Re: Removing Firefox Version Number

On Aug 16, 8:05 pm, Asa Dotzler <[email protected]> wrote:
> Kai Engert wrote:
> > Having the version number available simplifies the diagnosis of
> > problems.
>
> For those diagnosing problems, how is Help->Troubleshooting, which
> contains the version number right at the top, not a better tool?

Because it's a non-standard location.
Because the menu entry "Help->Troubleshooting" doesn't include the
name of the application.

I'm not talking about the power users, who understand how to help
themselves.
It's about the mass of people who are thankful to have a working
computer, and if running into trouble, are thankful they can call
someone for help.

In my understanding, it's a standard across operating systems and
across software products that this piece of information can be found
in an about dialog - and inside this dialog, the version number is
probably the only number shown - making it very easy to locate.

Problem (a)
Support staff has a more complicated task - because they must remember
that Firefox/Thunderbird are an exception - that the version
information must be looked up elsewhere.

Problem (b)
Language. A user might be sitting at a computer that uses a foreign
language. Or, the support person doesn't know the exact wording of
"troubleshooting" in the language the user is using.

Problem (c)
The user is overwhelmed with the information seen on screen. Too many
numbers. Which one is ist?


Friend: "Hey Kai, I'm in Japan, my luggage was stolen, (1) this
friendly person allows me to use their laptop, (2) I'm in an Internet
Cafe, I urgently need to..., but Firefox/Thunderbird doesn't allow me
to do ..., how can I fix that?".
Kai: "In order to answer that question, I need to know the version of
your Firefox/Thunderbird, so I can look it up locally, because the
Firefox UI changes between versions".
Friend: "Ok, I cannot read japanese, how can I find that?"
Kai: "Can you just type about:support?"
Friend: "No, it's a japanese keyboard, and I don't see anything to
switch keyboard language."
Kai: "Can you go to Help/Troubleshooting"
Friend: "Where is that? I only get japanese characters."
Kai: "I *used* to be the second command, but this might have changed
between version."
Friend: "I tried the second command, but this looks different from
what you describe. Where exactly is what you need?"
Kai: "In the rightmost menu, there should be a command that contains
the word Firefox. Can you see that?"
Friend: "Yeah".
Kai: "What version number does it show?"
Friend: "I don't see any numbers."


I believe there is a significant percentage of users who might be
challenged by such scenarios.

I believe it is a user interface standard that the "about" dialog can
be located in a given position. Rightmost menu, bottommost Entry. It
is easy to locate, in particular because the menu command includes the
application name.

A support person can instruct the user to "open that thing that
contains the word Firefox", or "open that command at the bottom", and
the user will see a single number.
Kai