unity-design team mailing list archive

[David <david.reichling@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

i have a new proposal for notifications / indicators:

actually we show per default:
 - messages (status/chat/twitter/mail/ubuntu_one)
 - battery
 - bluetooth
 - network
 - sound (volume/music)
 - clock
 - session switcher (switch user)
 - Power (shutdown ...)

Here is my proposal:
 - me menu
   - like https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeMenu or gnome-shell
 system indicators: (hidden by default, can be shown by clicking on an arrow)
 - sound
 - battery
 - network
 notification indicators: (hidden by default)
 - messages
   - like http://ubuntuone.com/3pQaNx9TdpPXEZHMIjPgdP
 - devices
 - updates
   - update all
   - ----------
   - Ubuntu
   - ----------
   - App1
   - App2
   - ...
 - progress
   - like https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Ayatana/ProgressIndication
 - ...

How it should work:
 - per default only the me menu should be visible.
   - clock: To be able to do that we need to find a new place for the
clock. (launcher/dash?)
   - networking: is most of the time not needed (automatic connects at
lan/known wlan/usb/...)
   - battery: is only interesting when its discharging
   - sound: annoying when its hidden and you don't have hardware buttons
 - indicators are only visible when needed
 - you can click on an arrow to see
   - battery
   - network
   - sound
   (hides automatic when you move your mouse away from the panel)
 - we could show a number for how many notifications happened (3 in
messages, 2 downloads, ...)
 - only notifications and system indicators should be allowed
   - To do that we need to find the use cases of the other indicators
and find ways to handle them
     (i didn't really do that)
   - for some indicators it might be enough to use quicklist? (tomboy)
   - we could improve "minimize"
     - good for apps like opera/lernid/... that wants to hide their main window
     - every application could be hidden by minimizing it
     - minimized apps could be shown ass small icons at the bottom in
the launcher
     - easier to have a feature to start apps "hidden" at login.
   - not sure how other indicators like cpu scaling or desktop
recording etc could be handled

Indicators become visible/hidden when a specific notification happens:
 - Open Wireless connection found -> notification + network indicator fades in
 - connection etablished -> notification + if visible network
indicator fades out

 - New mail -> notification + message indicator fades in
 - New chat -> notification + message indicator fades in
 - another new mail -> notification + updated message indicator

 - New Printer found. Installing... -> only notification
 - Driver for printer needed -> notification + device menu fades in
 - Printer is ready to use -> notification + if visible device
indicator fades out

 - New updates found -> notification + update indicator fades in (with
feature to update all)
 - please close firefox to continue updates -> notification + update
indicator change state

 - playing music -> sound menu fades in
 - audio conversation (skype and co) -> sound menu fades in
 - sound menu fades out when finished
 - ...

pro
 - The blue icon effect is no longer needed
   - there was a notification when you see an icon
   - there was no notification when there is no icon
 - cleaned up top right corner
   - more place for menus and title (even more important on small screens)
   - better looking
   - Everything is about the application, you see nothing system releated.
     i think this fits good into the vision to integrate applications
with the panel
contra
 - more clicks needed to do simple things like
   - changing volume when no hardware buttons are avaible
   - bluetooth
   - connecting to a network
     - we could always show the network indicator when not connected

remaining questions:
 - is it ok that the clock is not always visible?
 - where should the clock be? launcher? dash?
 - should we show the network-indicator as long as you have never been connected
   - people might not know how to connect to the internet
 - what are other problems with this?

I am working on a mockup (in form of a webpage) so that you can try it
out and see how it would work/look.
It should be ready in 2 or 3 days.

What do you think?

David Reiching