronicles.blog.ryanrampersad.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/nero9image.png

http://cdn.osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/burn-disc-image-mac-os-x-file-menu-610x459.jpg

https://assets.ubuntu.com/v1/53029019-desktop-burn-a-dvd-on-mac-4.png

Seeing that, I'm not against getting rid of the "ISO" word but this
would require adapting this terminology in many other different places.
Starting with our installation instructions. It might not be undoable
but would require thinking more about whether getting rid of the "ISO"
word would work in all the different places and doing the work of
changing them.

> "Use downloaded Tails image" or something like that? "Download latest
> Tails image and install"? Given what Thomas said, I wonder if it's
> more generic in usage, more about format and tool than contents.


Right, what Thomas said made it clear that we need to clarify that the
installation will only work with an Tails ISO image (and not an Ubuntu
ISO image for example). So I think that we need to specify that we're
talking about a "Tails ISO image" here.

> If I
> am just encountering the term in my USB stick situation, I don't know
> if I've also downloaded something that I could install. What if I did
> not do that step yet?


The goal here is to make it clear that the user can, in your USB stick
situtation, *either* clone (install a new USB stick by copying the
current Tails that she is running from) or install from an ISO image
that she had downloaded.

Cloning would always work but installing from an ISO image requires a
previous download. I thought that using radio buttons would made the
alternative explicit (you don't need to download an ISO image to clone).

> I think providing a link to the installation instructions in this
> help text makes a lot of sense.


Definitely.

> The (?) icon is the way to go.


Ack. I added both things in the screenshot in attachment.

> Help links are best placed before fields and actions, right after
> labels, because then screen readers offer the help right after the
> question occurs to the user and before the decision point is read to
> the user.
>
> If possible, display the help in place, rather than taking the user
> off track. If that isn't feasible, opening a browser window with the
> particular bit of applicable help may be the next best bet.


This one can be displayed in place with some more explanation about ISO
image and the difference with cloning. It would also have a link to the
installation instructions.

> Enable click to display, even if rollover is an option too, for touch
> devices.


NB: I'm putting back kurono in copy. He was dropped but I think that
he's not on tails-ux.