Hi all - I'm working on mocking up the dialogs for adding wireless networks, and the question of where to include ESSID came up. From what I can tell, I can't see that Mac or Windows shows the ESSID for wifi networks.
Here's what I think of how/where we show ESSID: Situations where ESSID might come up: 1) Adding new Wifi network automatically (NWAM prompts user to join network) 2) Adding new Wifi network manually (user uses NWAM config UI to add a network) 3) Viewing existing Wifi network properties In situation 1, when the user is prompted to join a network, I don't think it's necessary to show the ESSID upfront. It is viewable only upon editing. In situation 2, where user is manually adding a network, I'd like to keep the dialog as simple as we can (see new_wifi_network_dialog.gif attached). If we really want users to be able to specify the ESSID, perhaps they can enter via an "Advanced" button on this dialog. In situation 3, where a user wants to view existing network properties, given that there may be situations like "rover" in other companies (and Starbucks TMobile hotspots), it'd be annoying to have to always approve a "new" network when there is different ESSID but same BSSID. So perhaps only show the ESSID if they really care for it in the *administrative* interface, and not show the ESSID in the configuration interface (unless the user has specifically added the ESSID in situation 2) Thoughts on this proposal? Thanks, Ann -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: new_wifi_network_dialog.gif Type: image/gif Size: 9783 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://mail.opensolaris.org/pipermail/nwam-discuss/attachments/20061013/b41422ea/attachment.gif>
