Shuttleworth Proposes Overhaul of Desktop Notifications

Thelasko writes "Mark Shuttleworth is considering a controversial overhaul to the way Ubuntu manages notifications." I'm not thrilled with all of the changes proposed, which would mostly value simplicity over confusion at the expense of flexibility and permanence. But anything that would make more people read over and specifically approve the wording of error messages and other notifications is a good thing.

Comments

Huh?

[timeOday]

Can't I just dump a stack trace to stderr and be done with it?

Re:Huh?

[Eudial]

Can't I just dump a stack trace to stderr and be done with it?

But then the user might miss it! Clearly, when our programs crash, we must hook things up so that it automatically kills X11, opens up vim, splits the screen into subscreens with a stack trace, dmesg, hexdump of the core, etc.

Re:Huh?

[calmofthestorm]

Doesn't windows have that feature?

Sorry for the troll, couldn't resist;)

Re:Huh?

[gzipped_tar]

But... but you must make sure the trace dump comes in pretty, anti-aliased, glossy fonts!

Re:Huh?

[shutdown -p now]

It does, but the default color scheme for Vim-win32 port they've used is blue. This, combined with the perceived inability of the casual user to interact with it in any way and receive any response to one's activities other than another annoying beep is what led Windows users to name this feature the "Blue Screen of Death".

Re:Huh?

[johny42]

I wonder if anyone's ever tried :wq on BSOD. It might just work...

The model for success.

[gandhi_2]

This is one case where I think that Microsoft has been the industry leader.

White lettering on azure field, clearly states the information, and no user can ignore it or work past it.

"A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer..."

Re:confiuration

[Anonymous Coward]

No wonder you have a pain in your ass! Most people have a hard time shoving one monitor up there, never mind two! And then rotating it? You're hardcore.

Here's my proposal

[Atrox666]

Every so often the interface should generate a dialog box that says: "Are you an idiot Y/N" If the user consistently answers no then the dialog boxes disappear. If they just click yes on every box in front of them then the operating system trojanizes its self to save other people the effort.

Re:Here's my proposal

[nbates]

Do you not want not to format the hard drive?

Yes, I do
Yes, I don't
No, I do
No, I don't
Wait... what?

Re:WT...?

[Clandestine_Blaze]

What are these mysterious notifications that won't invoke a desire to perform some sort of action from the user?

Microsoft's notifications usually invoke a desire to throw the computer across the room.

Re:WT...?

[mcgrew]

"You have unused icons on your desktop"

Other options

[Explodicle]

Hover translucency is OK, I guess. I'd rather have my cursor to push an always-translucent notification away, or squish it against the side of the screen, or do something else that actually got it out of my way. And it should shake when it's something really important. And flash! Mandatory PC speaker sound effects! Rumble mouse support! A frowny face graphic that becomes more sinister as the problem becomes more severe! Insert the warning text into the music you're listening to as replacement lyrics! THOSE BASTARDS NEED TO KNOW THIS STUFF!!!!!

Re:In favour

[somersault]

Maybe there should be a way to click on it and it goes away. I mean, what if the notification is an IM from your lover "hey sweetie, meet at the usual spot at 5:30" and your spouse walks in the room?

Then perhaps you should disable desktop notifications in the preferences for VirtuaGirlfriend, or keep your mechanised Real Doll chained to the bed?

Re:confiuration

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh man. He did say "doing two monitors"... O_o

Error messages which will be read?

[SEWilco]

There once was a file named mybest.gif
whose owner wanted to replace it.
That act it did not permit,
the file did not have the write bit,
and out this error did spit.

Easy.

[Anonymous Coward]

Just write software that never crashes.

Re:Should do expirementation in Fedora

[Sir_Lewk]

What an eloquent rebuttal.

Re:KDE 4 anyone?

[vigour]

HOPEfully, Shuttleworth recognizes that this is *not* new and can make it play nice with KDE instead of having his guys create a completely different standard.

In the article, Shuttleworth says they're working with KDE.

What? you actually RTF? I thought people stopped doing that here around 2004?

Re:KDE 4 anyone?

[NotBorg]

I propose the new standard be called I. It's half way between G and K.

All in favor say I.

All apposed say G or K depending on your preferred religious background.

Re:KDE 4 anyone?

[darkpixel2k]

In the article, Shuttleworth says they're working with KDE.

What? you actually RTF? I thought people stopped doing that here around 2004?

Back in 2005, they posted an article that we're supposed to start reading the articles again. Didn't you read it?