[tor-bugs] #33282 [Applications/Tor Browser]: new window: increase max width

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#33282: new window: increase max width
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     Reporter:  Thorin               |      Owner:  tbb-team
         Type:  defect               |     Status:  new
     Priority:  Medium               |  Milestone:
    Component:  Applications/Tor     |    Version:
  Browser                            |   Keywords:  tbb-usability, tbb-
     Severity:  Normal               |  fingerprinting-resolution
Actual Points:                       |  Parent ID:
       Points:                       |   Reviewer:
      Sponsor:                       |
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 new window sizes are only applied to non-android devices (AFAIK). Android
 will use LBing when ready.

 new windows are calculated with a max width of 1000px (and then steps down
 in 200px increments). Note: height is similar (max 1000m steps of 100)

 Somewhat relevant, LBing has reduced the number of combos of `w`x`h`: but
 assuming there was no accidental window sizing, and ignoring anything from
 bugs (toolbar showing, dpi etc)... just focusing on new windows

 desktop/laptop screens are likely to be widescreen (approx 16/9), and even
 the old 1.33/1 (e.g. 1024x768) is not square

 Lets say 99% of heights used are `[600,700,800,900,1000]`. Increasing the
 max width to `1200` theoretically increases the number of entropy buckets
 by 5 (1 new x number of heights) and to `1400` by 10, etc. But in reality,
 it's **not going to affect actual entropy** (but there may be some edge
 cases): e.g.
  - if you can do `1000`px high, you can almost certainly do `1200` wide
 (or you never could do 1000 wide anyway: e.g 1024x768)
  - if you're limited to 600 high, you can't do 1200 anyway

 Obviously there are a lot of desktop/laptop screen aspect ratios out
 there, and we don't have any hard data - but my point is:

 **why are we square on desktops/laptops?** - a lot of webpages cause a
 horizontal scroll bar which is quite annoying (and you know just how upset
 users can get with visuals: see LB introduction) - so I'll just label this
 as a usability issue: not just the scrollbar, but wastage of available
 screen real estate / productivity.

 Without some real hard data, we can only guess (but we can look at Firefox
 telemetry or real world screen stats). My instinct tells me 1200 max is
 "safe" (as its below both 4/3 and 16/9), and if 4/3 is an edge case, then
 1400 or 1600 is also "safe"

 I know 1000px seems the safer bet, but 1200px = more usability = more
 users/uptake .. and, it shouldn't affect actual real world entropy

 Class, discuss!

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Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/33282>
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