unity-design team mailing list archive

[Sohail Mirza <mirzmaster@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 10:48 AM, Alex Launi <alex.launi@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 4:39 PM, Sohail Mirza <mirzmaster@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> 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.
>
>
>
> Don't think this is true. I see many presentations give on netbooks.
> Because they're so portable they lend themselves to this, and with so many
> great presentation apps being in the cloud, it's even easier.
>

I'm sorry, I wasn't suggesting that presentations are not given on
netbooks.  Rather, I'm suggesting that due to the limitations of the
form-factor (mainly screen real-estate) notifications may need to be
handled/suppressed differently.


> 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.
>
>
>
> No ones *waiting* for a notification, we're doing stuff, and don't want
> our notifications turned off. If none come, or we miss them, so be it, but
> we certainly want the opportunity.
>

Weighed against the configuration set and dialogues being proposing, I still
think that "full-screen = I'm busy" is a reasonable assumption to make with
the vast majority of the user population.  I would venture a guess that most
users don't even use, let alone understand how to, full-screen non-media
applications like Firefox or monodevelop.


>
>> 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.
>
>
>
> Transient, but not absolutely worthless. If it's worthless, then it
> shouldn't be sent in the first place. This assertion is also based on the
> idea that netbooks are a different case, which I dont think is the case for
> presentations. Maybe for movies and text editors, but I'm not really sure.
>

It's not just about the messages being transient and non-critical, but
rather about them being so in combination with the decision to full-screen
an application, which is certainly a statement of some enhanced importance
being given to the full-screen application.


>
>
>> 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.
>
>
> This seems like something that should be a dialog, not a notification.
>

A dialog while in a rush, with perhaps your audience sitting right there may
not be well received by the user population.  :)  And then there's the
difficulty of determining when to show this dialogue.  Only for
presentations?  How about movies?  Full-screen Firefox (I've done this for a
presentation)?  This is not even to speak of the UX (in)correctness of
pop-up dialogues.

Overall, I think the assumption "full-screen = I'm busy" holds true for most
users, in most circumstances, and should be weighed against the difficulty
of designing a set of configurations/dialogues that give more granular,
per-application control, and making these dialogues easily understood by the
common user.

I also think the "full-screen = I'm busy" assumption could be balanced by
way of a general system-level availability indicator (which I'm starting to
think should be your IM status).  Thus, if one has their IM availability set
to "busy/dnd", then all non-critical notifications would be suppressed.
Perhaps there are other ways of using the system-level status indicators to
enable the configurability that you'd prefer while retaining default
assumptions that hold true for most users.

-- 
sfm