Re: [Ayatana] Regarding Notify-OSD's Position in Karmic Koala

[Martín Soto <donsoto@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 3:16 PM, Luke Benstead <kazade@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

[...] I think the reason that notify-osd's positioning is a particular
sticking point with many people is that it is something where no
default location will suit the majority of people. Users with visual
problems, non-default layouts, applications that have elements right
where the notification pops up all would like, perhaps need, some way
to move them out of the way. And the real reason that it causes such
an issue with people is it's a bloody good idea and they want to be
able to use it.

This is a good point.
 

I understand fully what you are saying about both sensible defaults,
and how too much configuration is a bad thing, (I'm a programmer, I
know how much more work it adds to make something configurable) but
sometimes you need to allow some kind of override switch.

From reading this paragraph, though, I get the impression that you see configuration options as the only, or, at least, the better solution in this case. Are you really sure? Suppose you go to a user and ask "how would you like your notifications, top-right corner, middle-right side or lower-right corner?" Most people, even those technically minded, wouldn't be able to answer. Actually, they would have to try each option for a while, and it may turn out that all three are equally disrupting, except that the particular conditions in which they happen to cause disruption may vary from one to the next.

So, probably, the solution is rather to find some clever algorithm that places them dynamically based on the current desktop conditions, but we won't be motivated to search for this algorithm if we resort to creating more options as soon as someone complaints.

It is not that problems shouldn't be addressed. They should. The point is, however, that customization is almost never the right way to address them.

Best wishes,

Martín