On Tue, 2009-04-07 at 16:25 +0000, Matthew Paul Thomas wrote:
> I'm not sure from the text description how your proposed
> persistent indicator would behave; perhaps you could post
> a mockup and example timeline on the Ubuntu wiki?

I'm not a graphics guy (I struggle with getting anything more than
black-on-white bullets into presentations) so I'm not sure how to make a
mock-up, but a timeline I can do. I assume that the right page would be
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/NotificationDesignGuidelines/Comments ??

Or perhaps just what follows will do?

1. User has three windows open, FF, email, gedit. User is working in
email.

2. Ephemeral notification appears - just like it works right now. A
bubble appears, disappears after a few seconds, user can react or
ignore.

3. Persistent notification appears: A bubble appears requesting user
action, does not have focus, user continues working in email. After a
few seconds, the bubble drops beneath the email window.

4. The user alt-tabs to FF - the persistent bubble moves to the top,
above FF, but FF has focus. The user works within FF and the bubble
drops beneath FF. The bubble appeared in the alt-tab list but the user
didn't choose it.

(This means that the window stack from desktop up is: gedit, email, the
bubble, FF; FF has focus.)

5. The user minimizes FF - email now has focus but the bubble appears
again. After a moment, it disappears.

6. The user clicks on show desktop - all windows are minimized, but the
bubble is in the notification area, waiting for the user to click on it.
As long as the desktop is displayed, the bubble is displayed.

7. The bubble never disappears. As long as the desktop is displayed, the
bubble is displayed. If an application is open and has focus, the bubble
pops above it briefly, then sinks beneath it again, taking top spot BUT
NEVER FOCUS when focus changes to another application.

8. With the exception of "reboot needed", the persistent bubble is still
there after reboot.

9. In the event of something urgent and important (Battery low, please
save all work and plug in or shutdown), keep bringing the bubble up.
When some threshold is reached, keep it on top, make it flash, make it
ring a bell, but leave it there. Never take focus.

10. Pretty much nothing else is both urgent and important: If there is
an email or an incoming phone call or anything else, display the bubble,
then sink it away. If I choose to ignore it and continue working, that's
my choice. Just like when I ignore the real phone while writing.

11. Never bring up a "real window" in the user zone. Ever. Only the user
can do this. Everything else should be a bubble, either ephemeral or
persistent, depending on urgency and importance.

12. The default policy should be that the only things that are important
and urgent are those that involve potential data loss. Everything else
is either urgent and unimportant - a phone call - or important and not
urgent - an available update.

13. If I think one of the above not urgent and not important items is
urgent and important, chances are I am sitting waiting for them and will
respond to them when they arise.

14. If a user has a video open full screen, persistent and ephemeral
will stay beneath the video. (It irks me when I am watching a video on
full screen, hit the volume control on the keyboard, and the full screen
disappears. Darned bubbles! :-> Other than that, I love the bubbles.)