Please consider re-adding the pop-out animation for launchers claiming attention

[Hernando Torque]

Recently the pop-out animation has been removed and (for the attention case) been replaced by turning the BFB icon blue.

With launcher autohide enabled, I now no longer get visual feedback of any other launchers claiming attention when the BFB icon is already blue.

Now:
1. Launcher item 1 claims attention
2. BFB icon turns blue -> launcher item 1 gets my attention (after unhiding the launcher)
3. Launcher item 2 claims attention
4. Nothing happens -> launcher item 2 doesn't get my attention

Then:
1. Launcher item 1 claims attention
2. Launcher item 1 briefly pops out and wiggles -> launcher item 1 gets my attention
3. Launcher item 2 claims attention
4. Launcher item 2 briefly pops out and wiggles -> launcher item 2 gets my attention

[Mark Shuttleworth (sabdfl)]

Hi Hernando, thanks for the report, and yes I agree the current
situation is suboptimal. However, the popout's in their
launcher-specific position have significant issues:

 * they are ephemeral, and making them clickable creates a race and the
potential for "gosh darn it" misses
 * they mislead the user as to where to go to retrieve the alert window
(it's the corner, not the side)

There are lots of potential ways forward. Perhaps we should enable
side-activation of the launcher, perhaps we should move the popout to
the corner. However, it's better to offer less and be consistent than
slap on a bad fix. If we can actually do the corner popout by Natty,
we'll do that. If we cannot, we won't. Patches welcome!

Mark

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

one way to deal with that specific issue could be to have the corner to do some effect when a new claim is coming even if it's colored in blue

[Paul Sladen (sladen)]

As a side note, I tried previously tried an experiment/patch to change the slide-out to better hint towards the corner, rather than the side:

  https://lists.launchpad.net/ayatana/msg04633.html

[Mark Shuttleworth (sabdfl)]

On 29/03/11 21:35, Sebastien Bacher wrote:
> one way to deal with that specific issue could be to have the corner to
> do some effect when a new claim is coming even if it's colored in blue

Good idea, Seb, we could at least flash the blue BFB for subsequent
alerts. It's not especially noticeable, but it's better than nothing.

Also, interesting work Paul.

Mark

[Mark Shuttleworth (sabdfl)]

Thanks for the bug report / suggestion. I appreciate that dropping the
popout makes some aspects of the Unity experience worse. However, it
also solves certain issues. For Natty, we'll be in a suboptimal position
either way. For Oneiric, we can improve the position substantially,
factoring in your thoughts to the discussion.

[Mark Shuttleworth (sabdfl)]

 status wontfix

[Florian Boucault (fboucault)]

Does not affect Unity 2D.