Comment 131 for bug 527458

On 11 May 2010 09:58, Martin Wildam <email address hidden> wrote:
> Trying to get constructivity back in this thread:
> I can understand and agree to the intention to reduce system tray icons.
>
> The reason why the system tray came up was (from my understanding): Some
> applications run continuously and "pollute" the task bar as they occupy
> a lot of space while not being of interest most of the time. Only in
> certain event cases they are needed. Some of them have a status or
> display notifications from time to time and others are just kept there
> to have them in memory for later faster reuse. That said: I definitely
> do NOT like the approach done in Windows 7 (displaying everything in the
> task bar whether it is really started or not). The approach of Windows
> dealing with the system tray by letting you simply decide which Icons
> you want to be displayd always and which only if something happend (or
> even never) I like better.
>
> Samples: Skype should be running always so that co-workers can reach me
> when I am online. However, I am not interested in that application yet.
> When an event happens I want to see it and if I double click on an
> incoming call I get (and want) that particular event/window in the
> taskbar as it gets a current task (the call or chat). I also want to

Not gonna comment on skype cause due to poor quality I boot into Mac
to use skype.

> have Shutter running in the background because on startup it takes a
> while to load the plugins. As I do need Shutter often, but then just for
> two or three screenshots, I like having it in the notification area even
> if it never displays any notification or status. KeePassX is also an

Here shutter needs to be running as a service/daemon. Can you keep it
open on another virtual desktop and assign global shortcuts to do
screenshots?

> application I need running in the background because it offers the
> CTRL+ALT+X hotkey posting login data to my web forms but never displays
> notifications or status.
>

Similar to shutter.

> So far so good - System tray good idea. Problem with that is twofold:
>
> a) A lot of applications consider themselves to be so important to add
> themselves to the system tray. Under Windows I have seen a lot of
> graphic or notebook touchpad drivers adding themselves to the system
> tray which is completely stupid because you configure those to match
> your preferences and then never touch it again (maybe you don't touch it
> neither that first and only time because you go with the defaults).
> Fortunately it is not so bad under Linux.
>
> b) Due to the fact, that with the rising of social networking and plenty
> of Instant messaging tools + social networking sites the amount of
> interesting background applications rises.
>
> Solution-Attempt:
> The idea to collect all those messages within a generic notification system is very good: I also don't go to different news websites for years and only use an RSS reader. So having a similar type of syndication is good. I agree with Mark and his team that something should be done to solve the problems by creating a single notification system.
>
> But the important thing that is overlooked IMHO: You need to differ
> between time critical messages plus applications/status you simply want
> to have "at hand" and other just "FYI" type messages. If my laptop
> battery goes empty in a few minutes then this is a high priority

And you get OSD notification & your battery icon changes to attention
colour (in default theme it's red) It's very noticeable.

> information that is more important for me that - let's say facebook
> friends chatting me.

Messeging menu uses "FYI" colour (green in default theme) for that.

> Also a time critical information can be if Ubuntu
> One finished syncing because I might want to shutdown my laptop (already
> late to leave the office) and access that data later at home.
>

File a bug against Ubuntu One. Cuase the only way to know that it has
finished syncing files right now is to check the emblem on the file.

> One idea to solve this could be: Have a single notification application
> that the applications can talk to where the applications can drop a
> message including a message type (Critical, Error, Warning, Information
> for example) and priority (even an error can have a lower priority - for

We have NotifyOSD for those (and higher priority notification do push
in front of chat notifications) the problem is that they fly away.

With your proposal it looks like each app should be able to create
app-indicator on the fly and remove it after the message has been
dealt with.

Or have what you propose a "system menu" (similar to sound menu, Me
Menu and Messaging Menu). But this system menu should not be visible
unless it has some items to deal with.

Alternatively instead of adding yet another IndicatorMenu we can abuse
the system menu / me menu =)

> example if currently a syncing error that gets retried in a minute and
> only if 3 retries failed then drop the sync error with a higher
> priority). If then the user can decide for each application with what
> priority a notification popup or sound should appear and for which only

IMHO bad idea.... inconsistent and you will spend more time
configuring then finding this useful. Eg. change shutdown icon to
amber exclamation mark and add a menu item with amber exclamation mark
saying "Ubuntu One is failing to sync."

But Ubuntu One is not really a target here. Cause generally it works
and in case of low batter / shut down it should block shut down or
send notification e.g. "Low battery & Ubuntu One sync is in progress".
If the user is not there the computer will shut down anyways =)

Just push "warning" when it had failed 3 times. And push an "error"
when e.g. battery is low and you are still syncing items into Ubuntu
One (just an example).

> an indicator in the system tray, the user can decide what is important.

Nah user doesn't need to decide anything =) cause I'm lazy and I don't
want to learn what possibly can happen to my system and weather I how
I want to find out about it.

> But it should also be possible for the user to define particular
> applications to display their (original) very own icon in the system
> tray. Sample: Skype is for me the far most used IM - all the others
> could be syndicated, but Skype I want to keep separate.
>

Skype should be integrated into messeging menu and that's it. I do not
want to spend my time figuring out whether I want separate icons for
xchat, telepathy, skype & gwibber. I just want one place to change my
status (MeMenu) & one place to click on to open any of the pending
chats (Messeging Menu)

> I also must say that for me the system tray overloading never has been
> really an issue. As I hardly can handle too much applications in
> parallel and do not use all installed application each day I can imagine
> a maximum of 9 icons in the notification area which is less then what I
> have in my quickstart area (see attachment where I started all the most
> used tray applications - usually I have 6 icons there).
>

You have way to many icons in your panel..... Have you thought of
using gnome-do or netbook launcher by any chance? For me it's faster
to type shortcut and 1-3 characters to get any of my frequently used
applications.

> ** Attachment added: "screen060.png"
>   http://launchpadlibrarian.net/48262391/screen060.png
>
> --
> please include status messages/tooltips
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/527458
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