ENS Web Update April/May 2023

May 13th 20239 min read

This is the first in a series of monthly updates so do check back every month. This first post is a jumbo edition, encompassing the past two months of work.

Version 3 Release

Visit the app here.

Why is the current version of the app known as v3? Before the previous version, there was a lesser-known v1 version of the manager app. Check it out! It only works with names registered before 2019. If you didn't register a name before then, try using arachnid.eth or jefflau.eth.

For the dev team, the release also marked the soft launch of our ENS utility library (ENSjs) rewrite and our design system Thorin.

Email reminders with Earnifi

We've partnered with earni.fi to bring you expiry reminders via email. These reminders will work for any name you are interested in, and you will get a reminder one month, one week, and one day before expiry. Simply navigate to the 'more' tab on any name and click 'Remind me' as shown below. You'll be asked to provide the email address you would like the reminders to be sent to, and once you click the confirmation email in your inbox you'll be all set.

As part of this update, we replaced dropdowns on mobile with 'Action Sheets' to provide a better user experience.

Wrapping and unwrapping names

We may have got a bit over excited about the NameWrapper, after release it started to become clear that many users did not feel the need to wrap their names and some people wanted to be able to unwrap them. This is likely because support for wrapped names hasn't been added to many services in the broader ecosystem, and so users are likely to see errors on other platforms at the moment when trying to view their wrapped names. We still believe that in the future almost every name will be wrapped, but reaching that goal is also about education and community outreach.

In the manager app we are treating it more as an advanced feature for now. You'll find the ability to wrap and unwrap a name in the 'More' tab, as well as info on the state of the name as it relates to wrapping.

Transaction in progress indicator

If you have a transaction in progress, you will now see a progress indicator (the blue dot) in key areas in the app.

Legacy Favourites

We intend to release a new and improved version of favourites in the coming weeks, however initially we did not provide a way for users to continue to view favourites that they had already added via v2. If you have legacy favourites, a link to them will show up in the navigation bar, and you can also navigate to them directly here.

Improved profile warning flow for various resolver states

Partly in response to community feedback, we decided to fast track improvements to the various warnings we show when opening up the profile editor depending on what resolver has been set:

These changes also allow people to use the profile editor for custom resolvers (before they had to use the record editor). Additionally we've added the option to ignore resolver upgrades in each flow.

Better handling of issues with The Graph

The ENS Manager app heavily relies on a third-party service called 'The Graph' for a lot of the data it displays. It is essentially a caching layer without which the app would be unusably slow. From time to time the service will be slow or unresponsive, which makes the manager app slow or unresponsive, which previously would have made the user feel like the app is down. Now we can handle this by showing a warning message and displaying data that doesn't rely on the graph.

In-app support via Intercom

You can now reach our support team directly through the app. Look for the icon in the bottom right corner. A bot will initially try to help you but if it can't you will always have the option to talk to a human.

Security improvements, a tale of two foxes (MetaMask, Firefox)

As a team we are taking steps to improve our security practices, and one of the outcomes of this initiative was implementing something known as a content security policy (CSP) for the manager app. This allows us to keep our users safe from entire categories of attacks by instructing the browser to disallow certain actions that could be used by an attacker to steal a user's funds for example. It is something every dapp should consider implementing. Unfortunately, this causes problems on certain platforms, as the way some extensions work is very similar to how an attacker might try to steal your info, so only install browser extensions that you trust!

An open issue in Firefox that hasn't been fixed for years is the core of the debate. This issue means that Firefox blocks MetaMask and other wallets from interacting with the manager app when a CSP is in place. We now have a workaround for MetaMask, but there may be issues with other wallets. If you're having trouble, you can let us know directly in the app via Intercom.

Smaller Improvements

Bug Fixes

Known Issues