unity-design team mailing list archive

[Nick Ellery <nick.ellery@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

> On Mon, May 11, 2009 at 1:18 PM, Mark Shuttleworth <mark@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> Natan Yellin wrote:
>>
>> Natan
>>
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: Ryan Prior <ryanprior@xxxxxxxxx>
>> Date: Sun, May 10, 2009 at 12:58 AM
>> Subject: Re: [Ayatana] Things I have noticed
>> To: Natan Yellin <aantny@xxxxxxxxx>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, May 9, 2009 at 2:55 PM, Natan Yellin <aantny@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> > I don't think an X is useful either, but it seems to be a
>> > common request.
>>
>> I think that having a notification window pop up and having no way to
>> close it, or to know how long until it will close by itself, is
>> unsettling to many computer users.
>>
>> The biggest driver of this that I've seen in user testing, is the fact
>> that the notification covers an area which often has really useful
>> information on it. Even though we've gone some distance to making it
>> possible to use that area smoothly (the click-through idea) there is still
>> the sense that the notification is covering useful info... especially window
>> tabs and the browser search box.
>>
>> That's the driver for us experimenting with moving the notification
>> further down the right hand side of the screen, even though the placement
>> will not be as visually pleasing if it's not neatly "in a corner".
>>
>
>
> Greetings!
>
> What if the notification bubbles started neatly in the corner, but after a
> moment slid down the screen and slowly faded while it moved down a few
> inches, where it would disappear?  New bubbles would pop up in the corner,
> but would slide down while their duration ran out.  More important bubbles
> might pause in the corner longer and slide slower.
>
> I think this would better express the transient nature of the bubbles, and
> would also keep the bubbles from blocking the useful information in the
> corner very long.  This would also fix the problem of users not knowing how
> long a bubble would stick around, as they could sense how quickly it was
> moving towards the spot on the screen where their bubbles finally
> disappeared.
>
> I think the notification system is really shaping up.  Keep up the nice
> looking work!
>

The issue I see with moving notifications is the difficulty of
clicking on it.  Even if the notification slid very slowly, you'll
still end up playing a game of duck hunt every time you attempt to
click on it.  I think it's best to keep them motionless and keep them
simple and tidy.

Thanks,
Nick