[tor-project] June 2018 report for the UX team

[Antonela Debiasi]

Hello Tor!

A lot of exciting things happened last month. We launched Tor Browser 8
Alpha! It includes a few of UX/UI improvements we have been working on
this year, and I'd like to go a little bit deep here:
 
(a) New Circuit Display
https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/24309

Problem
We found that users don't know if circuits work per tab or globally (Tor
Browser has first party isolation by default). Also, many users expect
the guard node to change when asking for a new circuit. Indeed, there is
nothing on circuit display that tells the user the first node is a
guard, what guards are, and how it works when Tor creates new circuits
for the user.

Hypothesis
We are consistently moving site-specific settings into the URL bar. We
thought that running the circuit display to the URL bar area will help
users to relate the circuit and the domain. Improve the comprehension of
how Tor has been building the circuit is also part of it project scope.
Related with the guard node: if we highlight the Guard node label at the
UI, users will be able to identify it easier and faster. Finally, the
Community team is updating the Tor Browser Manual with more information
about Guard nodes for users who want to [Learn More].

(b) .onion security indicators
https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/23247

Problem
Tor Browser doesn't communicate ideally to users that visit .onion
sites. For example, users visiting .onion services under HTTP looks
scary with lots of warnings. Also, we are missing the opportunity to
educate users about .onion services.

Hypothesis
Adding an onion icon will help users to identify onion services.
Moreover, keeping our security indicator icons close to default security
indicators will help users to react accordingly to their past experiences.

You can read more about this release here [0]. Please download it, try
it and report us what do you think. Next steps include a new About:Tor
Page[1], a Tor Browser onboarding[2] and a reviewed update Tor Browser
flow[3].

Helen Nyinakiiza (nyinz) joined us as a User Research Coordinator last
month. She is working on reporting the results of all the user testing
sessions we ran in India, Spain, Uganda, and Colombia related with this
release.

Last month also, we had been in Colombia doing privacy and security
training, spreading Tor tools and learning from our new and old users.
During this period, we were able to conduct six digital security and
privacy training and reach three cities in Colombia. Thanks Fundación
Karisma, Congreso de los Pueblos, Hacklab Bogota, Colnodo and many
others for receiving us!

Our support portal got its soft launch[4]. Emmapeel joined us as a
Localization Manager, and she will be helping us to sort all the
localization efforts we need to release it in our Tier1 languages. If
you find any bug or you want to report anything you can report those in
various ways[5]. If you're going to help us with translations, then
you're welcome here[6].

We have a lot of things on our plate. You are welcome to join us on
Tuesdays at 1600 UTC in #tor-meeting if you want to get involved!

On behalf of the Tor UX team,
Antonela


[0] https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-80a9
[1] https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/25695
[2] https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/24918
[3] https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/25694
[4] https://support.torproject.org
[5]
https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/doc/community/HowToReportBugFeedback
[6]
https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/doc/translation/Introduction#Fortranslators


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