Re: Removing Firefox Version Number

Isaac Stitz wrote:
> On Aug 20, 5:31 pm, Asa Dotzler<[email protected]>  wrote:
>> Yes, Hasse. You are mostly right here. That is essentially what we're
>> trying to do. We're trying to minimize the information in the About
>> window except communicating to the user -- to give them confidence,
>> "Firefox just checked a moment ago and you can be confident that you are
>> running the latest and greatest Firefox available." Maybe in a few years
>> users will all have that confidence but right now they don't so we want
>> to help them transition smoothly to this new world of always being on
>> the latest version and not ever having to worry about that (a lot like
>> Web apps are today.)
>
> I don't know about you, but having *less* information does not make me
> *more* confident.  Why not simply say something to the effect of,
> "Firefox checked for updates 20 minutes ago and you are using the most
> up-to-date version available.  It is version 6.0."  Is that really so
> confusing?

You and I are not like most of our users. We should not be designing for 
ourselves. As you noted in another comment, you are a power user. I am 
too. It's kind of awesome being a software power user, but one of the 
pitfalls is that it makes it all too easy to lose sight of what it's 
like for people who aren't power users.

Our usability and user experience team, along with our product and 
development team, struggle with this on a daily basis because we realize 
that we are building a product that must work really well for about a 
billion people (we have half that today and of course want to grow into 
the second half.) That's not an easy thing to do. This newsgroup is 
actually a great place to participate in that difficult process and to 
learn and share with others who are.

Back to your original point. I am not a usability expert. I've been 
working with people who are for years. I'm sure one of them can cite the 
research that demonstrates pretty incontrovertible evidence that most 
users are easily overwhelmed by *more* information and prefer *less* in 
situations like this.

You and I, we love more information. We love more choices. We love 
learning about software and configuring it until it fits us like a 
glove. We're power users. We're advanced users. We're a small minority 
of users.

>> Eventually, this use may nearly fully disappear. When everyone gets
>> comfortable that they are always safe and secure and always on the
>> latest offering that Mozilla has for them, most will stop wondering
>> about up-to-date-ness completely and even this confidence-building
>> feature may not be necessary.
>
> Mozilla:  "You're safe.  No one's going to hurt you."
> User:  "I am?  Why?"
> Mozilla:  "Don't worry about all that 'why' nonsense.  Just trust me."
> User:  "Erm... that doesn't make me feel very safe..."
> Mozilla:  "Shhh...  Trust me."

Mozilla: "You're on the latest and greatest Firefox release."
User: "I am? How do I know you're not just saying the same thing every 
time I open this window?"
Mozilla: "Because we just checked with HQ 8 seconds and verified that 
you are indeed on the latest and greatest Firefox release."

This is the reason that this confirmation must have two parts, the "up 
to date" notice and the "time we last checked" information.

- A