unity-design team mailing list archive

[Richard JOHNSON <nixternal@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey everyone,

So, a few things that I am noticing on this list, in press, and from
various users, concerning the desktop notifications are this:

a) When we, the developers, are discussing the options with notifications,
we tend to discuss our workflow, which is fine, but we also need to
remember that we are working on this together not just for ourselves, but
for a much larger audience.

b) Obviously a lot of us like certain aspects and dislike certain aspects
of the entire notification system. A lot of us our tossing what we think
would be good and what isn't good. Because of this, it has become obvious
to me that having some sort of advanced feature set where people like us
can configure the notifications to the way we like or darn close.

c) I had the opportunity to discuss the notification stuff with users, not
developers, and the consensus was that a majority of them either paid no
attention or they really liked the convenience of it. So far some of the
complaints that I have come across seem to be that of people with advanced
knowledge of Linux/Ubuntu, and typically these same types of people have
the knowledge to make stuff work the way they want it (this is why I think
some sort of advanced configuration subset would be good).

d) We need to remember that Ubuntu is marketed to a much larger group than
developers. "Ubuntu aims to be usable by as many people as possible..."
There are far more users than there are developers, and even though a lot
of us got into free software to "scratch our own itch" and some are still
into free software because of this, we have to remember the rest of the
people who are using our creation. If it were up to me everyone would just
have a pretty shell because that is my itch, but how far would I get if I
just kept scratching mine? This one really should have been merged into (a)
above, sorry.

e) I think we need to have quite a few usability experts look into this
project and weigh in. I am not a usability expert and won't even claim I
know the first thing about usability. The way it currently is, it is usable
in my book, but maybe not in other's books.

f) This notification is better than that notification doesn't fly. If you
feel that way, be constructive about it and explain why you feel that way.
If you have usability results that back up your claim, that will make your
criticism stronger, as long as it stays constructive.

g) If and when you are dealing with upstream people concerning
notifications, be courteous and definitely patient. I have followed quite a
few lists and do my own little research on this entire thing, and I have
noticed on a couple of occasions people trying to push their agenda without
really listening to upstream. I know this annoys upstream and then starts
little battles. I have watched Ted Gould communicating with various
upstream projects on this entire notification system, and he has done a
wonderful job (ya Ted, I am on the KDE lists you have been frequenting) :)

I think if we, including myself, open up our agenda a bit, we will work out
the notification system and have the ability to create a solid and
respectable system. If we keep infighting over this, it is going to just
delay the entire thing and make people grumpy. Grumpy developers are not
fun :) Remember, constructive criticism, though I have heard that any form
of criticism is better than no criticism at all. No criticism means people
aren't noticing the work.

If you think this book has been targeted at you, it hasn't. Quite a few of
us maybe guilty of this, including myself. I listened to people complain
and started feeling the same way they did, but after really experiencing
it myself, I have my own thoughts. Lets work together, get it figured out,
and make the best damn notification system ever!

-- 
 Name|  Richard JOHNSON
Title|  Developer
  WWW|  http://www.ubuntu.com
Email|  nixternal@xxxxxxxxxx
GnuPG|  9554 2BCC 3AA2 3898 0939  56E7 3EC9 A39D 2E2C 0124

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