16:02:03 <donuts> #startmeeting UX Team Weekly Meeting, 7 February 2023
16:02:03 <MeetBot> Meeting started Tue Feb  7 16:02:03 2023 UTC.  The chair is donuts. Information about MeetBot at http://wiki.debian.org/MeetBot.
16:02:03 <MeetBot> Useful Commands: #action #agreed #help #info #idea #link #topic.
16:02:07 <donuts> welcome everyone!
16:02:21 <nah> o/
16:02:29 <donuts> please take a few minutes to add your updates while I fix the pad
16:02:36 <donuts> ...which can be found here: https://pad.riseup.net/p/tor-ux-team-keep
16:07:56 <donuts> how's everyone doing? I need a couple more minutes
16:08:05 <nah> i'm good
16:08:08 * championquizzer is done
16:08:34 <nicob> am done
16:09:18 <donuts> okay I'm done
16:09:39 <donuts> nothing in bold?
16:10:12 <championquizzer> there you go
16:10:27 <donuts> baha thank you championquizzer
16:10:37 <donuts> congrats on the new whatsapp channel!
16:10:41 <championquizzer> :p
16:10:45 <donuts> how much volume have you had so far? it's public now, yep?
16:11:12 <championquizzer> we are still testing mostly. it's open and working but we haven't advertised much
16:11:28 <championquizzer> nicob is working on some cool graphics
16:11:44 <championquizzer> comms will make the announcements this/next week
16:11:54 <nah> :sparkles:
16:12:01 <championquizzer> in the meantime, i am trying to complete some tasks
16:12:04 <donuts> nice!
16:12:11 <championquizzer> like updating the dcos, etc.
16:12:31 <championquizzer> all tracked in the ticket: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/web/support/-/issues/321
16:12:55 <championquizzer> This is going to be very similar to the telegram channel we have
16:13:10 <donuts> very cool
16:13:13 <championquizzer> and it's integrated with the same cdr.link
16:13:22 <donuts> extremely cool :D
16:13:22 <championquizzer> so it's all in one interface on our end
16:13:40 <nicob> \o/
16:13:43 <donuts> it sounds like cdr.link has been working out pretty well for you and the team?
16:14:48 <championquizzer> yep! we have had some issues with controlling spam and huge waves of support requests (for e.g. with the situation in ir)
16:15:01 <championquizzer> but it has been working very good overall
16:15:22 <donuts> good!
16:15:56 <donuts> championquizzer, feel free to transition straight into your monthly report if there's anything to discuss there
16:16:01 <donuts> and I'll chat about Sponsor 30 afterwards
16:16:27 <championquizzer> aha. forgot to add that donuts. ty!
16:16:35 <championquizzer> report: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-project/2023-February/003557.html
16:17:39 <championquizzer> i think we probably discussed this before, but there was a huge uptick in number of requests from china
16:18:17 <donuts> wow, 308 requests?
16:18:27 <championquizzer> yep
16:18:39 <nah> championquizzer: are the bridge requests from CN still rising?
16:19:02 <nah> i mean, private bridge requests
16:19:27 <donuts> do you get the sense that connection assist is still broadly successful? or do we need to change the recipe for again?
16:19:29 <championquizzer> nah: i think it's quite stagnant at this point. like i am getting 9-10 emails every day right now
16:19:55 <championquizzer> donuts: on that ..
16:19:58 <donuts> Or, is it more due to organic growth/expanding censorship?
16:20:47 <championquizzer> i have been trying to ask folks about connection assist. i started a experiment of including screenshots so users can see what it looks like and what to do if they see those settings
16:21:23 <championquizzer> i am getting a idea that many folks don't yet know about the connection assist although they might be using it successfully
16:21:43 <championquizzer> pvt bridge we share are working
16:22:17 <championquizzer> usability wise by far the issue is when users try to paste bridge lines into the config
16:22:58 <donuts> That's not a bad thing really (not explicitly recognizing the name of the feature). In fact I'm considering removing the term entirely from v2.0, and just positioning it as a series of errors to recover from.
16:23:47 <championquizzer> i see
16:24:09 <donuts> it's still pending the results of Nah's diary study, and won't be a thing until TB 13.0, but this is the cleaner design I've been experimenting with (base on FF's new neterror template and copy guidelines):
16:24:15 <donuts> https://www.figma.com/file/gFE1rXBMdbZGJAIdwtZ508/Tor-Browser-13.0?node-id=0%3A1&t=PJQ2TooqLkuuLFC2-1
16:24:55 <donuts> <+championquizzer> usability wise by far the issue is when users try to paste bridge lines into the config <- let's circle back to talk about this in a sec!
16:25:41 <donuts> also new icons by nicob!
16:26:13 <nicob> ✨
16:26:57 <championquizzer> very nice!
16:28:30 <donuts> okay please tell me more about these secret bridge line UX issues!
16:28:47 <donuts> also, have you seen the design proposal in this ticket?
16:28:48 <donuts> https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/40552
16:28:58 <donuts> (scroll to the bottom)
16:29:36 <championquizzer> aha. i recall the ticket, but didn't see the updates :)
16:31:25 <championquizzer> looking good donuts
16:31:27 <donuts> just posted 'em yesterday as I'm working through the S30 amends
16:31:37 <donuts> I'm curious to know if you have other suggestions though!
16:32:10 <championquizzer> cool. i will let you know on the ticket
16:32:21 <donuts> right now we have improvements to strings, formatting, connect buttons directly in the modal, and basic error validation in the works
16:33:14 <championquizzer> uhmm, i do think that covers a lot UX/UI wise
16:33:56 <donuts> great :)
16:34:05 <ggus> donuts: one thing to take into consideration is that sometimes AC-team uses that field to add some really big lines... example: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/censorship-analysis/-/issues/40024#note_2829112
16:34:45 <championquizzer> donuts: generally what i see is 1) users input bridges 2) can't connect to Tor 3) share Tor logs 4) there are lines in the log with 'unable to parse bridge lines'
16:34:58 <donuts> ggus: for testing purposes?
16:35:03 <championquizzer> so having some sort of warning in the interface is good!
16:35:28 <ggus> donuts: yes and no, it's for bypassing censorship in some regions
16:36:00 <nah> donuts: is it possible to add an error in case the user add a bridge that is incomplete?
16:36:38 <donuts> nah: depends, the error we're planning to have atm is basically whether or not Tor accepts the bridge line
16:37:03 <donuts> there was also discussion about using a regex for more heavy handed error validation, but that's a lower priority
16:37:56 <donuts> ggus: I'm not sure what to do with this info, but I can tag the AC team in the issue for feedback too
16:38:12 <nah> got it
16:38:25 <nah> this is not particularly included in the next research (
16:38:28 <nah> march)
16:38:31 <donuts> championquizzer: okay, sounds like we'll catch some of that with the new UX – although I imagine it's going to take some more iteration
16:38:49 <nah> but we can add it to the research to be conducted in April
16:39:10 <donuts> nah: it _should_ be included in 12.5a4, but I'm throwing a lot at the applications team atm so we'll see
16:39:22 <championquizzer> donuts: ack!
16:39:30 <donuts> nah: you *might* be able to test Nightlies with it included in March, but it's iffy
16:40:06 <nah> ok
16:40:32 <donuts> So, recap for the whole group, the plan is to work on as many of these Sponsor 30 amends as possible in time for March's alpha
16:40:41 <donuts> which can be found here: https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/milestones/29
16:41:10 <donuts> then nah & the community team will be gathering feedback on this alpha during their travels in LATAM in March/April
16:41:32 <donuts> and if validated, we're hoping to see some of these improvements reach stable in Tor Browser 12.5
16:41:39 <nah> :)
16:41:48 <championquizzer> sounds good!
16:42:04 <nicob> \o/
16:42:36 <donuts> the big changes are:
16:42:51 <donuts> updates to the downloads UX: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/40701
16:43:01 <donuts> better connection statuses: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/41608
16:43:22 <donuts> new and improved circuit display: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/41600
16:43:54 <donuts> plus improvements to connection settings, the built-in bridges and add a bridge modals
16:44:46 <donuts> note it's all desktop, because we didn't have dev capacity for mobile when this project started
16:44:53 <championquizzer> have been following 41600. great work there donuts! :)
16:45:04 <donuts> however mobile will hopefully be receiving some TLC later this year
16:45:08 <donuts> thanks championquizzer!
16:46:52 <donuts> so that covers the agenda, is there anything else anyone would like to discuss today?
16:49:14 <nicob> all good here
16:49:26 <championquizzer> there's one bold item on the pad at the end by sweetcurator[m] :)
16:50:54 <donuts> hey sweetcurator[m]! maybe you could sync with Nah separately and let them know what your availability is like?
16:51:13 <sweetcurator[m]> Thanks championquizzer . Yes, I can connect with nah to see where I can help with the research effort. Anyone else feel free to reach out to recruit me to assist in any research activities. :)
16:51:17 <nah> hey sweetcurator[m]! i'm working on several research plans atm, maybe you can support me running a pilot study ;)
16:51:31 <sweetcurator[m]> 👍️
16:52:36 <donuts> sounds great, thanks both!
16:52:47 <championquizzer> have a good week folks! thanks all o/
16:52:55 <nah> o/ have a good week!
16:53:05 <nicob> thanks all!
16:53:41 <donuts> thanks everyone! have a great week!
16:53:49 <donuts> #endmeeting