unity-design team mailing list archive

[Jeremy Nickurak <jeremy@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, Nov 7, 2009 at 11:16, mac_v <drkvi-a@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>
> -1 , Checkboxes are not really ideal for indicating app working.
> A checkbox ,would mean that the item can also be unchecked , which in
> this case cannot be.
>

You could certainly uncheck them. Doing so would simple close the
application.


> As *mpt* , mentions that the apps are to be considered as objects and
> they can display icons in the menus.
>
> We could use icon and toggle transparencies to show if the app is active
> or not. Attaching a mockup...
>

It does look pretty. However, I don't think colors and icons and
transparency are the way to go here. That kind of cue is always going to be
subject to personal interpretation, not to mention vision/color impairments.
A text indicator is important.

Even just to bootstrap the approach, it tells people that "this different
color/icon means X". For the base indicator-applet icon, we have
notifications that tell people "Hey, something's up. You have a new
message", which associates the modified icon with the behavior. Currently,
and even with that mockup, we have real intuition about what the new
colors/transparency mean.