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Revision 9 as of 2023-04-26 15:39:29
  • WKD
  • UsabilityOfWKD

Usability of WKD

Contents

  1. Usability of WKD
    1. Criteria for implementing WKD with a good usability
    2. Usability of different products
      1. Balsa
      2. Claws Mail
      3. Evolution
      4. FairEmail
      5. K9Mail
      6. KMail
      7. Mailvelope
      8. GpgOL (Outlook)
      9. Thunderbird

Criteria for implementing WKD with a good usability

In a bachelor thesis two use cases were developed which describe how users who don't have much experience with encryption can encrypt emails or check signatures with little effort and a good usability.
These use cases are used to name criteria which help developers to improve the usability of their products. They are also useful when it comes to a comparison between the usability of different products.
WKD-keys have a basic trust because they are fetched from WKD-servers that belong to email-providers. Reasons for that are that email-provider know that a pubkey belongs to an email-address and that email-providers usually have a higher security level than private persons who maintain a server. Some criteria reflect this basic trust of WKD-keys.

  • C1 - Direct method: The product supports the direct method of WKD
  • C2 - Advanced method: The product supports the advanced method of WKD
  • C3 - WKD-ready: The product is ready for WKD without any preparations after a clean installation
  • C4 - Offered in compose area: WKD is offered in the area where users enter an email-address. To fulfill this criterion it's sufficient that there is a button to start a key lookup. It's not necessary that WKD will be executed automatically. But, users shouldn't have to open additional windows before they can start the lookup.
  • C5 - Offered in signature area: WKD is offered in the area where users check the signature of an email. Like for C4 users shouldn't have to open additional windows.
  • C6 - Automatic WKD (Compose): The product uses WKD automatically when users enter an email-address in the area where they can compose an email. The users do not have to press a button to retrieve a key via WKD.
  • C7 - Prefer WKD-keys (Compose): When the product has access to keys which were directly imported and don't contain any information about their trust and a WKD-key it should automatically use the WKD-key. This criterion applies to the area to compose an email.
  • C8 - Prefer WKD-keys (Signature): When the product has access to keys which were directly imported and don't contain any information about their trust and a WKD-key it should automatically use the WKD-key. This criterion applies to the area to check the signature of an email.
  • C9 - Displays basic trust (Compose): The product distinguishes between keys without any information about their trust and WKD-keys that have at least a basic trust. It displays this trust in the area to compose an email.
  • C10 - Displays basic trust (Signature): The product distinguishes between keys without any information about their trust and WKD-keys that have at least a basic trust. It displays this trust in the area to check the signature of an email.

Usability of different products

Balsa

CriterionFullfilledTested version
C1: Direct method checkmark.png yes 2.6.3
C2: Advanced method checkmark.png yes 2.6.3
C3: WKD-ready icon-error.png no 2.6.3
C4: Offered in compose area icon-error.png no 2.6.3
C5: Offered in signature area icon-error.png no 2.6.3
C6: Automatic WKD (Compose) icon-error.png no 2.6.3
C7: Prefer WKD-keys (Compose)
C8: Prefer WKD-keys (Signature)
C9: Displays basic trust (Compose)
C10: Displays basic trust (Signature)

Claws Mail

CriterionFullfilledTested version
C1: Direct method checkmark.png yes 3.18.0/4.0.0
C2: Advanced method checkmark.png yes 3.18.0/4.0.0
C3: WKD-ready icon-error.png no 3.18.0/4.0.0
C4: Offered in compose area icon-error.png no 3.18.0/4.0.0
C5: Offered in signature area checkmark.png yes 3.18.0/4.0.0
C6: Automatic WKD (Compose) icon-error.png no 3.18.0/4.0.0
C7: Prefer WKD-keys (Compose) icon-error.png no 3.18.0/4.0.0
C8: Prefer WKD-keys (Signature) icon-error.png no 3.18.0/4.0.0
C9: Displays basic trust for WKD-keys(Compose) icon-error.png no 3.18.0/4.0.0
C10: Displays basic trust for WKD-keys (Signature) icon-error.png no 3.18.0/4.0.0

Evolution

CriterionFullfilledTested version
C1: Direct method checkmark.png yes 3.48.1
C2: Advanced method checkmark.png yes 3.48.1
C3: WKD-ready checkmark.png yes 3.48.1
C4: Offered in compose area checkmark.png yes 3.48.1
C5: Offered in signature area
C6: Automatic WKD (Compose) checkmark.png yes 3.48.1
C7: Prefer WKD-keys (Compose)
C8: Prefer WKD-keys (Signature)
C9: Displays basic trust for WKD-keys(Compose) icon-error.png no 3.48.1 Quiet the opposite because it is showing "Detailed error: Failed to encrypt: The key for recipient <email-address> is not trusted."
C10: Displays basic trust for WKD-keys (Signature)

FairEmail

CriterionFullfilledTested version
C1: Direct method checkmark.png yes 1.1776
C2: Advanced method checkmark.png yes 1.1776
C3: WKD-ready icon-error.png no 1.1776
C4: Offered in compose area icon-error.png no 1.1776
C5: Offered in signature area icon-error.png no 1.1776
C6: Automatic WKD (Compose) icon-error.png no 1.1776
C7: Prefer WKD-keys (Compose) icon-error.png no 1.1776
C8: Prefer WKD-keys (Signature) icon-error.png no 1.1776
C9: Displays basic trust for WKD-keys(Compose) icon-error.png no 1.1776
C10: Displays basic trust for WKD-keys (Signature) icon-error.png no 1.1776

K9Mail

CriterionFullfilledTested version
C1: Direct method checkmark.png yes 5.806
C2: Advanced method checkmark.png yes 5.806
C3: WKD-ready icon-error.png no 5.806
C4: Offered in compose area icon-error.png no 5.806
C5: Offered in signature area icon-error.png no 5.806
C6: Automatic WKD (Compose) icon-error.png no 5.806
C7: Prefer WKD-keys (Compose) checkmark.png yes 5.806
C8: Prefer WKD-keys (Signature) icon-error.png no 5.806
C9: Displays basic trust for WKD-keys(Compose) icon-error.png no 5.806
C10: Displays basic trust for WKD-keys (Signature) icon-error.png no 5.806

KMail

CriterionFullfilledTested version
C1: Direct method checkmark.png yes 5.20.3
C2: Advanced method checkmark.png yes 5.20.3
C3: WKD-ready icon-error.png no 5.18.3
C4: Offered in compose area checkmark.png yes 5.20.3
C5: Offered in signature area icon-error.png no 5.20.3
C6: Automatic WKD (Compose) checkmark.png yes 5.20.3
C7: Prefer WKD-keys (Compose) icon-error.png no 5.18.3
C8: Prefer WKD-keys (Signature) icon-error.png no 5.18.3
C9: Displays basic trust (Compose) icon-error.png no 5.20.3
C10: Displays basic trust (Signature) icon-error.png no 5.20.3

Mailvelope

CriterionFullfilledTested version
C1: Direct method checkmark.png yes 4.4.1
C2: Advanced method checkmark.png yes 4.5.0
C3: WKD-ready checkmark.png yes 4.4.1
C4: Offered in compose area checkmark.png yes 4.4.1
C5: Offered in signature area icon-error.png no 4.4.1
C6: Automatic WKD (Compose) checkmark.png yes 4.4.1
C7: Prefer WKD-keys (Compose) icon-error.png no 4.4.1
C8: Prefer WKD-keys (Signature)
C9: Displays basic trust (Compose) icon-error.png no 4.4.1
C10: Displays basic trust (Signature)

GpgOL (Outlook)

CriterionFullfilledTested versionComment
C1: Direct method checkmark.png yes 2.5.3
C2: Advanced method checkmark.png yes 2.5.3
C3: WKD-ready checkmark.png yes 2.5.3
C4: Offered in compose area checkmark.png yes 2.5.3
C5: Offered in signature area checkmark.png yes 2.5.3
C6: Automatic WKD (Compose) checkmark.png yes 2.5.3
C7: Prefer WKD-keys (Compose) icon-error.png no 2.5.3 When sending an email GpgOL shows a dialog where the user has to select a key. The WKD key was pre-selected but it's not sure why.
C8: Prefer WKD-keys (Signature) icon-error.png no 2.5.3
C9: Displays basic trust (Compose) icon-error.png no 2.5.3
C10: Displays basic trust (Signature) checkmark.png yes 2.5.3

Thunderbird

CriterionFullfilledTested version
C1: Direct method checkmark.png yes 97.0a1
C2: Advanced method checkmark.png yes 97.0a1
C3: WKD-ready icon-error.png no 97.0a1
C4: Offered in compose area icon-error.png no 97.0a1
C5: Offered in signature area icon-error.png no 97.0a1
C6: Automatic WKD (Compose) icon-error.png no 97.0a1
C7: Prefer WKD-keys (Compose) icon-error.png no 97.0a1
C8: Prefer WKD-keys (Signature) icon-error.png no 97.0a1
C9: Displays basic trust (Compose) icon-error.png no 97.0a1
C10: Displays basic trust (Signature) icon-error.png no 97.0a1
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