Comment 296 for bug 332945

On Thu, 2009-04-30 at 15:49 +0000, getut wrote:
> >The issue of trying to guess when is the best time to interrupt people
>
> MPT... "never" IS a perfectly valid answer to INTERRUPTING a user.

+1, mod parent up, etc.

At the risk of seeming like I am in love with my own ideas, this was why
I proposed the "semi transparent, always present, one window down"
notification widget. It would appear from the top right for system
notifications (you should upgrade) and the bottom right for user
notifications (you have an IM, email, etc.).

The notification would appear above the current window (unless operating
fullscreen) but would NOT have focus, then drop beneath after a few
seconds. When than window is closed or minimized, the notification would
be there, then drop down one again. Repeat as necessary. When all
windows are closed/minimized, it would be there, without focus.

It would say "click here to learn more" or something like. Or even
"click here to take action". It would also always have two other
buttons: Snooze and dismiss.

To me, this is as good as the persistent icon, since it is persistent,
but better since it is always there, until the user takes action.

It is better than the current approach, because it is always there, and
because it differentiates between system and user notifications.

Being semi-transparent and dropping away automatically make it more
ignorable. Being present until action is taken make it not-ignorable,
but in a far less obnoxious way than popups.

Other system notifications (volume changes, network connection changes,
etc.) would be ephemeral: Appear, then disappear. No action is required,
but sometimes the reminder is nice.

There would be defaults for what system and what is user, and these
would be determined by the community. Administrators would able to
modify the system list (for a machine or group of machines). Users would
be able to modify the user list for their account.