katiep September 12, 2013 14:34

Change menu wording; alter icon behavior

In attached screen, at TOP of pop up menu, would it be better if it said, "Ghostery Blocked X of Y trackers", vs. just how many it found?

Could make room for different text, if move the Options / gear button (maybe to bottom) - if made the giant "Pause Blocking" & "Whitelist site" buttons a bit smaller.

Also, really no reason for the site URL at top of screen - it's not a link.

Other request: I don't use the regular addon bar icon, that displays "X of Y" number beside the ghost icon. Takes up too much room on toolbar. It's actually disappeared from even the Customize UI AND going thru the wizard to add icon back, doesn't do anything in Fx 23 in Vista x64.

I use the small (nav bar icon?) that just shows number of trackers - but not? whether all were blocked (I guess). For that icon, could it be changed so when hovered, it shows X of Y trackers blocked, or just something like "6 of 6" or "8 of 10." Users would quickly learn that means # blocked out of total.

Or, for the small icon that now only shows a # (replaces the ghost) when trackers are found, could simply display 6/10, or such; but not the ghost AND an "X of Y" value beside the ghost. Would take very little more room on addon bar than a single # (shown in screen shot).

Right now, using the small(er) icon, L or R clicking both bring up the menu / tracker list. Maybe R clicking it could cause different behavior, like just showing an "X of Y" display, or something else useful, but not bring up the entire tracker list / menu?

Instead of the "regular" icon that always shows "X of Y" beside the blue ghost - taking lot of space (is he really cold, or what?), when load new page or new trackers detected, could have small pop up - above the icon, showing "X of Y" blocked, instead of displaying it constantly on the addon bar (maybe give option for icon behavior). Or, as said, just show an "X/Y" that replaces the ghost, when using the "smaller" of 2 icons.
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  • EMPLOYEE
    Pete (Senior Communications Manager) September 12, 2013 14:48
    Hi Katiep,

    Thanks for using Ghostery!

    Much appreciated feedback. There's a lot here!

    1. # of Blocking. What are you hoping to gain by that? I would think, knowing how many trackers have been detected is a more significant number.

    2. The icon disappearing issue has been resolved in our beta release which you can get here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fire...

    3. Right vs. left click features are different by browser. Left click always opens the panel . Right click in say Chrome as an example gives you direct access to the options menu, icon options, extension menu.. etc..

    4. The problem with adding more info to the nab bar icon is space. there isn't much to work with.. So adding lots of numbers and pop-ups isn't really possible with current design.

    Icon behavior settings can be manipulated best by using each browsers customize feature.

    That being said.. we do very much appreciate you taking the time with this..

    Which browser are you using? Other than these suggestions are you enjoying Ghostery?
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  • katiep September 12, 2013 16:03
    Fx 23 in Vista x64.


    "Space of an icon" Icons can be changed easily. (you meant "nav bar" icon?)

    I could design / resize the nav bar icon for size to display 2 numbers: 6/10.
    Getting it to show the RIGHT #s - that's another deal.

    What I'm hoping to gain (w/o giving up a lot of space) is knowing if all trackers on a page have been blocked. I don't care how many are there - care about how many out of total are blocked.

    The smaller icon (where a # replaces the ghost icon -over the top), could easily display 6/10, in much less space than the "addon bar"? icon that always displays the ghost AND the 6 / 10 displayed beside the ghost.

    #3: Yes - exactly what I said. Having R & L click do exactly same thing in Fx is a waste.

    There is no Fx icon "setting / customization" option to show # blocked out of total, unless use the too wide addon bar icon w/ ghost & numbers displayed, side by side.

    If the nav bar icon ghost is replaced w/ a number, once trackers are found, why not same behavior for the addon bar icon? Just replace the ghost w/ the 2 #s, that already display, beside it.

    I appreciate ghostery - don't know that I "enjoy it."
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  • CHAMP
    Eric P. Scott September 12, 2013 17:17
    In Firefox, I've moved Ghosty to the Add-on Bar, and hidden the Navigation Toolbar. I'm having a problem with Ghostery 5.0.5beta1. Here's a screenshot:

    [screenshot]

    What site I'm looking at? Can you guess its URL?

    BTW, that tooltip could be more useful: for example, it might report how many trackers were blocked. :-)

    A good panel design is tricky. First of all, it has to work for touchscreen devices. That means big buttons, and you can't necessarily count on having a right click, or even a cursor. (A "long tap" gesture can take the place of right click or hover, but not both.)

    What looks like wasted space to you might be essential for internationalization.

    Be aware that text in U.S. English can grow up to 50 percent longer when translated to other languages.

    — OS X Human Interface Guidelines


    The toolbar button is a casualty of least common denominator design. Some browsers are quite inflexible, yet there's a [possibly misguided] push for uniformity. Factor in the Chrome, Firefox, and Opera add-on distributors' approval requirements, and you end up with a really bland user experience.

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  • katiep September 12, 2013 22:35
    which ghostery version is the screen - 5.0.5b1 ?
    Haven't tried it.

    Sorry (to anyone) but one size can't fit all languages, all browsers.
    I don't buy that what I suppose is called the nav bar icon, couldn't be made to show a "6/10" format.

    Or view those values if hovering. Now, on a desktop when I hover it, tool tip shows: "View Ghostery Findings." Could as easily show "6/10."

    Or, why a big interest in how many are found, vs. how many were blocked? If they want REAL details, can open the findings UI. Most of time, I want to know there aren't any unblocked ones, that I need to add manually.

    Be aware that text in U.S. English can grow up to 50 percent longer when translated to other languages.

    - Get rid of ghost in top findings bar.
    - Get rid of URL in top finding bar.
    - Move the options button to bottom - make other buttons slightly smaller.
    - Then will have room for line wrap, if text is longer.
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  • CHAMP
    Eric P. Scott September 13, 2013 02:45
    Yes, the screenshot is 5.0.5beta1.

    Safari toolbar item badges are restricted to positive integers. Chrome browser action badges aren't supposed to exceed four characters. Opera 12 had a similar limitation. I'll have to defer to Alexei (or someone who's well-versed in the subtle differences between browsers) for an explanation of exactly what is or isn't possible, but even something as simple as 12/34 is probably asking too much.

    Found vs. blocked: we're entomologists, not exterminators. If you want to use our knowledge to swat stuff, that's your prerogative. Ghostery doesn't block anything by default, and there are plenty of people who use it simply to understand what's going on as they browse the web, not to alter anything. For them, the block count will always be zero, and the only number that ever matters is how many trackers were detected.

    — The ghost is branding. Branding lets us have fun promotional items, like stickers and squishy toys.
    — The URL is there to furnish context. Firefox 23.0 for Android defaults to a dynamic toolbar, so a lot of the time you don't even know what you're looking at.
    — I'm hoping we can restore the options that were available with 2.9.6.
    — It makes sense to place more commonly used features at the top (minimizing cursor motion), and infrequently needed ones at the bottom.

    The current arrangement might not be perfect, but it's not haphazard, either. Quite a bit of thought went into it. See https://getsatisfaction.com/ghostery/... for screenshots of various panel implementations.

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  • katiep September 13, 2013 19:27
    Well, that's one take.

    Please... if powers that be don't want to make changes, based on anything they desire, OK. But skip the "explanations."
    plenty of people who use it simply to understand what's going on as they browse the web, not to alter anything

    Right, that's why the add on tool bar icon shows # blocked out of total. ;)
    Cause no one's interested.

    "Too far to move the cursor"? - from top to bottom of the ghostery finding UI? Don't even have to move my hand. On a tablet / phone, literally nothing to it.

    Put the "branding" elsewhere on that UI, if needed. Make the green / red dots the shape of a ghost. THEN, there'd be 4, 5 , 10 ghosts.

    Or any of dozens of easily possible, suitable ways to "brand" AND make more room for useful text at top of findings UI.

    The "pause blocking" & "whitelist" buttons are HUGE compared to Options "gear." Make them a bit smaller. If gear is at bottom w/ pause & whitelist buttons, there'd be LESS cursor movement, not more. That's a "non excuse."

    What you're saying is contradictory because the other "add on bar" icon does exactly what I'm suggesting; just takes up more than it's fair share of tool bar space. This is like arguing over the sky's color.
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