Re: [Ayatana] Browser Offline Message

[Frederik Nnaji <frederik.nnaji@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 14:54, Matthew Paul Thomas <mpt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

(I had a similar experience with a neighbor running Windows last year.
Their ISP, trying to troubleshoot the problem, had resorted to sending
them a whole new router -- but it turned out the neighbor had just
accidentally clicked Internet Explorer into offline mode.)

yeah.. this is only the browser..

> Before I fixed it though I wanted to see how the user assessed the
> problem and tried to fix it:
>
>  . Loaded Firefox using the quick link on the top pannel
>  . Got the yahoo search page (looks like we're online)
>  . Tried to navigate to mail.yahoo.com
>  . Got a message warning that firefox was in offline mode.

I don't understand why Firefox (or Internet Explorer) has an offline
mode at all.

it used to be helpful, when users had to worry a lot more about quota on their DSL..
 

>  . Reads instructions to turn off 'offline mode'
>  . Goes to File > Work Offline and unchecks the box.
>  . Attempts to refresh page, getting a server not found error.

>...

It's on my radar for ConnectionManager that there should be a standard
API for telling whether there is an Internet connection or not, and for
invoking a troubleshooting assistant if there isn't.

So happy to hear this!
It seems so little to indicate this rather persistent state to the user..

Design exercise: What might that troubleshooting assistant look like?

"Am i online?" - that's one piece of information, not yet a menu or dialog..
If we get that exposed in a transparent manner (dbus), every application can use that information as needed..

Preferrably a consistent visual metaphor that always leads the user to the wizard you propose..