On Mon, Nov 24, 2008 at 4:57 PM, Gregory Maxwell gmaxwell@gmail.com wrote:
On Mon, Nov 24, 2008 at 10:34 AM, Gerard Meijssen gerard.meijssen@gmail.com wrote:
Hoi, When you know what is being indicated by the signing part of a signed message, it may not be scary. However, do you really expect everyone to know and appreciate it as such ?
I'm sorry, but I think we've miscommunicated.
The discussion here is related to a uploader functionalty that would make uploading larger numbers (or large sized) files more user friendly and reliable. This could be accomplished with Java, but because the Java would need to access files on your system it would have to do things which are not permitted for "sandboxed" Java applets.
When applets are "signed" they can perform actions outside of the "Java sandbox" without the really nasty security warnings. Signing is otherwise pretty much invisible to the user.
The browser is unreliable as a upload method. Maybe is more reliable if the server is well configured, the php.ini is well configured, the script lifetime is relaxed, etc.. but on the user experience, is already damaged. A signed java optional option is a win-win to me. Users can chose this option as a reliable alternative to the file thingie, and as this nice progress bar, that is like a minimal for usability. Other websites use other methods. I think Berlios and Sourceforge use the "FTP" option because the users already know how to use a FTP program, and is the best method to upload files. More normal user focused sites like Flick use a flash plugin. And theres even people, like the Gallery2 guys, that have special desktop clients (that are a Java app), so the users can upload lots of files happyly... and maybe even tag his binaries.
Wikipedia: - Normal form file=input method: unreliable, standard Berlios, Sourceforge: - FTP "incomming" folder: reliable, ugly, beyond normal users expertise, faster Flick: - Normal form file=input method: unreliable, standard - Flash upload: reliable, no-standard, it haz eyecandy, good usabilty, extra features Gallery2: - Normal form file=input method: unreliable, standard - Java desktop client: reliable, good usabilty, extra features (tagging images)
Proposed solution: - Normal form file=input method: unreliable, standard - (optional) signed aplet uploader: reliable, good usabilty
note: I have not invested time testing that sites, maybe some fact data here is wrong.