Ledger – Limited UI and feedback to user unless device is connected

[Voll3r]

I’ve noticed that a few changes occur in the UI when a user’s ledger (one that’s already in the wallet list) is not actively connected.
From a development perspective, I can understand why that happens: it prevents the user from doing things that cannot immediately be done. From a usability perspective, however, it is not ideal because it blocks off certain routes that a user might naturally want to take.

For reference in the below, this is the view when the ledger is not actively connected:

And this is the view after going through the connection process:

Let me go through the differences one by one:

1. Receive and Send buttons are not shown

When the ledger is not connected, the “Receive” and “Send” buttons are hidden.

Firstly, I would say that the “Receive” button should not be hidden under any circumstances. For receiving tokens, only the public address is required and no confirmation is needed from the ledger device.

Second, as a user I would much prefer if the “Send” button is shown also, and that upon clicking it I get prompted to connect the ledger if it isn’t already connected. An alternative (less preferred) solution would be to show a greyed-out “Send” button. This would indicate to the user that the functionality is restricted, which will likely remind them to connect or unlock the ledger.

Perhaps also note that a ledger will anyhow frequently become locked when left unattended for a short while. This easily leads to a situation where the device is “connected” as per the UI, but not responsive to Neon’s requests. So if in such a case the user presses “Send”, the UI should anyhow prompt the user at some stage to make sure the device is connected, unlocked, and with the app open. I can't think of a reason why a disconnected ledger should be treated differently from a connected, but locked ledger.

2. GAS and “Claim GAS” button are not shown.

Similarly, the GAS balance and the “Claim GAS” button are hidden when the ledger is not connected.

Hiding the “Claim GAS” button leaves the user guessing as to where to claim GAS. Or perhaps they have even used the button before and are wondering why it’s suddenly gone. Also see issue #165.

A better option would be to show the button regardless and prompt the user to make sure the device is properly connected when the button is clicked. Alternatively, the button could be greyed out, with the text next to it displaying that the ledger needs to be connected first.

I might be wrong, but I believe the balance of claimable GAS is “public” and does not require a ledger connection? If so, I think the balance should be displayed and the “Claim GAS” button should not be greyed out.

If the claimable GAS is not public, I think greying out the button and displaying some explanatory text would be appropriate. It could look something like this:

3. Connection Status

When the ledger is connected, the UI helpfully displays this accordingly:

However, since as the user I am the one who connected the ledger, I am already aware that it’s connected. What would be a more useful reminder to me is if the UI also displayed when the ledger is not connected, e.g. like so:

Actively displaying a reminder is more effective than relying on the user to notice the absence of the connection confirmation. Otherwise the user is required to remember that they forgot.

4. Ledger unavailable in “Send” or “Receive” tabs.

An additional difference occurs when going to the “Send” or “Receive” tabs.

The ledger account is unavailable for selection from the account dropdown. This happens despite the ledger being shown in the wallet list.

So let’s say I have two wallets in my wallet list:

And I wish to select a source account for sending

Or a receiving account

Only the non-ledger wallet is shown in the dropdown fields for sending or receiving:

Once the ledger is connected, the list is populated correctly:

For a more natural and intuitive user interaction, I would expect the dropdown field to show the ledger wallet irrespective of connection status – this is provided that the ledger is already in the wallet list of course.

If the user then selects the ledger, but the ledger is unconnected or locked, the subsequent workflow should prompt the user to make sure it is connected, unlocked, and with the correct app open.