[Tails-dev] "Back Up Persistent Storage" dialogue text is m…

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Author: David A. Wheeler
Date:  
To: The Tails public development discussion list
Old-Topics: [Tails-l10n] Release schedule for Tails 5.9
Subject: [Tails-dev] "Back Up Persistent Storage" dialogue text is misleading; here's a suggested alternative
Hi, I have a minor nit/suggestion for
Application -> System Tools -> Back Up Persistent Storage.

After using it a bit, I've concluded that the
*functionality* works well, but that the text of the dialogue boxes are misleading.
Some of its current text suggests that it's updating the OS, not the persistent data.
This misleading text might cause confusion for new users, and we
don't want them confused when backing up things!

Details below, along with a few suggested tweaks to make it clearer.

Thanks!!

--- David A. Wheeler

===

In Application -> System Tools -> Back Up Persistent Storage
currently the initial dialogue has the title "Update Your Backup Tails" with the
first sentence "Do you want to update your backup Tails USB stick now?",
along with a big button "Update".

I think this is misleading. This makes it appears that the utility will be updating the
operating system on the backup Tails USB stick, instead of backing up the
persistent storage. For example, the title never mentions persistent storage
(even though that's the point of it). The emphasis on the word "update" is also
really misleading, because you typically update software.

I'm pretty sure it does NOT update the OS on the backup Tails USB stick,
nor should it - I think it's wise to make those different actions.
I think a few tweaks to the text will make it much clearer to new users.

I suggest the following changes to the initial dialogue box text:
* Change the initial dialogue title from "Update Your Backup Tails" to
"Back Up Persistent Storage" instead. That will make it clearly consistent
with the menu option, providing confidence to the user on what they're doing.
That's especially important if they got distracted, started doing something else,
and then came back to this window.
* Change the first sentence "Do you want to update your backup Tails USB stick now?" into
"Do you want to back up your persistent storage to a backup Tails USB stick now?".
That way it's much clearer what it does (and does not) do.
* Change its button text "Update" to the text "Back Up", again to eliminate confusion by
using a different term for a different operation.
* Add a new sentence to the end of the dialogue text (after the existing text) saying,
"This will not update the operating system on the backup Tails USB stick (use Tails Installer
to do this update)."
This will again clarify that this is *different* from Tails Installer, and will help the user
understand the difference.

In the completion dialogue box:
* Change the title "Backup successful" to "Persistent Storage Backup Successful"
* Change the first sentence "You backup was updated successfully!" to
"Your persistent storage was backed up successfully to the backup Tails USB stick."
Again, this makes it clear what was (and was not) backed up.