Mobile/Proposals/Kidfox
Contents
Tracking
- Meta-bug to be filed
Goals
Provide a lightweight kid-friendly browsing mode within Firefox for Android that kids can love and parents can trust to give them the peace-of-mind, customization and control they want.
A kid-friendly browsing mode could also present a number of opportunities for partnering with a wide array of service and content providers.
This project is an MVP cupcake-sized proof of concept for the larger Kinderfox project, to see if there's demand for this sort of feature, and to get something out there in front of parents so we can start gathering feedback and wishlists.
Specifications
- Can be turned on/off by parents, PIN-protected
- Target age group: 6-9 yrs -- old enough to not need a hyper-simplified browser, but not so old that they'll expect a grown-up browser
- Available on both phone and tablet, with optimized UI for each
Features
Introduction / tour
Provide a guided tour & introduction to the kid-browsing mode when first used so parents know what features, services, and content are available. This tour could include:
- How to turn kid-mode on and off, including setting a PIN
- The kid-appropriate search engines, and how to add/remove them
- The kid-appropriate default bookmarks, and how to add/remove them
- The content whitelist, and how to add/remove items from that list
- The safe-surfing service option, and how to turn it off (and what that means - it's on by default)
- The fun & customizable about:home screens & how to change the theme & wallpapers
- A quick rundown of the features that have been removed/hidden while in this mode
The tour/introduction should be available for watching again at any time.
Custom search provider(s)
- Pre-install a set of kid-appropriate search providers, with a good kid-safe default.
Custom bookmarks
- Pre-install a set of kid-appropriate bookmarks, both in the bookmark list and as about:home defaults. These should be easily customizable by parents, of course.
- Where it makes sense, we could establish partnerships with content providers for these bookmark pre-installs.
Content whitelists
- Provide a sensible default set of whitelisted sites (per locale), and allow parents to add/change that as they like.
- Additionally, partner with one or more safe-browsing services that parents could opt-in to using, if they want their kids to have access to more of the Web.
Super-fun customizable about:home
- Build in 4-5 pre-installed themes that include lightweight themes for chrome, fun about:home backgrounds etc.
- Hire illustrators to do these fun about:home canvases
- Change how we display lists of content so they're more interesting, engaging, and usable for kids
- Big fat icons for pre-installed bookmarks
- Cards with pictures and text when new sites are added to bookmarks, history, and topsites
- Allow parents to customize & lock all of the lists (except history)
Turn off a bunch of stuff
In kid-browsing mode, turn off:
- Access to settings (PIN protected)
- Private browsing
- Guest Browsing
- Tools
- Share
- PIN-protected exit out of kid browsing
Potential content partnerships?
No pre-installed or whitelisted site can rely heavily on flash for content or functionality.
Education
- TBD (research needed)
Games
- TBD (research needed)
Videos
- TBD (research needed)
Other content
- TBD (research needed)
UX design
- Not handed off yet
Justification
Why we're doing this
- This is part of our tablet enhancement strategy (family sharing) towards achieving increased marketshare (possibly including preinstall opportunities)
- User value/delight (response to an observed user need - parents share their devices with their kids, kids increasingly have their own devices)
- Potential rev share with content and service partners, towards meeting our revenue goals
- Supports overall ecosystem, in that future iterations could involve pre-bundled webapps & marketplace promotion
Supporting research, docs, etc.
We're still waiting on information from the Insights team, but we've asked for information around
- Major hardware & software vendors in this area
- Current market penetration/demand for kid-specific browsers & tablets in our primary regions
- Primary kid-friendly content and service providers for Education, Games, Videos, Other entertainment, and Net nanny/web filtering
Research & references
Quality criteria
- No user-perceptible performance degradation
- All goals are met
- All features & user stories are implemented & tested
