- From: Peter Kasting <pkasting@google.com>
- Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2011 17:04:57 -0700
On Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 4:37 PM, Andrew de Andrade <andrew at deandrade.com.br>wrote: > 2) The HTML5 specification defines how browsers should implement this > consistently --> either a bar across the top OR modal dialog box, but > not both. This isn't ideal either since there are arguments both for > and against both solutions. Besides the con you mention, I think this is also outside the scope of HTML5. The spec has frequently advised browser vendors on characteristics that must or should be true, e.g. w.r.t. allowing users to manage and delete local storage data in a similar fashion to cookies -- but actually dictating precise bits of UI goes too far. 3) Each browser chooses their default interface approach (bar or modal > dialog), but the Geolocation API specification allows for the webapp > developer to override this default. Those apps for which location is > essencial for the user experience can choose to always display a modal > dialog box before the user proceeds to use the webapp. Those apps for > which it is not important, can opt for the bar across the top. > Unfortunately, it is far more common for an author to feel that a particular permission is essential than for the user to feel so. Furthermore, modal dialogs have other usability issues that the browser vendor may wish to avoid, e.g. requiring script on many different tabs to stop. In addressing the privacy aspects of the user experience, we've > created a usability issue which needs to be addressed as well. > Allowing users to toggle a feature on a per-site basis is not just a privacy issue but in many cases one of general functionality. For example, Chrome includes a "click to play" feature under a flag that allows users to dynamically control plugin invocation, not for privacy but usability reasons. The browser vendor may have strong UI design goals or interface consistency requirements that dictate how functionality choices are portrayed to the user. As a browser UI developer, I am not willing to cede control over those aspects to the web developer. If users don't notice or understand the geolocation prompts in a particular browser, I think the appropriate response is to provide feedback to the browser vendor that users are not successfully navigating their UI. I would be very interested in the details of your testing, how you determined that users were missing the prompts, and how effective were more generalized methods (than making a floating div as a UI callout) in guiding users (e.g. simply telling users they need to give the site permission to access their location before it will work correctly, showing your UI with a big "No permission to access your location; did you tell your browser to allow this?"-style banner overlaid, etc.). PK
Received on Wednesday, 6 April 2011 17:04:57 UTC