Re: Feature request: Server connection status message

Hello Jorge,

>   I'd go for kind of a colored led indicator in the status bar (not wiped by
> cursor movement {which displays the underlying URL}). that when hovered pops
> a hint text briefly explaining the status. For instance:
> 
>     red: Resolving server name
>     orange: contacting host
>     yellow: expecting answer
>     green: data stream already flowing.
>     white/off: done.
> 
>   That way it would be quite easy to tell at which stage lies the failure.

I think that would be very solution, because, as you said, the
underlying URL would still be visible in the status bar.

>   Obviously this is for the main page only (not images, nor stylesheets,
>   nor other resources).

That's a good point, actually.  Wouldn't it make sense to display
information about stylesheets, images etc. as well?

Best regards,
Alex

On Fri, Mar 11, 2016 at 09:07:15AM -0300, Jorge Arellano Cid wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 04:12:05AM +0000, eocene wrote:
> > On Wed, Mar 09, 2016 at 08:39:02PM +1300, James C wrote:
> > > Hello Dillo maintainer people,
> > > 
> > > If I set out to write this patch, the first version will be painful. Do you want the change?  Do you want to hand-hold me through writing it?
> > 
> > We do have:
> > 
> > MSG_BW(S->web, 1, "Contacting host...");
> > MSG_BW(S->web, 1, "DNS resolving %s", hostname);
> > 
> > for the status bar, although unfortunately they are wiped out if you move
> > the pointer over a link. I've thought it would be nice if such status messages
> > could reappear when no longer showing a link...
> 
>   Yep.
> 
>   It was a bit funny to see a feature request for some status messages which
> were already there (among others).
>   The reasons for it, though, are completely understandable (IMO). Usually
> those messages go very fast and get wiped out by cursor movement, so
> they miss the intended informative purpose.
> 
>   It was also very good to read a question before trying to develop a patch.
> Usually it's better to ask and have some feedback before coding [the attentive
> reader already got that the reuqested patch would make no difference].
> 
>   ... but the problem is real!
> 
>   Years have taught me to try to find the root problem of what the patch
> tries to fix. In this case, it looks like the problem it that sometimes
> the user can't find out whether the page has been asked for or not (no
> visual clue feedback telling the difference). I've had the same problem
> at times (using ADSL). Thinking of it as I use dillo, I suspect that sometimes
> the servers are answering a "temporarily busy" HTTP message or just droping
> the connection. This is known to happen, as it was developed as a technique
> against bots and DDOS attacks, by using the fact that a web browser would
> try again (which dillo may not be doing for some cases).
>   I've also noticed that sometimes I don't get images from a site and the
> reason is that the DNS can't resolve the name, but when asked again it does.
> This surely is part of the problem (at least for me). BTW, this is typical
> behaviour of a crowded DNS server.
> 
>   I'd go for kind of a colored led indicator in the status bar (not wiped by
> cursor movement {which displays the underlying URL}). that when hovered pops
> a hint text briefly explaining the status. For instance:
> 
>     red: Resolving server name
>     orange: contacting host
>     yellow: expecting answer
>     green: data stream already flowing.
>     white/off: done.
> 
>   That way it would be quite easy to tell at which stage lies the failure.
>   Obviously this is for the main page only (not images, nor stylesheets,
>   nor other resources).
> 
>   Now, I'd say the problem would be tackled once the underlying causes
> (as the ones described above, or a different one) are patched for. In 
> which case the "status led indicator" would be very useful feedback, and
> would help to locate problems while browsing.
> 
>   Let's discuss this a bit before coding,
> we have a very good signal/noise ratio in dillo-dev!
> 
> 
> -- 
>   Cheers
>   Jorge.-
> 
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