On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 10:48 AM, Alex Launi <alex.la...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 4:39 PM, Sohail Mirza <mirzmas...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> First off, netbooks are not a fair use-case for this discussion. The >> limitations of the form-factor may require entirely a different solution to >> common problems. This much is apparent when comparing Ubuntu Desktop to >> Ubuntu Netbook Remix. > > > > Don't think this is true. I see many presentations give on netbooks. > Because they're so portable they lend themselves to this, and with so many > great presentation apps being in the cloud, it's even easier. > I'm sorry, I wasn't suggesting that presentations are not given on netbooks. Rather, I'm suggesting that due to the limitations of the form-factor (mainly screen real-estate) notifications may need to be handled/suppressed differently. > Now, if you're watching a full-screen movie *and* waiting for an important >> notification, then I would think watching that movie full-screen isn't your >> best option. Remember, these are transient notifications... there's no >> guarantee you'll notice it anyways. If, for example, IM is your priority >> then you'll likely want your contact list or the Pidgin tray icon showing >> anyways. Same goes for full-screen Firefox or monodevelop. Are you waiting >> for a notification, or busy working with an application? I admit, I'm >> proposing a trade-off between screen real-estate and the importance of a >> non-critical, transient notification. > > > > No ones *waiting* for a notification, we're doing stuff, and don't want > our notifications turned off. If none come, or we miss them, so be it, but > we certainly want the opportunity. > Weighed against the configuration set and dialogues being proposing, I still think that "full-screen = I'm busy" is a reasonable assumption to make with the vast majority of the user population. I would venture a guess that most users don't even use, let alone understand how to, full-screen non-media applications like Firefox or monodevelop. > >> In general, I realize that for *some* people, full-screening the >> application is not a fair "I'm busy" indicator, but for the wider user >> population I believe this does hold true. Remember, the notifications we're >> referring to are transient, non-critical, peripheral information bits that >> the user can *easily miss anyways*. They shouldn't represent a central >> part of the user's workflow. If they are central to a user's workflow then >> notify-osd isn't the right solution. > > > > Transient, but not absolutely worthless. If it's worthless, then it > shouldn't be sent in the first place. This assertion is also based on the > idea that netbooks are a different case, which I dont think is the case for > presentations. Maybe for movies and text editors, but I'm not really sure. > It's not just about the messages being transient and non-critical, but rather about them being so in combination with the decision to full-screen an application, which is certainly a statement of some enhanced importance being given to the full-screen application. > > >> We also have to weigh all this against the proposed alternative of >> additional configuration or a "presentation mode", and the pitfalls of that >> solution. Users could forget to set presentation mode, miss the >> notification that reminds them to do so, forget to come out of presentation >> mode. I think there are just too many ways for the wider population of >> users to misconfigure that system. Just consider the case where one is in a >> hurry to setup for a presentation that is already starting late. Will they >> really remember to set presentation mode? If they glance away from the >> screen they might miss the reminder notification too. > > > This seems like something that should be a dialog, not a notification. > A dialog while in a rush, with perhaps your audience sitting right there may not be well received by the user population. :) And then there's the difficulty of determining when to show this dialogue. Only for presentations? How about movies? Full-screen Firefox (I've done this for a presentation)? This is not even to speak of the UX (in)correctness of pop-up dialogues. Overall, I think the assumption "full-screen = I'm busy" holds true for most users, in most circumstances, and should be weighed against the difficulty of designing a set of configurations/dialogues that give more granular, per-application control, and making these dialogues easily understood by the common user. I also think the "full-screen = I'm busy" assumption could be balanced by way of a general system-level availability indicator (which I'm starting to think should be your IM status). Thus, if one has their IM availability set to "busy/dnd", then all non-critical notifications would be suppressed. Perhaps there are other ways of using the system-level status indicators to enable the configurability that you'd prefer while retaining default assumptions that hold true for most users. -- sfm
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