unity-design team mailing list archive

["frederik.nnaji@xxxxxxxxx" <frederik.nnaji@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi mpt,

On Fri, Dec 17, 2010 at 14:58, Matthew Paul Thomas <mpt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:

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> frederik.nnaji@xxxxxxxxx wrote on 16/12/10 18:42:
> >...
> > On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 09:48, Mark Shuttleworth <mark@xxxxxxxxxx
> >...
> >> On 22/09/10 11:37, frederik.nnaji@xxxxxxxxx
> >...
> >>> The high level concept of Silent Mode active during a Desktop session
> >>> is that the user has a simple way of enabling an disturbance-free
> >>> experience in order to be able to focus on an important task, work,
> >>> project, conversation, movie, audio or what have you.
> >>>
> >>> Has anyone started speccing this out already?
> >>
> >> I don't believe so. If you would like to do a spec, either work with
> >> MPT or I'll review it with you until it gets approval and then it can
> >> be queued for 11.10. This is LOOOONG overdue, and I appreciate your
> >> offer of help.
> >
> > This has probably been lying around for so long, because of design
> > conflicts with how the Ayatana subsystem is currently wired.
> > * Presence has no local effect
> > * Presence has no effect on Skype (except with Pidgin running)
> >    -> https://bugs.launchpad.net/indicator-me/+bug/684678
> > * System Sounds are not connected with notifications (perhaps with
> > Dylan's patch?)
>
> None of those are the reason.
>

exactly, they merely contribute to the problem somehow, as you will
elaborate later in your mail..
i'd like to add another issue that contributes to the problem:
We have no "connected to the internet" indicator.
https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/lucid-online-status


> The main reason is that, as you say,
>
> > Busy aka DoNotDisturb has been around for as long as i know Presence in
> > IM,
>
> and no-one has ever gotten around the problem that (a) having to go
> online with your IM account for the purpose of being interrupted *less*
> often would be daft, and


I did! ;) (perhaps a mail that never left /drafts) :
* put an ON|OFF toggle for IM into the MeMenu
* always keep Presence controls active, regardless of IM¹
* remove "Available", since it is identical with the regular Presence state
for IM and the Desktop Session
* remove "Offline", since it is identical to IM = OFF
* allow checking and unchecking Away OR Busy
* make "Invisible" an extra checkbox, orthogonal to the other Presence
controls. [perhaps rename to "visible"]

This is why i mentioned invisible in the first place.
For those who want to appear as "busy" or "do not disturb" on IM, while
keeping notifications ON (unmuted), we can leave an override interface in
Empathy, as Contact List currently has.
Me Menu Presence controls should remain the Master controls for all clients
who obey the User's wish for privacy as commanded via Me Menu.

(b) any design that works around that by making
> "being online" a separate thing from being in "do not disturb" mode
> would make IM slower and more complicated to use.
>

Thank You! I have been beating my head agains this one, but your above
statement confirms my initial position.
Maybe we can rename "busy" to "do not disturb", semantics.. ;)


For any design problem, I consider: Can it be solved by
> 1.  removing things?
> 2.  merging things?
> 3.  moving or renaming things?
>
> Only if none of those will work do I consider making the system more
> complex by adding things.
>

i noticed this while looking at your designs and it is the same thing i do
when i'm producing a song:
if you keep on adding instruments and tracks, you have more material to
arrange and more work in mixing later, so less redundancy is less chaos and
less complexity, hence a more orderly interface.



> For example, to solve the problem of too many interruptions:
>
> *   remove unnecessary notification bubbles from programs
>    <http://mairin.wordpress.com/2009/01/05/chatty-applications/>
>
> *   merge or replace notification bubbles, in programs where that's
>    appropriate
>
> *   merge Skype status setting with status setting for other IM
>    protocols, so you don't need to set "Do not disturb" twice
>
> *   move and/or reword the options for interruptions, to make them more
>    obvious in programs like Evolution and Empathy.
>
> All those things could, and should, be done regardless of whether a
> "silent mode" is added later. And if they were done, a silent mode
> probably wouldn't be necessary.
>

i think i want to know that if i press "This button here", i'll have my
peace for sure.
I need a way of guaranteeing that during a high level staff meeting, my
presentation will absolutely not be interrupted by anything.

OTOH i agree that a professional application for business presentations will
by itself inhibit any kind of disturbances.
Still i think it is better to have such a state, which is managed and
guaranteed by the system, centrally, globally, locally and for the connected
outside world.

>...
> > other issues in the same domain:
> > * Invisible doesn't really work - it jumps to busy always
>
> That seems like a bug, not a design.
>

Correct, and once invisible works, we have another way of managing our
privacy during a desktop session, as i explained briefly above.


> > * the Session Menu is on the wrong side of the panel (imo)
>
> In an ideal PC operating system, the session menu wouldn't be necessary
> either. Adding an extra menu was easier than doing the necessary changes
> in GDM and the kernel.
>

I'm sorry i ever brough it up! :P

On Fri, Dec 17, 2010 at 16:11, Omer Akram <om26er@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Fixed in Natty more specifically telepathy-gabble ~0.10.0 ;-)
>
> On Thu, 2010-12-16 at 19:42 +0100, frederik.nnaji@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
> >
> > * Invisible doesn't really work - it jumps to busy always
>

Thanks, Omer! ;)


¹ allowing the user to set his desired state of Availability *before*
activating IM allows for "going online" in a desired state, instead of being
limited to being Available by default