Network & Wi-Fi

The System Status area and menu provides a simple overview of network status, as well as access to basic actions like joining Wi-Fi networks, VPN, and connecting through tethered devices. Networking in the Settings application provides an extended set of capabilities which complement (and integrate) with this.

Goals

Primary:

Provide an overview of connectivity - available network devices and their status
Setup mobile broadband and VPN
Turn available connections and devices on and off
Toggle airplane mode
Select a wireless access point
Common basic connection settings for wireless:
- Change the password
- Set as metered
- Forget
- Connect automatically?

Secondary:

Advanced connection configuration:
- TCP/IP, routes, DNS
Wired configuration
Wired network profiles
Wireless hotspot

Non-goals:

Firewall settings
Sharing your network connection over bluetooth (NAP sharing)
Sharing your network connection over USB

Future possibilities:

Test internet connectivity - see if you have a valid route to the internet
Bridge connection support - would be exposed as another device/connection type that connects physical devices
DSL - top-level device type (like wifi or wired) for USB ADSL modems

Relevant Art

OS X

iOS

MeeGo

Things we tried to do:

Ensure that if there's only one device of each type (wifi, 3g, eth) that the menu is a simple as possible (hide the device descriptions, use generic names like "Wired Networks")
Keep the status icon simple by showing only current default device (ie main internet connection)
Never show complicated information like WEP key index that 75% of users don't need
Keep options you use at least once per day in the left-click menu, and those you don't use once per day in the right-click menu

Discussion

See requirements notes

Tentative Guidelines

These are the latest designs, which diverge quite considerably from the current implementation. They are closely related to the Settings shell redesign.

Old versions

Jon's original mockups

Allan's Design Updates