Re: [Usability] Integration and Standardisation of Notification area and behaviour

[Jacob Beauregard <jake13jake comcast net>]

Well, while I'm waiting for my lab partner's mockery of alpha-beta pruning to 
make a decision against my own algorithm's, I think I'll respond to this.

Yes, I have always been annoyed by the inconsistency the system tray presents 
regardless of what interface I've used (KDE, GNOME, Windows).

Still, I like it better than stuff cluttering the task bar. Still, there are 
the times when the system tray can be cluttered itself.

If I had my way, the quick-launch bar and the system tray would be one in the 
same with some signifying appearance that a program is running in the 
background, and I bet someone has done it before. I would also make it 
possible to throw/replace any application in the tray. I don't know what 
anyone else thinks about this though. I'd really love for someone to do a 
usability study on a revised concept of the system tray.

On Sunday 29 April 2007 04:50:30 am Thilo Pfennig wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I would like to know if there were already some thoughts on redesining
> the communication that applications do with the users?
>
>
>
> Some elements of criticm in GNOME
>  ===========================
>  Applets, Panel, Messages, Notification Area & Application behaviour.
>
>  * Applications:
>    * When closing an application some applications keep running and be
>       visible in the notification area
>    * Some applications like workrave seem to use different mechanisms
>      to communicate to the user.
>
>  * Notification area:
>    * Every application does behave different when you right or left
> click on its icon
>      in the notification area
>
>  * Messages (libnotify etc.)
>   * Sometimes you get messages that disapear and you can
>      not get back (no glipper kind of functionality)
>
>  * Panel
>    * If you add more nice starters and applets, the panel gets
> cluttered more and more.
>    * You sometimes loose a function/applet from the panel that is core
> to the desktop.
>
>
> Suggestions
> ==========
>
>  * All applications of a kind should only be allowed to use the
> notification area or GNOMEs notification system if they use certain
> kind of messaging. I expect different classes of applications to work
> in the same way.  I would like to see every music application to react
> the same way on:
>     * single click
>     * double click
>     * right click
>
> The notification area is something that I expect my desktop to have
> under control. I should not need to learn about how different
> applications react. For instance some music browsers require a right
> click and choice to skip a track and some open the skip dialogue with
> a left click.
>
>  * I also suggest to have a more standardized and monolithic panel
> that can not be destructed
> by accident. Since GNOME 2.2 or so where I started to use GNOME I
> experience now and then that parts of the panel got lost. This could
> also be better from a memory perspective. Today you have a panel and
> many processes and some alone take some 50-60 MB. I suppose if these
> were integrated this would be less?
>
>  * If somebody wants to add additional functionality I suggest that
> this functionality is added where it makes sense from the panels
> perspective (or better from the perspective of HIG, usability
> standpoint)
>
>  * I would expect more features like queuing of icons/messages/applets
> on the panel to save space. Like the "Window selector applet" - you
> only have one visible icon but then can select multiple applications.
>
>  * Somehow the icons in the notification area have become another menu
> for applications. I mean you can open preferences and much more (like
> with GAIM).
>
>
>
> Any thoughts or plans on this?
>
>
> Thilo