Xplo Eristotle wrote:
>
>
> My problem, and the basis for my previous post, is essentially this:
despite
> the occasional need for security on the internet, the majority of
> the interface you describe is going to be utterly meaningless to the
majority of Mozilla's users (IMHO), and has nothing really to do with
> the function of a browser, which is - to be brief - displaying web
> pages. My purpose is not to criticize your work from the standpoint of
> someone well-versed in crypto, or to pretend that I know more about it
> than you do; rather, as I pointed out in my earlier post, I am speaking
> as a Mozilla user with some understanding of good UI design principles,
> and of their importance. I am supporting mpt's assertion that what you
> have now sounds far too confusing for someone like myself.
>
I'm sorry, but I feel that I'm missing the motivation for this thread.
I have been using Mozilla with PSM2 for a couple weeks now, and I am
able to use secure sites found during general web browsing with a
minimal amount of UI. To be specific, the only windows I see are the
"You are entering a secure site ..." and "You are leaving a secure
site". Both of those windows can be dismissed with a simple press of
"OK", and both have a checkbox for the preference "Don't warn me about
this in the future." Isn't this simple enough, and consistent with
other components?
The UI being discussed in this thread is for the most part *designed* to
be useful to "advanced" users. If you don't know what smart cards are,
you probably won't launch Token Manager. It is unlikely a "basic" user
will ever need Certificate Manager. But if you do know what those
things are, you probably won't have much trouble with the UI.
There are bugs in PSM2's UI that need to be fixed, true. And if the UI
can be improved, that's obviously a good thing. But can someone give an
example of a case where they just wanted to buy something online, and
were confronted with frightening and obfuscating PSM UI? I'd also like
to reiterate the point that very little about the PSM2 UI has changed
from the PSM 1.x used in Communicator for well over a year (and even
that wasn't too different from the earlier "Security Manager"). Why is
it suddenly so confusing?
-Ian
