For Firefox 3.1 we are going to try to finally get around to creating a crash reporter icon (currently it just uses a copy of the software update icon). This leads to the question of what metaphor to use. I was thinking about maybe a puff of smoke or a black box, but I haven’t landed on an idea that I think is particularly good.
A couple aspects we need to consider:
-Since the user might have just been interrupted while doing something important, we probably don’t want to be too flippant. At one point our crash reporter dialog contained the text “Crash! Bang! Boom!” which was wisely softened to “We’re Sorry.”
-I’m not sure if we want to create something that is too memorable since it will inevitably become the symbol of our failure (blue screen of death). Instead of people saying “I’m sick of Firefox crashing” they will say “I’m sick of the [insert metaphor we select here]”
Ideas?
The Minefield icon. It would certainly ward casual users from messing with nightlies. :)
Black box sounds wrong to me. Sounds suspicious and thus is misleading.
So I see two case scenarios to consider:
1) Someone see it once per year, really rarely. It just happened to him today.
2) Someone see it every fourth day, or tenth time in a row (after plugin update?) and is really tired
The former case is IMHO a plainground for creativity and fun. We can show a sad face, something like “Ouch, sorry, there was a collision of pointers in your CPU. Who knows? Maybe a new universe has been created?”. I prefer putting a smile here over being serious.
Ideally, in latter case we should be serious. Different message, different look, different workflow. I consider this to be a different situation than the first one. It should state something like “We recognize that something is wrong. You should contact us, ask for help on SUMO, etc.” – we should give him steps to follow (like this is URL to your crash report, see bugs related to it) so that he knows that it’s NOT normal. It DOES NOT happen to million people in the world. It just happens to him. And it probably is not going to disappear on its own.
Two most common things people do when they encounter this is:
1) Ignore, restart, go forward, crash, ignore, restart, go forward (…) – frustration is growing, and chance that he remembers what he did JUST before it started crashing drops down.
2) Switch browser. After some time try once more – crash. Switch browser… and in this case too, they forgot what they did just before it.
So I believe we should give them steps to follow. Help recognizing that the crash happened third time in 2 minutes, or 10th time today. They shouldn’t restart and start writing an important email…
But that’s probably beyond Icon issue, right? ;)
The Firefox logo sawn in half? I.e. half the logo with a jagged edge?
On those requirements it sounds like the icon should be bland and boring – not really that great. Not a piece of crap, mind you, but it just doesn’t stand out in the crowd.
Perhaps the icon should convey the idea that you need to restart, maybe even the “reload” icon would work: it’s familiar and so will be associated with the browser; it doesn’t emphasize the crash or failure aspect; it is active, not passive.
As a not overly familiar computer user I agree with zbranieki. Me to a tee:-0 What is needed is something that immediately gets attention that something DRASTIC has happened and before anything else is done the user MUST stop.
A a large lightning bolt with a puff of smoke with the words “OH NO!!!” below it could be the way to go followed be simple step by step instructions.
How about mixing the crash dialog with the “after crash dialog” (the one that gives you the option of either starting a new session, or to continue with the old one).
Just add a countdown, from say 10 seconds, and automatically restart firefox with the last session as a default.
Things this might solve:
1. If firefox crashes when the user isn’t around, the user isn’t affected. He is blissfully unaware.
2. Inexperienced users will get their session back without the fuzz of understanding even more dialog boxes. Studies have shown that dialogue boxes are just clicked through anyway without being read.
3. More experienced users will have a choice of either starting up with a clean slate or continuing from their last state.
4. Less clutter. Why do _I_ have to give instructions to my software when it probably knows what that I want it to open anyways.
FF icon with crashed world… simple, clear and unobtrusive, no?
I think that Firefox (or something like Foxkeh) fell could be cute if pictured nicely (like if it step up on banana or something like that)
“currently it just uses a copy of the software update icon” — That constantly throws me off when an update is installed. I always think, crap, my Firefox crashed while loading. Ah, wait a minute, it’s just installing an update.
I also immediately thought of the Minefield icon as appropriately representative.
But it’s true, whenever people are going to see the icon, they won’t be in the best mood.
So at best the icon should not be memorable at all or at least put them in a better mood for a second.
If you chose the latter it could be inspired by “Kit” the Mozilla Developer Kit mascot:
http://developer.mozilla.org/devnews/index.php/2007/03/22/his-name-is-kit-developer-kit/
Who could be mad at him?
Or what about some cake? Everyone loves cake. :)
Or a white flag which expresses: “Firefox tried its best, but it simply couldn’t go on …”
Because Firefox is usually quite good at recovering from crashes (restoring tabs etc.) I would maybe show a fox with a parachute, or life jacket. In other words, say “Sorry, Firefox slipped up, but it’s okay – you’ll be back up and running in no time, and we’ll look into the problem to stop it from happening again.”
Hmm, maybe Kit with a tear down his left cheek?
… but you said nothing memorable!
Also, I like the workflow suggestions in comment 2.
Maybe there should be a message about plugins being a source of crashes and a link to bugzilla to log a bug report?
agree with Ivan Ičin
Maybe seing firefox face sorry or ko (crosses instead of eyes)
You all realize that this icon ships in all products using the Mozilla Toolkit/XULRunner, so anything that is Firefox-specific won’t be appropriate, right? Moreover, about half of the Firefox-like suggestions violate the new Logo Style Guide.
faaborg forgot to mention a third thing to consider, along with his two: unless someone does some serious wrestling with the build system, it’s not so much “for Firefox 3.1″ as “for Gecko 1.9.1″ since there’s just the one crashreporter.ico, in toolkit/ where all Toolkit apps use it. Much as it might amuse me to have Thunderbird crashes put the blame on Firefox with some morphed Firefox logo, the amusement would stop after the fiftieth “you got the wrong icon on the crash reporter!” bug.
Yep, we realize that the icon is part of the larger Mozilla platform and can’t reference Firefox (although I forgot to mention that in the post). In other cases, like for our OS X DMG icon or for HTML document, we create branded and unbranded versions, but I’m not so sure a branded crash reporter icon is necessarily a good idea to begin with.
Overall I’m liking the ideas that focus on the recovery instead of the crash itself, like a parachute, life vest, or reload icon.
“…focus on the recovery instead of the crash itself, like a parachute, life vest, or reload icon…”
What’s the point of the crash reporter app? If it’s main purpose is to ease the pain/frustration of the application crashing then a focus on recovery sounds like a good direction… but it’s current name and functionality suggest that the point of the app is to collect useful data about the crash and report it back.
How about a bureaucratic-looking form clipped to a clipboard (too much overlap with copy/paste?) to communicate that the app documents the details about the crash and compiles it in a report. Maybe a magnifying glass (too much overlap with search?) or something medical like a stethoscope to put the emphasis on “diagnostics”.
In terms of working well when used by the other applications that are based on the Mozilla platform – Would doing something similar to the favicon for https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/ work? Displaying the icon of the Mozilla app that the crash reporter is associated with as a badge would communicate better which app crashed. This can be applied to the software updater too.
Police tape!
A chalk outline!
Spilled blood!
A gun!
The icon should probably go with the message. If the message is “We’re Sorry”, the icon shouldn’t be “don’t worry, you’re safe”, as a life vest or parachute might imply. Since it’s a dialog box, likely to be glanced at for a few seconds and nothing more, uniformity between the icon and the message will ensure that those who don’t bother reading the message will still get the idea by looking at the icon. To that end, what’s the text in the dialog right now? Is it fairly uniform?
Semi-related, from an article on the Mac startup chime ( http://musicthing.blogspot.com/2005/05/tiny-music-makers-pt-4-mac-startup.html ):
>>”Mac people are very familiar with the sound, after restarting their machines too often. In fact, that was one of the issues I was conscious of when designing the sound. Turning the Mac on is one thing, but being forced to reboot from a crash is a totally different experience. I wanted to avoid a sound that would be associated with the crash. I wanted it to sound more like a “palette cleanser”.
How about jumper cables? Or jumper cables and a battery? Or a battery? Or a pair of AAs (which, of course, need to be regularly changed)? I like the idea of maintenance things. A screwdriver? Duct tape (please please please)? Soap? A toilet? A utility belt? Batman’s? The plumber’s? Batman’s?
Of course, none of these have to do with crash reporting, per se. Maybe a notepad? Or a clipboard? With some forms on it? Or a checklist with blank entries? Or something that resembles or evokes a survey? Or email or a telephone or Adiumy?
Maybe you could have an icon that denotes the RESULT of the crash report, so that the user is encouraged to click Send or whatever. Something that denotes a developer fixing the problem. A bug? A bug in a jar? In a net? Maybe something representing the problem in its fixed state. The bug under a boot? A Band-Aid?
My Dock has Disk Utility in it, and DU’s icon is a hard disk with a stethoscope. Maybe something along those lines—the diagnosis of the problem. It also has System Preferences, which entails gears. Maybe the icon could be showing Firefox’s “innards” (electronic or mechanical ones, not organic ones), as if to say “your thing just crashed because these two wires don’t connect”.
Lol: I typed this up hours ago and forgot to submit it and Keisuke Omi had a bunch of the same ideas as me and I’m too lazy to edit.
The good old Atari ST did use pictures of bombs when it crashed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Row_of_bombs
Nice metaphor.
Anyone suggesting the minefield icon has never tried to ship a product internationally. Mine icons are especially problematic in Ireland (ask me about an interesting minesweeper anecdote).
Rather then something scary or confusing (black box) I would show something with positive connotations. A toolbox, a bandaid, a stethascope, etc.
C’mon — where is Mozilla in all of this? He (or is it she?) has got to be good at crashing and burning something, no?
Haha, wow! Superdotman knows how to brainstorm.
Maybe a broken branch would work. As in “the firefox is a kind of panda and it climbs trees = browses the web, and a branch breaks so it comes crashing down” :)
Also, it conveys rather well the notion that something went wrong.