Re: [Ayatana] Colored text on the clock for imminent or expired tasks/appointments?

["Stefanos A." <stapostol@xxxxxxxxx>]

2011/9/12 Jo-Erlend Schinstad <joerlend.schinstad@xxxxxxxxx>
> I've started using Thunderbird with Lightning for my appointments and
> tasks lately. It seems quite nice so far. I would probably like it even
> better if they could have their own windows, but that's another issue.
> (I really do like it the way it is :))
>
> What dawned on me, is that it would be nice if the text color of the
> clock would change to _indicate_ that something is afoot. I'm thinking
> something like this: when a task has passed its start time, then the
> foreground color (text color) of the panel clock turns green, indicating
> that something is going on. When you reach time to remind you of the
> task, then it turns yellow. When it's expired, it turns red. That way,
> the reminders could be transient notifications, possibly coupled with a
> sound, and even if you were away from the computer when it happened, you
> would be notified by the clock itself.
>
> This would be consistent with how all the other indicators work.
>
> Thoughts?

Good idea, but please keep in mind that 7-10% of the population suffer from red-green color blindness, so green/yellow/red are not a good choice.

My suggestion would be to keep it simple: turn the text *blue* whenever a task reminder fires off. You can click the icon to see what exactly is going on. This is identical to how the message menu works, where the icon turns blue regardless of the message source (email, messenger, twitter, etc).