Make AppVM/domain colors meaningful

[conorsch]

We currently have the sd- VMs assigned various different colors, without much logic around the assignments. Although we should be wary of using colors to guide user behavior (hat tip to @ninavizz), it seems reasonable to use the color bars provided by Qubes in a meaningful way.

To kickstart discussion, here's an example layout. This proposal is not based on user feedback, it's merely a placeholder for a more informed approach.

• Blue: trusted SD components
  • sd-svs (where securedrop-client runs)
• Green: submissions
  • sd-svs-disp
• Orange: SD-related machinery that the user need not run directly
  • sd-proxy (where securedrop-proxy runs)
  • sd-gpg
  • sd-whonix
• Purple: helper applications (unimplemented)
  • sd-research
  • sd-printing
  • sd-export

Thoughts? Particularly interested in input from @ninavizz.

[ninavizz]

Hi Conor! This sounds great—again, thank you for thinking this through so elegantly. :)

• I'm about to kick-off the visual design part of things, next week.

While I'm confident we have a great direction established via the black-and-white wireframes, color is the great outstanding-item I have not yet touched—mostly because it's such a minefield of subjectivity, and I wanted to nail some important/objective basics, first.

• I'm personally leaning towards Blue or Purple for the Client's VM window—and Green is a great contrast to that, for previewing documents/videos/etc.

Green is attention-getting, but with Orange and Yellow those 3 are the most high-contrast colors against the rest of the Secondary and Primary spectrum (so, yay for colorblindness optimization)! Orange for things the user need-not concern themselves with, also makes sense.

• I'm also not sure that Helper-apps and Submission VMs should have frame colors that are different from one another. I'll get color for all Qubes items into the next round of testing to begin getting some data from users on that.

From the user's perspective, I don't see a meaningful difference (or, is there?). Are helper apps also disposable VMs? I'm personally flip-flopping on this a lot, myself, but will continue to chew on it. Thank you, again, for thinking all this through and presenting me with an initial stab at a Skittles Window palette. :)

This is the Qubes Styleguide, but it does not clarify if any of these are the hex values used by the OS. I'll get screenshots from @eloquence of all the colored frame options, and will poke at this over the next 2 weeks.

• Once we have a solid VisDe direction established (Mid December, ETA) I can confirm Skittle Window Frame color designations.

I don't expect to lean too far off from the direction established in today's black-and-white wireframes, but color schemas have yet to be explored by me and a direction agreed upon by the team. Some data from user testing with colored windows, I'd also love to do.

Does the above sound good? For Alpha however, what you propose sounds keen to run with.

[emkll]

In the diagram https://www.qubes-os.org/intro/ , there's a Levels of trust legend that we mirror based on what the VM contains and what it interacts with

[conorsch]

Discussed today in a backlog grooming session. It's difficult to identify a color strategy that'll work for everyone, so let's fall back to simply documenting the rationale that we've used to date, and that'll be good enough to close.

[zenmonkeykstop]

In the absence of further research, following the levels of trust reccos from Qubes is a good starting point. We should either adopt them or (as above) document divergence.