empathy needs a persistent new message indicator

the issue there is that the indicator-applet change seems to not obvious enough to the users

Yeah... Plus you're not sure, at a glance, if it's changed due to an email or chat. Worse if you check the applet and have received an email but don't actually check the email in evolution the applet stays shaded in. So if you get a chat alert you'll just assume that the applet is shaded in due to the email you didn't check.

Yes, this should be part of the Empathy behavior.

Ted, the issue there is that the indicator applet is not obvious enough, empathy already allow to not use it otherwise

Yeah, I think a better behavior for the indicator applet would be to flash when a chat is received and do what it's doing now for indications that don't require immediate attention like emails, gwibbers, etc.... Because the problem isn't really I-A not being obvious enough, it's that more then one thing sets it off and these various things set it off in the same way.

So to summaries we should make different classes of alerts and assign different indicator-applet actions in response to these different alert classes... imo

On Tue, 2009-10-27 at 09:39 +0000, Sebastien Bacher wrote:
> Ted, the issue there is that the indicator applet is not obvious enough,
> empathy already allow to not use it otherwise

Okay. I figured this bug was about the window showing up. But, if
we're talking about making the icon blink, that's definitely a "won't
fix" ;)

  status wontfix

No it's not about the window not showing when you click on the alert in the indicator applet, this is about not knowing that you have a chat message available. I don't care if it blinks, but the behavior as it is now causes chats to go unanswered.

Is there a more appropriate place for me to raise this issue?

On Tue, 2009-10-27 at 15:22 +0000, hanzomon4 wrote:
> Is there a more appropriate place for me to raise this issue?

You are welcome to discuss the issue on the Ayatana discuss list.

  http://launchpad.net/~ayatana-discuss

Thanks

+1 vote for blinking. Give this option to the user, even if it is off by default.

Many of us have very busy screens. If it doesn't blink we will not notice the new chat messages. The way it is now, it is either useless or very annoying (I receive at least 10 calls per day from people asking "did you get my message?", "why don't you respond to chats?").

Please fix it.

Thanks.

PS: By the way, the URL posted above for discussion gives an error.

+1 vote for blinking

+2 for blinking. It has caused me some 'social' problems(girlfriend mad because i don't answer, et al the lack of 'notoriety' in the notification icon. I don't know, maybe instead of blinking, when a CHAT IS RECEIVED, it can change to a gif file which can be the same envelope but changing colors(does this count as 'blinking'?), or to another icon(could be an 'red alert' icon; that could grab attention)

Is this a duplicate of bug #392265 ?

Another vote for this bug. It's annoying and embarrassing to have missed an IM while AFK. People assume you are ignoring them when in fact, you just didn't know. I've compensated by explicitly checking when I get back to the computer, but really, that's not a good solution. Empathy should anticipate my needs as much as it is able, not the other way around.

The indicator applet really should show some sign that a message was received while you were away. It could blink, change shape, or change color. All three, for all I care. For that matter, it could even be a configuration option allowing the user to select desired behavior.

Another +1 vote to fixing this annoying paper cut. Ideally change color depending on the messenger which is less annoying than something blinking and on the pop up dialog show the number of pending messages against the service.

I would like to add that if you go into empathy options and deselect the "Use Message Indicator" and then select it back the Green Indicator Circle appears in the task pannel and will notify you when there are new messages. The question is why does it only appear when you delesect and then select....

there is a blueprint for this:
        https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/desktop-lucid-empathy-indicator

its blocked due to two upstream bugs:
        https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=25513
        https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=25236

so no change for this to get into lucid I guess :(

The new icon in lucid should be easier to notice now

Love the new icon, Sebastien. Great job, thank you.

Can some one post a video?

On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 9:22 AM, Bruce Heerssen <email address hidden> wrote:

> Love the new icon, Sebastien. Great job, thank you.
>
> --
> empathy needs a persistent new message indicator
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/449260
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

The icon is easier to notice, but I'm still missing chats by about 8/10
mins. Also I still have no idea what the icon is indicating. An email? Chat
message?
If I receive an email and a text message the icon looks the same. Worse if
I'm setting at my computer and see that an email just came through and then
later receive a chat while I'm not looking at the screen I won't have any
idea that a chat message is also waiting for me.

On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 11:26 AM, Quincy Bradford <email address hidden>wrote:

> Can some one post a video?
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 9:22 AM, Bruce Heerssen <email address hidden>wrote:
>
>> Love the new icon, Sebastien. Great job, thank you.
>>
>> --
>> empathy needs a persistent new message indicator
>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/449260
>> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
>> of the bug.
>>
>
>

In Lucid beta the coloured icon is definitively an improvement, but I still miss messages unless I make Empathy use its own notification area icon (which blinks). A few months ago I was told the Indication Applet wasn't supposed to inform me directly of new messages; I should look at it actively, rather than be informed passively — that is, see a blinking icon in the corner of my eye. I'm glad I am not alone in having some doubts about this ban on the blinking icon.

A practical example of the non-blinking icon not working is a situation where the user is working on a computer in a bright environment. A text editor or websites in the browser tend to use contrasting colours, and the eyes focus on that area of the screen. The Indicator Applet by design resides in the corner of my screen, and I don't really look at it actively unless I need to check the status of something (networking, keyboard layout, volume, time). If someone messages me whilst I'm not looking at the screen, I miss the notification popup and overlook the changed icon in the Indicator Applet.

What is the rationale for not blinking? It seems that most people want it, and if Empathy is going to be the new default IM client for Ubuntu, it should default to what people find usable. I'm getting the impression that a blinking icon is perceived as an eyesore by interface designers. Partially agreed; it is not a 'pleasant' thing to see on the screen. But, it is not meant to be; many of the responses here indicate that users *want* their attention grabbed immediately.

I work with 2 other developers in separate locations, and we are all using Ubuntu. We kept missing important instant messages from each other because Empathy's indicator was too subtle. We use instant messaging for time-sensitive questions and so we had to switch to Pidgin for its blinking message indicator.

It would be incredibly distracting to my workflow if I needed to consistently remind myself to check the message indicator for new instant messages. This is bad default behavior; it assumes that users have the luxury of waiting to respond to instant messages and it seems to enforce a workflow where people have to interrupt themselves needlessly, rather than give users the choice to only be interrupted when they actually need to be. We all use instant messaging slightly differently, but it seems like this non-blinking indicator caters to a very specific user, perhaps one that gets bombarded with unimportant instant messages. It's clear that this leaves quite a few users disappointed.

you don't need to change the software you are using you can change the empathy options to not use the indicator...

I rarely get IMs so I'm the sort of person who wants a blinking icon. Please have an option, maybe something similar to the Windows taskbar (e.g. blink X times then stay highlighted or blink constantly until the user clicks on it).

Haha, I just remembered the online arguments I used to have with my ex when her IMs wouldn't reach me. Glad I don't have a GF anymore, too stressful.

Anyway, for the fact that this bug could cause break-ups I reckon it should be marked 'critical' :).

Setting this back to won't fix. The current design limits "draw-attention" to events that you probably should address now/soon. Which include email and chat. Gwibber messages don't draw-attention, so they won't cause the icon to get the color. Idea being if the icon is green, you should really look at it. Discussion of the design should really happen on the ayatana mailing list.

I cant use Empathy as it does not blink the icon :(

Im using the Faenza Icon Set which changes the default icons up in the indicator. The mail icon goes from a medium grey to a light grey i a message comes in, almost unnoticeable really compared to the green mail icon of the default icons. Having an option to blink would really benefit a lot of people.

+1 for blinking!