Https-everywhere: Don't show changelog after updating

[uusijani]

Type: feature request

After starting Firefox today an unrequested "What's Updated" tab from HTTPS Everywhere (2020.3.16) popped up. I failed to find a way to prevent my workflow from being interrupted this way, so I had to resort to preventing automatic updates of the extension altogether.

Please don't open unrequested tabs. I can find the changelog if I need to.

[glennsl]

With Chromium, extensions are updated without needing to restart the browser, so this will just pop up whenever, even stealing focus from whatever else you might be working on. Great fun if you have multiple profiles as well. I've been interrupted by this three times today.

Thanks to the developers for all the good you're doing with this extension, but please don't do this. This behaviour is not just annoying but suspicious. It erodes the trust you've built up over the years.

[zoracon]

After many emails of users not knowing what is updated, and where updated features are, I decided it was high time for a page that shows significant visual changes in the U.I.

This may be useless to you, but this is recommended practice across extensions.

With that said, we do not plan on having this pop up each time if there is no significant U.I. update.

@glennsl are you saying you saw the extension's visual changelog pop up three times in the same browser?

[zoracon]

Related #19028

[pipboy96]

@zoracon We need an opt-out switch, or possibly showing the page only once (on first installation), and then show the changelog in the extension popup only.

[zoracon]

@zoracon We need an opt-out switch, or possibly showing the page only once (on first installation), and then show the changelog in the extension popup only.

@pipboy96 This was an update page that isn't for installation (which is being planned for new users). This is meant to only display once on update. I can toy with an "opt-in" rather than "opt-out" page, because it would just trigger on next update for everyone and cause a cascade of commentary again. So I'd rather just set that up so it wouldn't appear again for everyone.

Of course, that also means less savvy users would need to know where this option is. Which would mean I need to plan on many emails again from users being alarmed by visual changes. It's a rock and a hard place kind of decision. But I rather deal with the emails of users asking where things are. Instead of the adverse responses to the visual change log. The extension stores are doing a better job of generally educating users on extensions, so I am hoping more know where to find settings now.

[pipboy96]

@zoracon Should we disable this page for Tor Browser users?

[zoracon]

@zoracon Should we disable this page for Tor Browser users?

@pipboy96 possibly, I think the opt-in option will take care of this since they would need to go into settings to enable this

[glennsl]

@zoracon

@glennsl are you saying you saw the extension's visual changelog pop up three times in the same browser?

Yes, because I use multiple profiles (ie. sandboxes) I have the extension installed multiple times in the same browser. So that of course exacerbates the issue, but isn't the real problem. The problem is that it hijacks my attention suddenly and without warning, regardless of whatever else I'm doing on my computer. That is very aggressive for what's just a change log and triggers memories of the pop-up ads of yore.

How about just opening a background tab on browser start-up instead? That would be pretty discoverable without being excessively annoying.

[pipboy96]

@zoracon Maybe we can just use a popup similar to the one that was previously used for a counter?

[zoracon]

@zoracon Maybe we can just use a popup similar to the one that was previously used for a counter?

Yea, something like a notification dot maybe with a link in the menu. PB dev suggested maybe a "what's new" link in the popup menu along with the notification dot.

Maybe the flow can be

• Notification dot
• Link in popup menu
• Go to page
• Opt in link for future updates page that redirects users to settings

[zoracon]

I can work on the above and adjust this and try to do a release with this fix in April

[zoracon]

Attaching a patch if anyone would like to test this workflow prior to PR release.

This triggers a notification badge and sets an inactive tab. Of course this isn't solidified, but it would be great to get some feed back prior to the PR for this.
https://gist.github.com/zoracon/eac248b54128dab18c2eded615ebde6c

[pipboy96]

@zoracon The notification should go away once the tab gets active for the first time, and the extension popup should have a link that makes the tab active when pressed.

[ssokolow]

As this is the second add-on to do this in two weeks, as well as being both extremely intrusive for me (a tech-savvy person) and the most recent example of behaviour that prompted my mother (a non-tech-savvy person) to call me, fearful that she'd been hacked because an addon was so thrilled that it had updated (and she didn't connect the UI she used with the UI that was popping up, un-prompted), I've opened a request that AMO forbid this kind of behaviour in favour of something less intrusive.

[ssokolow]

For the record, I've now seen that bleeping popup four separate times, across two devices and four Firefox profiles. Every time I see it, I question whether I care enough to keep HTTPS Everywhere installed a little more.

[pipboy96]

@ssokolow Unfortunately, it's impossible to make a release due to shelter-in-place order in the area EFF headquarters is located in. It's impossible to do anything with this issue right now.