Bug 160608 - "Re-type Password" dialog needs UX improvement
Summary: "Re-type Password" dialog needs UX improvement
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Calc (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
unspecified
Hardware: All All
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL: https://ask.libreoffice.org/t/retype-...
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks: Password-Protected
  Show dependency treegraph
 
Reported: 2024-04-10 06:06 UTC by Mike Kaganski
Modified: 2024-07-01 11:44 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
A sample XLSX with some sheets protected (338.11 KB, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet)
2024-04-10 06:06 UTC, Mike Kaganski
Details
Screenshot (1.08 MB, image/png)
2024-04-10 10:11 UTC, Heiko Tietze
Details

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Description Mike Kaganski 2024-04-10 06:06:28 UTC
Created attachment 193592 [details]
A sample XLSX with some sheets protected

The attachment has many sheets, some of them password-protected. It came from https://ask.libreoffice.org/t/retype-password/104531/, so it is a real-life user problem.

Saving it as ODS bring the "Re-type Password" dialog, which has [OK] button disabled, and no [Re-type] buttons immediately shown to user are enabled. This itself is bad: user needs to scroll the long list of sheets down to see the buttons that actually needs action. But coupled with the modern UIs that tend to make scrollbars less prominent (or even completely hidden), it confused the user even more, making them not understand what they are expected to do ("Can anyone explain what I’m being asked to do and why I’m being asked?"). So the first thing is: why there are the items there in the dialog, that *don't* need an action?

Then, it is not obvious which items were already processed. When I attempted removing the passwords for the first time, by clicking the enabled [Re-type] buttons, I thought I clicked them all, but obviously I missed some, because the [OK] was still disabled, until I went through the items again, seeing some items where I didn't choose an option. So, the dialog needs an indication of resolution state of items (say, a checkmark next to the item).

These two questions are the topics that need UX resolution in this bug. A possible follow-up (which require developers' investigation) is: is it possible to extend the ODS (maybe re-use the existing ODF features) to store the XLS(X) protection information there, instead of requiring the re-type? This was asked in bug 123877 comment 9.
Comment 1 Heiko Tietze 2024-04-10 10:11:57 UTC
Created attachment 193600 [details]
Screenshot

Sounds like a plan to a) hide sheets that have no protection, and b) show the verified identification (checkmark symbol was my first idea too, and the button should probably become disabled or hidden).

I presume the sheets have different protections so one needs to enter it individually. If, however, the entered password verifies all sheets (hash matches), in this case all buttons should follow.

But ideally we don't need the dialog and save the password.
Comment 2 Mike Kaganski 2024-04-10 10:14:26 UTC
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #1)
> and the button should probably become disabled or hidden

Possibly not: while in the dialog, the user could change their mind, so my take is that no, the button should stay available.
Comment 3 Vladimir Sokolinskiy 2024-04-10 11:23:55 UTC
Repro

Version: 7.6.6.3 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: d97b2716a9a4a2ce1391dee1765565ea469b0ae7
CPU threads: 6; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 19045; UI render: default; VCL: win
Locale: ru-RU (ru_RU); UI: ru-RU
Calc: threaded
Comment 4 Heiko Tietze 2024-07-01 11:44:11 UTC Comment hidden (off-topic)