Attention notification in the Unity launcher is too subtle

[Nate Wiebe]

When an application requires attention, the arrow in the launcher turns blue. This effect is too subtle and you have to spend time trying to find the application. You shouldn't have to search through the list to find this.

The effect should be more distinguishable. Instead of the arrow just turning blue, the backlight for the application icon should pulsate, similar to when you start the application. This way when you look at the launcher, you instantly know which application is asking for attention instead of having to look for it.

[Nathan Haines (nhaines)]

I agree, this could definitely be enhanced.

I like the idea of the backlit launcher item fading to unlit, "pulsing" the backlight three times, and fading back to lit, and then repeating that every few seconds. In addition to the blue arrow this should increase discoverability.

[David Barth (dbarth)]

It's definitely a design discussion, but not an actionable bug from an engineering perspective.

[Mark Shuttleworth (sabdfl)]

We're all agreed on the need for a more distinctive behaviour, but also
that the current position will stick for Natty.

Mark

[Iain Buclaw (iainb)]

On the note of the attention notification and it's behaviour - was this the commit that actually added that blue arrow?
http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~unity-team/unity/trunk/revision/1096

I became rather fond of the Ubuntu logo lighting up blue, and wondered if you could add it as an optional behaviour switch in compiz config? :~)

[Christian Titze (christitze)]

I would also love to see a better notification system. How about the icon not stopping to bounce until the application gets the attention it needs? The icon bounces one time and then there's only the blue triangle in the upper left corner. But in my opinion it is pure luck to see the icon if it only bounces one time - especially on a big screen. So I think the icon should continue to bounce in and out until it gets attention.

[AJenbo (ajenbo)]

That sounds like it would be extreamly annoying, it's not system critical that they get the attention after all.

[Dominik (dominalien)]

The blue corner's meaning is totally unclear. I thought it meant there's something on the Unity menu that required my attention, not an application on the bar.

It is the arrow(s) to the left of an application's icon that indicate(s) that an application is running that should turn blue when a given application requires attention.

I propose the following behaviour:

1. The application’s arrow(s) turn(s) blue (the one(s) to the left of the icon).
2. If the bar is auto-hiding, the arrow(s) should pulsate at the same speed as application icons now do for as long as the bar remains visible.
3. If the bar is always visible, the arrow(s) should pulsate twice every 5 seconds.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

closing, the blue triangle effect got deprecated which "fixes" the bug, there are other bugs open covering the need to bring back a such feature though