Comment 76 for bug 438536

Everybody keeps saying that sliding notifications is wrong, but looking at
the sample somebody else posted:
http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/253
I don't think its annoying or anything at all. I think it looks very nice. I
think this would be the best way to solve this problem.

Groeten, David

2009/10/31 quatsch3000 <email address hidden>

> I would like to make a suggestion and consider the points that were
> addressed by Marc. Main point for me is that notifications should appear
> in a corner. And imo the notifications look quite misplaced currently.
> Also I would rather not be able to see the window decoration for a
> second than the window's content. For these two reasons I would prefer
> another solution to the synch/asynch-problem. The differentiation into
> sync and async notifies itself is not as bad as I thought in the
> beginning, but still, placing the notifications so low as a consequence
> just seems plain wrong.
>
> So my suggestion is (similar to Greg Nicholson's and others) to keep the
> differentiation but place the synchronous notifications somewhere else
> (e.g. centred on the screen, maybe even for a little shortened period)
> while keeping the asynchronous notifications in the corner. (Yes, I
> know, that might seem MAC-like to some but just because someone already
> thought of it, does not automatically mean it's wrong.) Or, to get back
> to the points, Marc made:
>
> "The factors that need to be considered are:
> * fitting things into the corner is most aesthetically pleasing"
> true. +1
>
> " * the "synchronous" notifications [...] are fixed in size"
> Okilidokili, they can appear centred and fade out after a second or so.
>
> " * the async notifications [...] are variable sized and can grow
> vertically"
> Shouldn't be a problem any more because the synchronous notifications are
> out of the way
>
> " * sliding things around when something else grows is really bad, it is
> unpredictable and frustrating for a user trying to look at the thing
> that suddenly moves, so:
> - synchronous should not be below async (so that it does not have to
> slide down)
> - the bottom right corner doesn't work (because then async has to grow
> "upwards")"
> Ok, so no movement of the notifications. Let's stick with the sequential
> appear-disappear solution. Also as I said above: "Shouldn't be a problem any
> more because the synchronous notifications are out of the way."
>
> " * the top right corner has a lot of stuff there - window decorations,
> tabs, tab controls (new tab, close tab etc) and in many apps, a search
> input. So even though the look-through and click-through is *cool*, it's
> still better not to put async right into the top right corner"
> That's where I disagree for three reasons: 1.) "fitting things into the
> corner is most aesthetically pleasing", 2.) If I had to decide between
> seeing the decoration and the window's content, I would always go for the
> window's content. And 3.) If I really had to press a button (new tab or so)
> in that exact second, I would have to move my cursor there anyway, thus
> making the notification transparent.
>
> --
> Notifications should show up closer to top right
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/438536
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of a duplicate bug.
>
> Status in One Hundred Paper Cuts: Invalid
> Status in Notify OSD: Triaged
> Status in “notify-osd” package in Ubuntu: Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: notify-osd
>
> Currently the notify-osd notifications allot space for the volume
> control/brightness semi-notifications; this is rather jarring when the
> volume/brightness isn't being adjusted, unlike in Jaunty where application
> notifications default to above the volume/brightness.
>
> -------------
> This is a design decision , any comments relating to the position can be
> discussed in the ayatana Mailing list or you can follow the discussion >
> http://<email address hidden>/msg00741.html
>
> Any discussion regarding the position need to be discussed in the mailing
> list.
> --------------
>
> Mark Shuttleworth's comments from the mailing list:
>
> "The position is final for 9.10 but can certainly be reconsidered for
> Lucid.
>
> The factors that need to be considered are:
>
> * fitting things into the corner is most aesthetically pleasing
>
> * the "synchronous" notifications (like brightness and volume) are fixed
> in size
>
> * the async notifications (IM's etc, things that happen elsewhere, not in
> response to a keypress) are variable sized and can grow vertically
>
> * sliding things around when something else grows is really bad, it is
> unpredictable and frustrating for a user trying to look at the thing
> that suddenly moves, so:
> - synchronous should not be below async (so that it does not have to
> slide down)
> - the bottom right corner doesn't work (because then async has to grow
> "upwards")
>
> * the top right corner has a lot of stuff there - window decorations,
> tabs, tab controls (new tab, close tab etc) and in many apps, a search
> input. So even though the look-through and click-through is *cool*, it's
> still better not to put async right into the top right corner
>
> For 9.10, two positions were considered and tried:
>
> In both cases, we put sync above and async below, to avoid sliding
> problems. We put them on the right hand side of the screen, as that's a
> less-used area.
>
> In the first case, we used the midpoint of the right side of the screen and
> placed the notifications there, with sync above and async below. It seems
> slightly odd to have them "hanging in space", but they conflict
> with far less content there. This was the plan for 9.10. However, when it
> landed, there were a lot of complaints saying that folks didn't like it "out
> of a corner".
>
> As a compromise, we moved to plan b, which was to put them in the top
> right, with sync above. That means that the common case, with async
> notifications, appears to leave a "gap". But it also avoids the worst
> overlaps with things like window and tab controls, and usually also the
> search bar.
>
> That's where we settled for 9.10. For 10.04 I would like to revisit the
> midpoint of the right hand side. I would not want to rehash old territory,
> so please factor in the above in proposing new ideas. I'm of
> the view that this decision involves at least one ugly compromise no matter
> which way it goes, and am happy to make the call so far (i.e. happy to be
> the one with the thick skin).
>
> If there is an implementation which avoids the issues and is sane, I'd love
> to include it.
>
> Mark"
>
>