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by untog 4099 days ago
I'd be interested to know how many users notice the HTTPS as opposed to the padlock. After all, no-one types the "http" in a web address anyway.
2 comments

There are different classes of users. Above average users will notice.

My mom for example won't notice. She doesn't know what a URL bar is. She doesn't even look at that place. She clicks on her toolbar for Gmail and other sites she uses. She wouldn't care if it said http:// https:// or foobar://. She will be scared and be afraid to proceed if she would see the "Warning, untrusted certificate!" dialog.

My wife knows something about http vs https. If it says https she knows it is safe to type in her credit card number. https means "secure". But she doesn't know about authentication vs encryption. And will be equally scared about "Warning, untrusted certificate!" dialog. That might as well say "Your computer is hacked and you have a virus".

Anyway just giving a perceptive on how this affects different classes of users. As I put it in another post, it is in large about the UI.

How about an open padlock? If I saw that my initial reaction would be "WFT?", mouse-over it, and then get a dialog explaining it.