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> Just having a shitty electron app in Windows kiosk mode is the alternative... which I thinks is definitely worse. Honest question here, why is this worse? Wh

> Just having a shitty electron app in Windows kiosk mode is the alternative... which I thinks is definitely worse. Honest question here, why is this worse? Why wouldn't you want a kiosk mode for taking tests? Blocking URLs is kind of a half-baked answer anyway, you don't really want people to have access to most browser features for the embedded page, including dev tools, including the URL bar, you don't want them to be able to Ctrl-S the page, you don't want them to be able to access bookmarklets that can reveal source, etc, etc. If you're using Google Forms to give tests, there are probably other issues there beyond whether or not kids can look at the source code, and the reality is you probably do not want to actually use a full-featured browser to give that test. So there's very little downside I can see to having a single-purpose Electron app that's installed on school computers. I mean, hopefully you're not using kids own computers for this anyway if you care about security, because you have no way to verify that they haven't messed with the browser or bypassed your restriction then. So if they're school machines, because this is a policy for work machines that are managed... yeah, of course you should install a testing app, and of course you should put machines into a kiosk mode. Why wouldn't you? I would think "put school-owned machines into kiosk mode" would be the first step to take as an admin if someone is trying to administer secure tests on those machines.

chromanoid 5y ago
I guess they use some kind of kiosk mode but still want to preserve some browser functionality. E.g. allow access to more exam material not embedded into the quiz or an Encyclopedia for research during exams. An app has to be developed and this development costs money and somebody has to pay this money.
- danShumway 5y ago
  > An app has to be developed and this development costs money and somebody has to pay this money. Doesn't Chrome already have a kiosk mode built into it? > but still want to preserve some browser functionality. E.g. allow access to more exam material not embedded into the quiz or an Encyclopedia for research during exams. Open Internet access seems like a really bad way to provide that. There are maybe 5 different ways I can think of off the top of my head that are quick to do that circumvent a view-source restriction if the rest of the browser is enabled. Sure, an enterprise admin might know to disable (some of) those methods, but if they're smart enough to do that, aren't they also smart enough to set up a kiosk display? Kiosk apps aren't some kind of new technology, these get used all over the place. I'm curious about the intersection between teachers/admins who are not well-equipped enough to avoid using anything other than Google Forms to deliver tests, but that are well equipped enough to build a network policy that blocks students from just sending each other test answers during the test. I don't know, I don't want to be cynical here, but this kind of thing is literally the job of a network admin, isn't it? It's why you hire them, to set up stuff like this.

chromanoid 5y ago

I guess they use some kind of kiosk mode but still want to preserve some browser functionality. E.g. allow access to more exam material not embedded into the quiz or an Encyclopedia for research during exams. An app has to be developed and this development costs money and somebody has to pay this money.

danShumway 5y ago
> An app has to be developed and this development costs money and somebody has to pay this money. Doesn't Chrome already have a kiosk mode built into it? > but still want to preserve some browser functionality. E.g. allow access to more exam material not embedded into the quiz or an Encyclopedia for research during exams. Open Internet access seems like a really bad way to provide that. There are maybe 5 different ways I can think of off the top of my head that are quick to do that circumvent a view-source restriction if the rest of the browser is enabled. Sure, an enterprise admin might know to disable (some of) those methods, but if they're smart enough to do that, aren't they also smart enough to set up a kiosk display? Kiosk apps aren't some kind of new technology, these get used all over the place. I'm curious about the intersection between teachers/admins who are not well-equipped enough to avoid using anything other than Google Forms to deliver tests, but that are well equipped enough to build a network policy that blocks students from just sending each other test answers during the test. I don't know, I don't want to be cynical here, but this kind of thing is literally the job of a network admin, isn't it? It's why you hire them, to set up stuff like this.