InformAction Forums

Per this discussion, I'm using NoScript to categorize sites into two pools: trusted/whitelist/I-know-it's-good and untrusted/everything-else. The down side to this method is that almost every web site (except the few I put into the whitelist) notifies me of its forbidden scripts. Getting notification via the pop-up message is nice, but gets old quickly. So I want to turn off the pop-up message and just use the Status Bar Label. The problem is the Status Bar Label is a little lacking. Here are some improvements I'd like to see for it:

1) You should be able to click on the label and bring up the NoScript options menu just like you clicked on the NoScript icon.

2) The text should be color coded (and optionally bold for readability): green = all allowed, yellow = some allowed/some forbidden, red = all forbidden.

3) Is there any reason the label text has extra spacing between itself and the NoScript icon? My FireBug and NoScript icons are closer together and they are unrelated. The Status Bar Label should be closer to the NoScript icon since it is related, no?

4) The current text is "Scripts Currently Forbidden | <SCRIPT>: # | <OBJECT>: #". The text should be less verbose and less obtuse (only web-heads know about the <SCRIPT> and <OBJECT> tags). I'd like to see something simple like "Scripts # of #". The same would go for objects, but you only show the script or object info if scripts or objects are present. Some examples are "Scripts 5 of 10" for a page with no objects, "Objects 0 of 1" for a page with no scripts, and "Scripts 5 of 10, Objects 0 of 1" for a page with both. The labels could be even shorter, but I think that'd be overkill for casual users.

If the Status Bar Label had improvements like this, then I could disable the pop-up warning and rely on it. That'd make me a happier NoScript camper.
Thanks,
-Foam

Did you consider relying on the status bar icon alone?
It conveys all the information of the label except the numbers, but in the rare cases when you really want them, you just need to hover the icon and the tooltip box will tell you.

Giorgio Maone wrote:Did you consider relying on the status bar icon alone?
It conveys all the information of the label except the numbers, but in the rare cases when you really want them, you just need to hover the icon and the tooltip box will tell you.

This is an opportunity for me to sneak in another request for changing the status bar icon color for any blocked sub-object at a trusted site, Yahoo Mail being the most frequent (the iFrame mail-attachment sub-object). I know you've been busy. TIA.

Giorgio Maone wrote:Did you consider relying on the status bar icon alone?
It conveys all the information of the label except the numbers, but in the rare cases when you really want them, you just need to hover the icon and the tooltip box will tell you.

Actually, I didn't think of that. ... I'll try that and see how I like it.

Regardless of whether I will or won't use the icon instead of the label, the comments in #4 definitely needs to be addressed. Seeing <SCRIPT> and <OBJECT> is very techie and (IMHO) turns off new casual users. Also, since using the icon, I noticed the icon's tooltip has the same format, so you'd want to change both.

Thanks,
-Foam

Maybe I am a verbose web-head or obtuse but I never had any trouble with the current icon scheme and I don't even use the notification any more. I rely 100% on the icons and have not had any issues. The only annoying thing I find is that I don't like to allow about:blank by default and many many sites even whitelisted will have that one stupid item sitting there causing a mixed icon which I find a pain but I get over it.

Foam Head wrote: Seeing <SCRIPT> and <OBJECT> is very techie and (IMHO) turns off new casual users.

Taking away the angle brackets and pipes just doesn't seem to make any significant differences, since the tags are exactly the same as their plain-English equivalents. If someone knows what a script or object is, it seems unlikely the extra syntax would block that recognition even if they don't know the syntax characters. But I certainly have no objection to their removal, and showing # allowed out of # trying, like a baseball player's batting average, sounds good.

GµårÐïåñ wrote:Maybe I am a verbose web-head or obtuse

you said it, comrade but that doesn't make your observations invalid does it? No answer needed, I'm being rhetorical

but I never had any trouble with the current icon scheme and I don't even use the notification any more.
I rely 100% on the icons and have not had any issues.

+1, in spades; the icons give NS its usability speed.

The only annoying thing I find is that I don't like to allow about:blank by default and many many sites even whitelisted will have that one stupid item sitting there causing a mixed icon which I find a pain but I get over it.

That threw me too, for a few days, until I toggled my own brainswitch to make the red-NS-with-a-small-white-blob now the full red NS sign of no scripts running. Otherwise I'd still be opening the menu just to make sure at almost every site I visit It's a touch more prone to leave me with a false whitelist item that I don't pick up but, well, life wasn't meant to be all my way.