Re: I believe we should reconsider our sys-tray removal

[Pat Suwalski <pat suwalski net>]

On 2019-03-25 10:37 a.m., Emmanuele Bassi via desktop-devel-list wrote:
>     On a default gnome install on any modern screen, only
>     about 25% of the top bar contains any information at all. It can't be
>     "the most important real estate" and be so underutilized.
>
> It's important because it's the UI element that is *always visible* at 
> all times.

So let me hide it. Everyone's happy.

>     Same reasoning
>     why it is rare to have a park in the middle of downtown.
>
> I literally have no idea what this even means.

It's not important real-estate if it is completely underutilized.

The only time empty space is important real estate is when that empty 
space is more important than information that could be there. Same 
applies to buildings. That was the analogy.

>     That said, notification icons are literally the most useful information
>     points for the many applications I have running in the background. So
>     they deserve prominent placement.
>
> If an application is in the background, why do you need to see an icon 
> all the time?

Because I got an IM while I was away from my desk. It shows up in the 
completely useless notification menu that is under the clock. Its 
notification got clobbered by Rhythmbox's notification that the song 
changed while I was on the can. I wonder why I never see my original 
notification.

Alternative: oh hey, the Pidgin icon is flashing!

> If the application needs to notify you of any state change while it's 
> hidden, it can use a notification; if you need an icon to interact with 
> a background application, you can literally re-launch it from the dash 
> or from the applications grid, and you'll get an application window.

Keepass: I want the icon so I can click it and it makes the correct 
password available o nthe clipboard. Screen recording: I want a place on 
screen to click to stop it without recording a window change. There are 
a gazillion uses. Screen sharing: icon shows me that someone is 
connected (this information is useless hidden in a menu). I can think of 
dozens more.

> If there are no state changes and you don't need to interact with it, 
> then the icon is pointless waste of space.

And yet, on my Mac, I'm not overwhelmed with icons. A balance can be struck.

Anyway, all that to say, I'm perfectly happy with KNotifier, but it's a 
no-brainer that it should be core and it should be modernized for all of 
the *technical* reasons mentioned in other messages. If you don't want 
to see it, hide it.

--Pat