[vidalia-svn] r1780: Apply some cleanups suggested by opello, plus a few others. (misc/soups07-poster)

[edmanm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Author: edmanm
Date: 2007-06-09 11:38:45 -0400 (Sat, 09 Jun 2007)
New Revision: 1780

Modified:
   misc/soups07-poster/vidalia-poster.pdf
   misc/soups07-poster/vidalia-poster.tex
Log:
Apply some cleanups suggested by opello, plus a few others.

Modified: misc/soups07-poster/vidalia-poster.pdf
===================================================================
(Binary files differ)

Modified: misc/soups07-poster/vidalia-poster.tex
===================================================================
--- misc/soups07-poster/vidalia-poster.tex	2007-06-09 04:57:29 UTC (rev 1779)
+++ misc/soups07-poster/vidalia-poster.tex	2007-06-09 15:38:45 UTC (rev 1780)
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@
 Tor software itself usually runs in the background as a daemon process on the
 user's computer and does not have a user interface beyond its log files.
 
-Vidalia was initially developed for a Tor GUI design competition in 2006 and
+Vidalia was initially developed for a Tor GUI design competition in 2006, and
 is intended to provide a simple, easy-to-use interface for Tor. We wanted to
 create an interface that simplifies the process of setting up and managing
 Tor, and gives interested users the ability to learn more about what their Tor
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@
 also support as many platforms as possible. We chose to develop Vidalia in C++
 using the Qt GUI toolkit~\cite{qt}, which enabled us to more easily build a
 cross-platform application that uses native interface widgets on many
-platforms and window managers, including Windows, Mac OS X, Gnome, and KDE.
+platforms and window managers, including Windows, Mac OS X, Gnome and KDE.
 
 Due to space limitations, we have omitted actual screenshots of Vidalia's
 interface. Instead, interested readers can find current screenshots on our
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@
 for Windows that includes Vidalia, Tor, Privoxy, and Torbutton pre-configured
 to work together. Privoxy is an HTTP proxy that can filter out potentially
 harmful HTML features, such as Javascript. Torbutton is a very simple
-Firefox extension that lets users quickly enable and disable their Web
+Firefox extension that lets users quickly enable or disable their Web
 browser's use of Tor. We also provide a similar bundle for Mac OS X, but it
 does not currently include Torbutton.
 
@@ -92,12 +92,11 @@
 A green onion indicates Tor is running, a dark onion with a red `X' indicates
 Tor is not running, and red or yellow onions represent intermediate states. A
 tooltip is displayed if the user mouses over the tray icon and gives a text
-description of Tor's status.  The user can click the icon to bring up a menu
-of additional actions, such as viewing the status of their anonymous
-connections.
+description of Tor's status. The user can click the icon to bring up a menu of
+additional actions, such as viewing the status of their anonymous connections.
 
 Windows users are accustomed to looking to their system tray for application
-icons or status indicators and found the unobtrusive tray icon to be
+icons or status indicators. We found the unobtrusive tray icon to be
 preferable to the large command prompt window that typically appears when Tor
 is run on Windows without Vidalia\footnote{Windows NT/2000/XP users can run
 Tor in the background as a Windows service, but properly configuring Tor as a
@@ -106,7 +105,7 @@
 There were, however, several problems with relying on only a tray icon for the
 primary application interface. Windows tray icons are limited to only $16
 \times 16$ pixels and it was sometimes difficult for users to identify what
-Vidalia's tray icon indicated, or even that the icon is an onion.  We also
+Vidalia's tray icon indicated, or even that the icon is an onion. We also
 found users on platforms other than Windows were not accustomed to looking for
 an icon in their system's notification area and might not initially notice
 Vidalia was even running. Some window managers, such as Enlightenment, by
@@ -117,7 +116,7 @@
 features, much like the tray menu. The dialog also displays a larger onion
 icon to more clearly indicate Tor's status, along with a more detailed
 text description. On platforms that do have a system tray, the user
-can optionally start Vidalia with the control panel initially hidden.
+can optionally start Vidalia with the control panel hidden.
 
 \subsection{Network Visualization}
 
@@ -136,15 +135,15 @@
 %their path uniformly randomly and become concerned when they see some entry
 %guards appearing in many of their circuits. 
 
-A common feature request from users is the ability to customize their routes
-through the Tor network. For example, some users want to be able to say ``only
-use servers whose bandwidth is in the top 25\% of all servers in the Tor
-network'' or ``make all of my traffic appear to originate in the United
-States.'' Tor has a fairly complex algorithm for choosing paths through the
-network that attempts to balance anonymity, application performance, and
-network load-balancing. Consequently, we decided not to implement features
-that let users significantly alter Tor's path selection due to the negative
-effects they can easily have on the user's anonymity and the Tor network.
+A common feature request from users is the ability to customize their paths
+through the Tor network. For example, some users want to be able to route
+their traffic through only the highest-bandwidth Tor servers, or force their
+traffic to appear to originate from a specific country. Tor has a fairly
+complex algorithm for choosing paths through the network that attempts to
+balance anonymity, application performance, and network load. Consequently, we
+decided not to implement features that let users significantly alter Tor's
+path selection, due to the negative effects they can easily have on the user's
+anonymity and the Tor network.
 
 \subsection{Running a Server}
 
@@ -156,13 +155,13 @@
 click a checkbox labeled ``Relay traffic for the Tor network'' and Vidalia
 will configure Tor to act as a server using sensible defaults.
 
-Optionally, users can further define how their server should behave.  Users
-can select the approximate speed of their own network connection and Vidalia
-will choose a reasonable bandwidth limit for their server. There is also a
-small set of checkboxes for common Internet services, such as ``Websites'' and
+Optionally, users can further define how their server should behave. Users can
+select the approximate speed of their own network connection and Vidalia will
+choose a reasonable bandwidth limit for their server. There is also a small
+set of checkboxes for common Internet services, such as ``Websites'' and
 ``Instant Messaging'', that users can check or uncheck to allow or disallow
-access to those resources from their server.  Vidalia will then set Tor's 
-{\it exit policy} according to the checkboxes.
+access to those resources from their server. Vidalia will then set Tor's {\it
+exit policy} according to the checkboxes.
 
 %This approach to server configuration is easier to understand for users who
 %often confuse KBps and Kbps when setting their bandwidth limits and may not
@@ -172,14 +171,14 @@
 \subsection{Message Log}
 
 Tor's own method of communicating with the user is via log messages, many of
-which may not make sense to the user.  Unfortunately, we find the terse log
+which may not make sense to the user. Unfortunately, we find the terse log
 messages to still be a ``necessary evil'' since they can provide the best
 information to developers when users ask for troubleshooting support on Tor's
 mailing list or IRC channel.
 
 Vidalia attempts to make dealing with Tor's logs a little more palpable for
 novice users by displaying log messages in a more user-friendly table that can
-be sorted, searched, and filtered based on message severity. Important
+be sorted, searched and filtered based on message severity. Important
 messages are highlighted depending on their severity, with critical {\it
 error} messages appearing in red and less important {\it warning} messages
 appearing in yellow. Log messages can also be saved to a file or copied and
@@ -226,7 +225,7 @@
 provide.
 
 It may be much simpler from the user's perspective if we combined Vidalia,
-Tor, and Privoxy into a single application. A good first step would be for
+Tor and Privoxy into a single application. A good first step would be for
 Vidalia to launch and manage Privoxy, much like it currently does for Tor.