Re: [Tails-ux] A few UI/UX concerns

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Autor: sajolida
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Dla: Tails user experience & user interface design
Stare tematy: [Tails-ux] A few UI/UX concerns
Temat: Re: [Tails-ux] A few UI/UX concerns
duc01k@???:
> 1) The file information that pops up at the foot of a Files window when
> a user selects a file or folder will obscure the last file in the list
> when in List view, sometimes making it impossible to view. This becomes
> a problem mostly with long file names. Worse, users can't get rid of
> this file info popup without deselecting all files in the list, and this
> isn't possible in List view because there are no "free gaps" to click
> on. I had this problem recently and I couldn't believe how difficult it
> was to gain access to the last file in the list. This was a poor user
> experience.


I can't reproduce this one. See screencast in attachment:

- The filename tooltip doesn't cover the entire file name column, even
when GNOME Files is made as narrow as possible.
- Moving the mouse over the tooltip hides it.

But maybe I don't understand your problem. Could you send us a
screenshot or a screencast to illustrate it?

> 2) The "Folder is Empty" graphic that appears in the middle of empty
> Files windows actively prevents drag and drop onto the region it
> occupies. I get caught out by this often and have to consciously drag
> items to the free space around the graphic. This is definitely a poor
> user experience.


Indeed! I never noticed but it's quite confusing.

This bug has already been reported to GNOME Files upstream:

https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/nautilus/issues/1230

Hopefully they will solve it at some point. I don't think it's worth
using Tails resources for that.

> 3) The file access restrictions in effect across various aspects of
> Tails should be made clearer to the user. For example I had to learn the
> hard way that there's no way to get files downloaded from the Unsafe
> Browser onto a USB flash drive (I had good reason for using the Unsafe
> Browser on this occasion and not Tor Browser). I had another unexpected
> difficulty when I tried to save a screenshot straight to a USB flash
> drive - I got an error message:
> "Unable to capture a screenshot.
> Error creating file. Please choose another location and retry."
> I understand the security reasons for these things but users should be
> educated about filesystem restrictions before reaching these error
> messages. Asking me to retry was irritating because, without a visual
> clue, it was impossible for me to know which "other locations" would be
> suitable alternatives.


Full ack. I think there are different issues at stake in what you describe:

### Unsafe Browser

We only include an Unsafe Browser in Tails to allow people to log in to
captive portals:

https://tails.boum.org/doc/anonymous_internet/unsafe_browser/

I never met a captive portal that required to upload or download files.
Did you? Still, people seem to be really into using it for different
things, though sometimes without understanding the security implications
and despite the many warning that we put around it.

We're totally aware that the current situation regarding the Unsafe
Browser is not optimal. See #15635 & co. The real solution would be to
get rid of the Unsafe Browser entirely and only allow connecting through
captive portals using an even more restricted app.

### #15902: No error message when saving to a volume that is not mounted
    https://redmine.tails.boum.org/code/issues/15902


Which seems to be what you experienced when trying to save your screenshot.

### #15678: Improve UX of saving downloaded files from Tor Browser
    https://redmine.tails.boum.org/code/issues/15678


We are also well aware of this. For now, we decided to favor the
additional security of sandboxing the browser over the ease of use when
downloading/uploading files. We are waiting for new technology (GNOME
portals) that will solve this in the coming years by providing some kind
of trusted intermediary between Tor Browser and the file system.

--
sajolida
Tails — https://tails.boum.org/
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