Re: [Ayatana] Message Indicator: Listing apps in menu even if they are not on

[Celeste Lyn Paul <celeste@xxxxxxx>]

On Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 10:23 AM, Ted Gould<ted@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Wed, 2009-09-02 at 16:14 -0400, Celeste Lyn Paul wrote:
>> My question is: Why? To what purpose are all registered applications
>> always listed in the MI, regardless if they are running or not, if
>> they have messages or not, if the user even uses them or not.
>
> The question comes down to whether users know if the applications are
> running or not.  If I'm used to going to the messaging menu to
> accomplish the task "Open the Pidgin Buddy List" should I have to know
> whether Pidgin is running or not?

Again, this is getting into the "apparently the message indicator is
doing more than indicating" problem. If the purpose is still an
indicator, why do i care if Pidgin is running and why would I got to
the indicator to access the buddy list? Instead, it seems like it is
turning into a messaging dashboard, which isn't the original intent
communicated to the outside world. If this is the case then please
update the documentation to reflect this, otherwise other projects
will have no clue what you're trying to do.

>
> So in the case where it's not running the computer launches the
> application and brings up the buddy list.  In the case where it was
> running, it brings the buddy list forward.  Either way the user
> accomplishes the task independent of what the computer is doing.
>
> There is an issue with numbers of apps, which is rare, but unavoidable
> as it's nearly impossible to determine "the mail application I use"
> except by what's installed.  We're providing a blacklisting feature for
> people to remove applications from the list.
>
>                --Ted
>
>



-- 
Celeste Lyn Paul
KDE Usability Project
KDE e.V. Board of Directors
www.kde.org