unity-design team mailing list archive

[Sohail Mirza <mirzmaster@xxxxxxxxx>]

First off, netbooks are not a fair use-case for this discussion.  The
limitations of the form-factor may require entirely a different solution to
common problems.  This much is apparent when comparing Ubuntu Desktop to
Ubuntu Netbook Remix.

Now, if you're watching a full-screen movie *and* waiting for an important
notification, then I would think watching that movie full-screen isn't your
best option.  Remember, these are transient notifications... there's no
guarantee you'll notice it anyways.  If, for example, IM is your priority
then you'll likely want your contact list or the Pidgin tray icon showing
anyways.  Same goes for full-screen Firefox or monodevelop.  Are you waiting
for a notification, or busy working with an application?  I admit, I'm
proposing a trade-off between screen real-estate and the importance of a
non-critical, transient notification.

In general, I realize that for *some* people, full-screening the application
is not a fair "I'm busy" indicator, but for the wider user population I
believe this does hold true.  Remember, the notifications we're referring to
are transient, non-critical, peripheral information bits that the user
can *easily
miss anyways*.  They shouldn't represent a central part of the user's
workflow.  If they are central to a user's workflow then notify-osd isn't
the right solution.

We also have to weigh all this against the proposed alternative of
additional configuration or a "presentation mode", and the pitfalls of that
solution.  Users could forget to set presentation mode, miss the
notification that reminds them to do so, forget to come out of presentation
mode.  I think there are just too many ways for the wider population of
users to misconfigure that system.  Just consider the case where one is in a
hurry to setup for a presentation that is already starting late.  Will they
really remember to set presentation mode?  If they glance away from the
screen they might miss the reminder notification too.

For these reasons I think "full-screen = I'm busy" is a reasonable
assumption.


On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 9:52 AM, Vincenzo Ciancia <ciancia@xxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:

> Il 07/07/2009 15:35, Alex Launi ha scritto:
>
>> I know many people who do this.
>>
>
> Netbook users do this all the time.
>



-- 
sfm