On Tue, Dec 7, 2010 at 19:33, Jason DeRose
<jderose@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I didn't make it clear, but in my scenario there will very likely be a
person editing at the workstation.
Being a devoted AVID user (audio), I'm well aware of the various zombie states one can assume, operating a digital workstation for the better part of the day..
When someone is there editing, I think NotifyOSD strikes a wonderful
balance between reliably capturing the user's attention yet not
distracting them. It's all because the notifications are
non-interactive. They're strangely soothing, IHMO. (Mad props to
those who designed them so well.)
I can only begin to imagine the benefits of my ProTools being
integrated into its hosting DE for once.. that would change everything!
Notify OSD and AppIndicators provide such an easy way of integrating
one's professional software into the Desktop Environment seamlessly.
All the same, it would be a small effort to try both approaches, get
feedback from the users. If you ever have a mockup of what you had in
mind for said window, I'd love to see it.
Menus are condensed interfaces, they offer the most frequently used options of an otherwise more comprehensive interface for rapid interaction. In a similar way, as in Ayatana Indicator Menus, they can also offer the most recent and current event/process/progress/item in a given activity, e.g. a conversation, a message or a completed transfer.
I think it is always easy to see a menu as a proxy to the more comprehensive main window of the same respective "project".
Only that the menu will give back focus to the thing you were working on without the disturbing requirements of window management.
I know this is a very specialized use case and it might seem like I'm
splitting hairs, but it's also a use case where small improvements can
make a big difference to the user.
I can confirm that.
When only a single keyboard command changes, it can have a severe effect on how usable my workstation is!
Imagine.. you sit behind that workstation for a dozen of hours on many a day, doing the same thing over and over again, how terrible would it be, to run into a logical regression in the UI design.
Thanks again for your input! I'll add your suggestion to the wiki page.