ipfs/ipfs-companion

IPFS-aware error page: improve UX when gateway is offline

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#806 opened on Oct 30, 2019

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P1effort/dayseffort/hoursexp/intermediategood first issuehelp wantedkind/enhancementstatus/readytopic/design-contenttopic/design-front-endtopic/design-ux

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Description

Recovery from dead public gateways was introduced in #640.

What about scenarios when local gateway goes offline?

Current UX: error page provided by the browser

Right now, opening http://docs.ipfs.io.ipns.localhost:8080 when node is offline ends up with a generic error:

2019-10-30-114745_905x465_scrot

I believe we could improve UX of errors like this.

Improvement: custom error page aware of IPFS options

We should introduce a custom error page tho, to improve UX AND to give user a final say if they choose to start local node and retry, load from original server (if DNSLink), or a public gateway instead.

Custom error page could be used in all recovery contexts (when local node is offline, but also when remote server is down, but has DNSLink).

Contributor guide

Research direction
Review the existing recovery flow in #640 and design a custom error page that detects gateway offline and offers retry options (start node, use public gateway, load from origin). Implement the error page as a browser extension UI component.
Tech stack
javascript
Domain
frontenddeveloper experience
Issue type
Feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
Half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
JavaScriptHTML/CSSIPFS basics
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
60