touch-packages team mailing list archive

[Greg Williams <1425991@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

<<as Shahbaz points out, most of the time, Ubuntu will connect
automatically to one of the networks you have connected to before. So
most of the time, if you open the menu to connect to a Wi-Fi network, it
is to connect to a network that you have *not* connected to before. It
would be counterproductive, then, to show by default only networks that
you *have* connected to before.>>

No, this is not accurate.
1) there are lots of users who do not want networks connecting automatically, so they manually select the network they want.
2) even if Ubuntu is set to automatically connect to networks, if there are more than one network in range that a user regularly connects to, he/she HAS to manually select the network because Ubuntu does not know which network to automatically connect to. Except the way Ubuntu currently works, the user is forced to wade through unknown networks to single out the network/s they have previously connected to in the past.
3) there are other reasons to access the network-indicator besides connecting to a network. And having NEVER-USED, NEVER-WILL-USE networks taking up space in the drop-down is not a smart design choice
4) there is no good reason NOT to confine networks you have never connected to the "More networks" folder or an "Unknown networks" folder. Demarcating networks like this makes it easier on the user because it helps identify to the user which networks they have and have-not connected to in the past. And it allows simplified presentation of the network-indicator menu; it also aides user memory of what networks they have connected to in the past without forcing them to visit the "Edit Connections" section of the network-indicator menu. Networks are already demarcated into the "More networks" folder. But there is little logic to why they are put in the folder. Add some logic and understanding to the placement of networks in this folder, logic that the User immediately understands.

<<Where you have previously connected to more than one of the networks
in range, the menu prioritizes showing these ones, ahead of showing
networks that you have not connected to before. After that, it
prioritizes the strongest other networks, minimizing the probability
that the network you want isn't at the top level.
<https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Networking#wi-fi-menu>>

No, this is untrue. I regularly have to fish out the network I want at
the bottom of the network-indicator dropdown list because other networks
are placed above it in the list (networks I have never connected to and
never will connect to).

<<for example, you may not remember whether you used the Wi-Fi the last
time you were at this particular cafe/airport/etc, so you may not
remember whether the network is "known" or not. And having two lists of
networks, separated by other functional items, would be rather
inelegant.>>

What? You do not understand what I am reporting as the bug. If you fix
the bug I am reporting, the user would immediately know whether he/she
used the network in the past because Ubuntu would display it in the
network-indicator dropdown. The network was connected to before, so it
would show up in the network-indicator list. If the network has NEVER
been connected to before, it will only show in the "More networks"
folder or the "Unknown networks" folder.

Having networks list in the network-indicator list that the user will
NEVER connect to and has NEVER connected to in the past is what is
inelegant and screws with the user's memory. In my proposal, the user
does not have to remember whether the network is "known" or not. Ubuntu
tells the user the network is known (or connected to before) because it
is not listing it in the "Unknown networks" folder.

Let me restate what you need to do to fix this problem: Networks that
have never been connected to in the past should not directly display in
the network-indicator drop-down. Instead, they should be confined to a
folder that says "Unknown Networks." If a connection has been made to
the network in the past, then the network should directly display in the
network-indicator drop-down.

<Part of adapting the phone Wi-Fi settings to the PC will, I hope, be
introducing the ability to arrange previous networks in order of
preference. Once that is done, I don't think there will be any point in
also letting you confine/blacklist networks.>

This bug reports the inelegant and inefficient organziation and handling
of wifi networks that currently exists in Ubuntu. It should be fixed as
soon as possible. Currently, every time a user wants to connect to a
network, he/she has to hunt through a list of networks that perpetually
show but that the user will NEVER EVER connect to. What sense does this
make to force this on Ubuntu users? Every user on earth will immediately
understand to look in the "More Networks" folder or a folder called
"Unknown Networks" for networks that they have not connected to in the
past. And then once the user has connected to a network that network
will display in the network-indicator dropdown, in effect stating this
is a known network that you have connected to in the past. This design
helps the user understand what the safe/formerly visited networks are
and it helps the user maintain a clean and organized network-indicator
menu. Currently the user is bombarded with unknown networks mixed in
with known networks. Fixing this bug will result in the network-
indicator's presentation being more elegant and organized, in effect
saying, "Here are the networks that you have connected to before at this
location. Other networks are available in the Unknown Networks folder,
but you have not connected to them before and their legitimacy or safety
etc is unknown."

The way you guys have it now is inelegant and inefficient and actually
presents a bit of a security/privacy issue because it FORCES users to
perpetually wade through network they will NEVER EVER connect to.


** Changed in: indicator-network (Ubuntu)
       Status: Invalid => New

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu
Touch seeded packages, which is subscribed to indicator-network in
Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1425991

Title:
  Networks I have never connected to should be confined to an "Unknown
  Networks" folder

Status in indicator-network package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  When a user clicks the network manager indicator, a dropdown appears
  and lists wifi networks. This menu should NOT display networks that
  the user has never connected to. Networks the user has never connected
  to should only display in the "More networks" folder. At a mininum,
  the user should be given the ability to confine unwanted networks in
  the "More networks" folder.

  It is an unproductive design choice to force users to have to wade
  through networks they have never connected to (networks they will
  never connect to) in their menu. Numerous reasons exist why a user
  will not use the Auto-Connect setting for wireless networks. So it
  makes sense and is more efficient to have the menu only display the
  networks the user makes active use of and no more.

  When I click on the Network Manager Indicator and select "Edit
  Connections" and then look under the "Wifi" heading, only a couple
  networks appear. So why do 5 or more networks (networks I have never
  connected to, networks I never will connect to) perpetually show in
  the Network Indicator menu? They should not be displayed like they
  are. They should be confined to the "More networks" folder.
  Alternatively, there should be a way to manually confine/sandbox
  unwanted networks to this folder so they no longer display in the
  dropdown menu.

  In the interest of providing a visual example of what I am talking about, here is a picture of some networks I would like to hide/remove from my Network Indicator menu.
  http://a.pomf.se/fdqlnn.png

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