Request to improve workflow for connecting Ledger

[Voll3r]

Hi,

It is my understanding that connecting to a ledger wallet is currently achieved by opening Neon, getting past the splash screen by creating a new wallet or importing / migrating an existing wallet, and finally opening the NEO App on the connected ledger.

To an uninitiated user, that workflow is unfortunately not at all obvious and, as far as I can see, there is nothing within the Neon UI guiding the user to follow this approach. While it might seem obvious in hindsight, it has unfortunately been a rather frustrating experience for me and I would imagine that other users will be similarly confused.

Please find below some of my observations as well as suggestions for how I think the UI could be made more user friendly.

1. Splash screen after a fresh install:

Observation:

The user is given the option to import a wallet, migrate an old NEON wallet, or create an entirely new wallet. As a ledger user I would assume that “Import wallet” is the correct option for me to choose, because I neither want to create a new wallet, nor migrate from an older Neon version. However, when selecting “Import wallet”, this workflow is specifically for importing from an address, encrypted key, private key, mnemonic or backup file.

Btw. I appreciate how the steps 1 – 5 are being previewed. This is providing the user with good information on what is expected as part of the process. It’s a good UI choice!

On learning that this workflow will not allow for importing an existing ledger wallet, the user will likely proceed by creating a completely new wallet in order to get past the splash screen and gain access to all the other features within Neon. At least this is what I did, in the hopes that the full feature set would allow me to add a ledger wallet.

Suggestion:

The listed options on the splash screen should include an explicit “Connect your ledger” option in addition to the other three. (Btw. I’m unsure why the “import” option is displayed differently from the other two and in the top right of the splash screen).

That workflow should guide the user and include feedback about ledger device status (disconnected, locked, etc.) about when to open the app, and indeed which app to use: the ledger “app catalogue” includes two apps for NEO, one simply called “NEO” and the other “NEO N3”. I understand that it is the former that is required for Neon Wallet.

I initially assumed that the NEO N3 app would be the correct one to use. While this is probably not an issue for the Neon Wallet team to deal with, the user will likely appreciate some additional guidance as part of the connection workflow.

Ideally the workflow for connecting a ledger also would not create a completely fresh Neon wallet first (“My first wallet”). As a ledger user, I’m primarily interested in managing my existing ledger wallet and any additional non-ledger wallets are superfluous. It seems that in principle the UI already allows for having a single ledger wallet in the portfolio, but it seems the only way to achieve this currently is by deleting “My first wallet” after having established the ledger one.

2. Within the main UI:

Observation:

Next, the ledger user will be looking for an option to add their ledger wallet from within the main UI. The “plus” symbol in the top right corner looks like a suitable candidate to try.

But this only leads to the option to create a completely new wallet. Likewise, the “import” option only allows for importing from an address, encrypted key, private key, or mnemonic.

Similarly, there are options to “Add Account” or “Import Account”, but none of those allow the user to connect their ledger.

Of course as I am aware now, all I need to do is to connect the ledger and open the correct app, but again there is nothing to guide the user in that direction. As a new user, it was very frustrating to see all these options to add and import wallets or accounts, but seemly have no option to connect my ledger.

Suggestion:

There should be an explicit workflow for adding a new ledger wallet. The workflow should be similar to what I have described above, in that it should guide the user and provide feedback along the way. The workflow to connect a new ledger could be initiated via an additional symbol in the top right corner, similar to this:

Alternatively, the plus sign / “New Wallet” option could prompt the user to confirm if they wish to add a completely new wallet or if they wish to add an existing ledger wallet.

If the user does not initiate the workflow himself, but simply connects their ledger and opens the NEO app, the wallet could notify the user that connection to a ledger wallet has been detected and enquire whether the user would like to add this ledger wallet to the portfolio. If the user connects their ledger and the wallet is already in the portfolio, no further workflow is required.

I hope this feedback is useful and might help make the upcoming versions more intuitive for ledger users.

Thanks!
Matt

[thiagocbalducci]

Hi @Voll3r!

First of all, sorry you had all this trouble with using Ledger with our new wallet, we've heard our community's feedback loud and clear. We need to improve it, significantly!

Good news is that we already have a revamped experience on its way! Keep an eye out during this week, version 3.1.0 will have that, along with several other features and improvements.

We will be looking forward to hearing your feedback about it!

[Voll3r]

Hi @thiagocbalducci,

thank you for your response and no need to apologise! Things are clearly under active development and I appreciate that there is a place where we can log issues, requests and feedback like this.

I'll be keeping an eye out on the upcoming release and will let you know how it goes!

Thanks,
Matt

[Voll3r]

Hi again @thiagocbalducci,

I’ve been playing around with the version 3.1.0 some more and have also familiarised myself with the way the ledger connection is established.

There is certainly no more ambiguity about how to connect the ledger, so that’s really good!

However, I have come across a few points where I’d like to provide some additional feedback about how the user experience could be improved further:

1. Only anonymous ledger sign in possible from splash screen

Currently, there are two ways to connect the ledger. The user can do so anonymously from the splash screen (nice feature), or one can add it to the wallet list where it is remembered by Neon for additional convenience. However, the latter can only be achieved by first setting up a new wallet which the user may or may not need in practice.

My suggestion: on the splash screen, give the user the option to add their ledger to the wallet list and enable password protection. It could look something like this:

2. Ledger is no longer recognised and connected automatically.

In the previous version of Neon, the program would automatically detect when a ledger was connected, unlocked, and the NEO app was opened. This is no longer the case, which makes (re)connecting a ledger unnecessarily cumbersome.

To me, as a minimum automatic recognition/connection should happen when a ledger is already stored in the wallet list. Currently it has to be connected manually every time also when the ledger locks itself after a short period of inactivity.

For convenience, it would also make sense if the ledger is recognised when it is not already in the wallet list. In such cases, the user could be prompted to confirm whether they want to add it to their portfolio or not.

3. Portfolio tab has no “connect” button.

Regarding convenience, it would also make sense to add the connect button on the “Portfolio” as well. It already shows options to import or add new wallets. It would therefore be consistent to also add the connect button.

It would also be more convenient, because the “Portfolio” tab is the one shown on starting Neon and having to navigate elsewhere to connect the ledger is an unnecessary extra step.

4. “Updating stored data…” shown upon exiting from anonymous sign-in:

If the user has signed in anonymously and closes Neon, a message is shown: “Updating stored data…”

This is a little strange, because why would Neon need to store anything if the sign-in was anonymous?

Also this appears to be exclusive to the anonymous sign-in. The message is not shown when the user has a password protected portfolio with a ledger in their wallet list and exits the program.

5. UI changes depending on connection status

Several UI changes occur depending on whether or not the ledger is connected and active. I’ve already provided some more detailed comments here: #202.