Telemetry/GSoC17:AboutTelemetry
about:telemetry is a piece of Firefox Telemetry that shows users what anonymous usage data we collect and send to Mozilla's servers. You can see it in its current state by running any modern version of Firefox and typing about:telemetry into the address bar.
At present it isn't very friendly-looking, and it isn't very easy to use. Recent architectural changes to the Firefox codebase have resulted in many inelegant code changes as well as awkward user interface elements. Regardless, it still manages to display structured data (Telemetry "pings") in ways that facilitate certain specific use cases.
Project goals
The GSoC project is to redesign and reimplement about:telemetry to be more usable, more accessible, and more maintainable. The redesigned about:telemetry will:
- Make it easier for developers to check that a new data collection probe is working
- Make it easier for users to learn what data is collected by Firefox and why
- Make it easier for developers to add new data collection methods and render them cleanly in the UI
- Make it easier for users to navigate the history of data that has already been collected by Firefox
Project details
about:telemetry is written in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and can be found at toolkit/content/aboutTelemetry*.
This project will involve:
- actively working with team members on the new design
- implementing the new design
- designing & implementing the new code structure
- refactoring and implementing rendering code for different types of data
Resources
- Telemetry project page
- Telemetry client documentation
- IRC: irc.mozilla.org, #introduction & #gsoc17
