Add "Cancel" Button to Passkey Popup Windows

mehrad · September 2, 2024, 11:19am

The current state of the passkey window in browser extension is awfully disruptive. It just jumps in, and there is no way to get rid of this window (no Cancel or Close buttons) other than some weird maneuvers (e.g. pressing the + button from the top right, and then cancel the form, which tbh should not close the window but should return the user to previous page to choose the login).

I suggest being more kind to the user and let them cancel/close such window. They should not feel “forced” to use passkeys.

P.s: Also there is no clear explanation for general users that what this window does and what are they supposed to do in this window. This window genuinely needs some very clear explanation for a non-tech-savvy user. Seriously, look at the picture above and try to see it from the POV of a person who does not follow all tech trends. For example, why logging into Amazon should suddenly out of the blue pops up such window and what exactly is it trying to save??

mehrad · September 2, 2024, 11:24am

This explanation would be very good to be added to that window:

Nail1684 · September 2, 2024, 1:52pm

@mehrad Hi!

Just a word to the “close/cancel” topic:

I have the option to close the window (on Windows 11, Brave and Firefox, extensions and everything else up-to-date):

On Brave:

On Firefox:

PS: Though the screenshot show the “usage-situation”, it is the same for me in the “creating-situation”.

mehrad · September 2, 2024, 2:18pm

@Nail1684 First and foremost, thank you for the comment and trying it on multiple browsers . But no, actually you don’t have the option. Bitwarden itself does not provide you with the option to close. Your window manager is providing that to you (as it sees it like yet another Brave or Firefox window). But it is noteworthy to remember that the window manager does not necessarily “need” to show you that button. Some window managers do show you that, but many don’t. As the result it is only logical to avoid being wishful for a window manager’s feature, and instead properly implement a dedicated button. There is also another logic to this: what happens when you close this window? Is the user clear on that? Do they know that closing it is safe and will not mess up their vault somehow? The answer is “no”, and this “no” comes from two distincs points:

if it was ok to close it, why didn’t the developers provide that to the user? So it might not be safe to close it.
What is this passkey thingy that this window is about?

For these very reasons, I suggest adding a very clear button to close/dismiss this window, and also add some clear explanation on what passkey means to the user.

DenBesten · September 2, 2024, 3:20pm

@mehrad, Welcome to the community!.

If you would rather not deal with passkeys at all, there is a checkbox on Settings >> Notifications, “Ask to save and use passkeys” that you can uncheck.

Good point that this page may well be the first introduction to passkeys for some users. Not sure an in-depth introduction belongs on it, but an ⓘ that links out to the appropriate help page would make a good feature request.

It is traditionally the window manager’s responsibility to provide the controls to, well, manage the window. You did not indicate which window manager you are using, but I can tell you that my window manager (MS Windows 11 on Chrome 128.0.6613.86) does display the X. Another possibility is that your dark theme is somehow interfering. We have seen occasional “misses” with dark mode. Perhaps switch to the default them for a moment to see if that fixes it.

This seems more like a bug report than a “feature request” in that different people are seeing different behavior. If you are able to describe/narrow down the scenario so that it can be reproduced, perhaps file a bug report by clicking the “Bugs” link at the top of the community.

A useful site to “play” with passkeys is https://webauthn.me/ . It allows you to create and delete them in a way that does not interfere with your day-to-day life.

Somewhat non-intuitively, I am also able to dismiss this window simply by ignoring it and clicking elsewhere on the underlying web page.

mehrad · September 2, 2024, 3:38pm

Good point that this page may well be the first introduction to passkeys for some users. Not sure an in-depth introduction belongs on it, but an ⓘ that links out to the appropriate help page would make a good feature request.

I think a small ⓘ button is too little and you might want to add some proper text similar to the Discourse screenshot I shared.

You did not indicate which window manager you are using, but I can tell you that my window manager (MS Windows 11 on Chrome 128.0.6613.86) does display the X. Another possibility is that your dark theme is somehow interfering. We have seen occasional “misses” with dark mode. Perhaps switch to the default them for a moment to see if that fixes it.

I assure you I’m not missing it. The screenshot I shared is KDE Plasma (Linux) and if you squint you can see the close button, but I daily drive hyprland which does not provide any window decoration. You can also check literally any tiling window manager for Linux and BSD and the situation is the same. When Bitwarden out of a blue opens something to the middle of the monitor, i.e. a window that I didn’t open consciously, closing that window is then also Bitwarden’s responsibility, in the same exact way that you have the cancel button if/when you click on that white + icon in the top right.

Also not implementing this just because the window manager can provide an option for closing the window feels like vim not implementing the :q just because the user can kill the terminal or pkill vim. Also although the window manager provides the closing, most softwares also provide it in their menu too:

This seems more like a bug report than a “feature request” in that different people are seeing different behavior.

No, it is feature request as the close button should be implemented. It is a logical and design bug imho, but from development perspective it is a “feature”.

If you would rather not deal with passkeys at all, there is a checkbox on Settings >> Notifications, “Ask to save and use passkeys” that you can uncheck.

Thank you, but that is out of the scope of this feature request imho.

Somewhat non-intuitively, I am also able to dismiss this window simply by ignoring it and clicking elsewhere on the underlying web page.

well, if you think about it, the passkey is a separate window. putting it out of focus and bringing another window to the front does not “solve” the problem, it’s just analogous to pushing things under the rug.

A useful site to “play” with passkeys is https://webauthn.me/ . It allows you to create and delete them in a way that does not interfere with your day-to-day life.

Thanks, nice suggestion. I will give it a try and also will pass it forward to friends and colleagues.

DenBesten · September 2, 2024, 4:54pm

I am not a Bitwarden employee. Employees can be identified by a Bitwarden badge over their avatar.

Sorry, I was referring to a programming miss. But thank you for the additional detail because by zooming in, I now see that I “missed” the grey X over a green-grey background. So, I too now agree this is not a bug in that the X is implemented; it is just an unfortunate color-theme choice in the window manager itself.

No comment on Hyprland as I tend to stick with the OS’s primary window manager.

In my case, the passkey window is dismissed; not simply reordered.

grb · September 2, 2024, 5:39pm

For clarity, I’ve modified the title of this feature request to reflect the actual proposed feature (original title was : “Passkey browser exnetion is terribly disruptive”).

mehrad · September 3, 2024, 9:31am

@DenBesten

I am not a Bitwarden employee.

Sorry, that was poor choice of word from my side.

it is just an unfortunate color-theme choice in the window manager itself.

Actually I designed that theme but it is not visible because that window is not in focus (the screenshot application is in focus).

In my case, the passkey window is dismissed; not simply reordered.

As you saw in the screenshot, the Bitwarden passkey window is out of focus (all title bar elements are grayed out) and yet it is not dismissed. So at least this part of behavior is inconsistent between our computers. This part might actually be a bug, but a Bitwarden dev should comment on that as I have not seen the code behind the scenes.

@grb

For clarity, I’ve modified the title of this feature request to reflect the actual proposed feature

Thanks.