Talk:Global Private Browsing

Discussion Thread

Hey Alex,

I actually, before seeing your mockups, thought the same thing: black visual treatment on the chrome to put it into "Stealth" mode. I also think it's appropriate to have the activation step in a menu, rather than primary chrome. Not only is most of primary chrome right now concerned with the active page/tab (back, reload, loc bar, etc) rather than the entire browser, but I also think this doesn't merit that level of in your face complexity-addition. I do think it's quite appropriate to have the Private indicator in primary chrome once it's enabled, though.

I notice your mockup lifted the Privacy icon from the preferences. I don't know about you, but I hate that icon. I get that it's a hotel DND sign, but it looks an awful lot like an open padlock, and we both know how broken the padlock is. :) I'm not saying you have endorsed it or anything, but I think any such feature needs to think about fixing that visual, and then maybe once we have a more appropriate one, spreading it out across the browser to other places where the door hanger appears. Searches like this:

http://images.google.com/images?q=privacy+icon

... tend to use either padlock/keyhole/key metaphors, or eyes (eyes crossed out, eyes with X's or do not enter signs, etc). I think that we are better served with that kind of visual than with the lock metaphors. We might also try to develop our own, around shadows, or closed blinds, or something else privacy-inducing.