The recent talk on Sugar about notifications reminds me that the OLPC currently appears to lack easy-to-check "I'm working on that" feedback to the user.
Combined with Sugar's "a single screen for whatever one is doing" philosophy, this serves to HIDE "what is going on" from the user. I had originally thought "as long as information is shown somewhere, that's good enough" -- let the user come looking. But seeing how much I myself resent interruptions to what I am involved in, status ought to be available "where the user is looking", and notification ought not to impose non-deferrable "taking the user away from his current task". [I hate it if I'm typing something, and the Frame pops up and obscures where I was working.] -------- Two recent 1825 experiences have raised my sensitivity to "how to know what is/is_not going on": (1) I clicked (in Home "list" mode) on a rarely-used icon. Nothing seemed to happen. Losing patience, I navigated to a Terminal activity I had previously opened, and was about to type in something when the XO screen changed over to the newly-launched activity. [From the information available "where I was looking", I thought the XO was not "working on it" (was not launching the new activity).] [On Linux (and Windows), once the user has clicked on something, the cursor changes (e.g., includes a bouncing ball). As long as the cursor change persists, the user can feel "I don't need to do anything more RIGHT NOW about what I clicked on". Normally, the requested action will start (accompanied by a visual indication). Else, when the cursor reverts to its non-changed form, the user knows that he should investigate the possibility that the requested action never started.] On 1825 the only place that shows "activity being launched" is an obscure corner of the Frame -- and I had gotten rid of the Frame to be able to switch Home view into "list" mode. [I'm sorry, but to me the Frame is too intrusive so far to be useful as a "current status" display -- I only use it when I want to perform some "action".] For me, showing "loading is going on" by in a corner blinking a dark icon on a dark background is much too easily overlooked. At least, both Home view modes need to give a *positive* indication at the clicked-on icon that "your click-request was accepted". [Perhaps have the background of the icon be "highlighted" until "launching" completes.] [All "to be noticed" areas of the Frame should have a WHITE (or at the least, a contrasting) background.] (2) I had attempted to connect to an AP, by clicking on its icon in the Neighborhood view. I got bored after several minutes waiting for that icon in the Neighborhood view to stop blinking, and went back to working within activities. I don't know what the ultimate result was of me having done that click in Neighborhood view. [From the information available "where I was looking", I believed the XO had kept on "working on it" (was still trying to connect).] I think the XO ought to have notified me, either when it decided it had accomplished that connection, or when it decided it could *not* make that connection. Elsewhere (#1385) I've proposed that the two LEDs on the XO front show "peer connection" status and "data server connection" status. It's a pity that there are not three LEDs - "AP connection" status also deserves a "front LED" (visible all the time, which the Frame <thank goodness> is not). [If important information changes status on the Frame (or on a different screen than what the user is currently looking at), let me suggest "blinking" (i.e., one-time dimming and brightening) the current screen. Then, when he is ready to be interrupted from what he was doing, the user can go off to view whatever that status change was.] mikus _______________________________________________ Sugar mailing list Sugar@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar