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This mockup shows off a bubble with a tail:
http://crhis22.deviantart.com/art/Ubuntu-Mockup-120235202 I do believe people would notice it a lot more, they make it more obvious where the notification is coming from. Studies do show that is hard for humans to pay attention to more than one thing at a time. but not all bubbles need a tail. and some do need to be more persistent. In windows i think they go into a queue and use a priority system, but am not totally sure. > Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:41:33 +0000 > From: mpt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > To: ayatana@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > Subject: Re: [Ayatana] Clippy has noticed you've been trying to click on notifications... > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > Evan Huus wrote on 03/12/11 15:43: > > ... > > > > Currently when an event occurs (for example, someone says something > > in a minimized empathy chat), a notification pops up and the > > messaging indicator turns blue. They happen at the same time, but > > the events don't appear related. Technically they are two > > components of the same event, but they appear on two different, not > > visibly related UI elements as two separate events. This is made > > even worse if the notification is delayed because it is queued > > behind other notifications. In that case the indicator turns blue > > well before the notification appears, so the user has no idea which > > notification the blue indicator is associated with. > > > > Additionally, the change of colour in the indicator is not > > particularly noticeable. Anecdotally I have found that people > > either don't notice it at all, or ignore it because they don't know > > what it means (was there a usability study on this? I remember one, > > but couldn't find it any more...) > > > Yes. From > <https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2011-April/032988.html>: > "Only 2/6 noticed an XChat Gnome notification, despite (1) a > notification bubble appearing, (2) the Ubuntu button going blue, (3) > the messaging menu envelope going blue, and (4) an emblem appearing on > XChat Gnome's launcher." > > (In 11.10, fewer things change: the Ubuntu button no longer goes blue.) > > > That's the problem. There are a couple of possible solutions, but > > here's one that makes the most sense to me: > > > > - Link notifications to indicators via a speech-bubble-like tail. > > Volume change notifications get linked to the sound indicator, > > empathy notifications get linked to the messaging indicator, etc. > > > > I believe that just this change on its own will help > > significantly. Notifications are transient, so people can't > > interact with them, but with this change the notifications are at > > least *pointing* to something interactive. They still don't require > > interaction (which was one of the original design goals I agree > > with) but they make it obvious how. This should reduce the > > frustration felt by users who are used to interacting with > > notifications directly on other operating systems. > > > Three problems there. > > Most importantly, in the 11.04 test, people didn't see the bubble > either. Would a bubble with a tail be much more noticable than one > without a tail? > > Second, giving Ubuntu notification bubbles tails would make them look > more like Windows notification balloons ... which are clickable. :-) > > Third, what would happen when there were two or more bubbles on screen > at once? Would the tail of the second obscure the first? > > > ... > > > > I personally think the above change would be sufficient, but we > > have other options as well: > > > > - Add a glow effect and a *very* gentle pulse to active (blue) > > indicators. This will make them slightly more obvious and > > interactive-looking than currently. We'll have to be careful not > > to make them too distracting, though. > > > > - Change the notification animation to be a magic-lamp like expand > > and collapse into the appropriate indicator. Could be used instead > > of or in addition to the speech-bubble-tail. I expect this would > > end up being too active/busy, but you never know. > > > > ... > > > Perhaps when battery is critically low, the battery icon should blink > constantly even once you've dismissed the warning alert. > > - -- > mpt > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux) > Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ > > iEYEARECAAYFAk7mPMwACgkQ6PUxNfU6ecrKiACgkc5ylUSxk1xguFT2qQAm+7xF > 4JIAoL9aD7fJki9WoaL+akYFM+7+N7Ju > =kPOQ > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > > _______________________________________________ > Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~ayatana > Post to : ayatana@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~ayatana > More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp |