Well, while I'm waiting for my lab partner's mockery of alpha-beta pruning to make a decision against my own algorithm's, I think I'll respond to this.
Yes, I have always been annoyed by the inconsistency the system tray presents regardless of what interface I've used (KDE, GNOME, Windows). Still, I like it better than stuff cluttering the task bar. Still, there are the times when the system tray can be cluttered itself. If I had my way, the quick-launch bar and the system tray would be one in the same with some signifying appearance that a program is running in the background, and I bet someone has done it before. I would also make it possible to throw/replace any application in the tray. I don't know what anyone else thinks about this though. I'd really love for someone to do a usability study on a revised concept of the system tray. On Sunday 29 April 2007 04:50:30 am Thilo Pfennig wrote: > Hi, > > I would like to know if there were already some thoughts on redesining > the communication that applications do with the users? > > > > Some elements of criticm in GNOME > =========================== > Applets, Panel, Messages, Notification Area & Application behaviour. > > * Applications: > * When closing an application some applications keep running and be > visible in the notification area > * Some applications like workrave seem to use different mechanisms > to communicate to the user. > > * Notification area: > * Every application does behave different when you right or left > click on its icon > in the notification area > > * Messages (libnotify etc.) > * Sometimes you get messages that disapear and you can > not get back (no glipper kind of functionality) > > * Panel > * If you add more nice starters and applets, the panel gets > cluttered more and more. > * You sometimes loose a function/applet from the panel that is core > to the desktop. > > > Suggestions > ========== > > * All applications of a kind should only be allowed to use the > notification area or GNOMEs notification system if they use certain > kind of messaging. I expect different classes of applications to work > in the same way. I would like to see every music application to react > the same way on: > * single click > * double click > * right click > > The notification area is something that I expect my desktop to have > under control. I should not need to learn about how different > applications react. For instance some music browsers require a right > click and choice to skip a track and some open the skip dialogue with > a left click. > > * I also suggest to have a more standardized and monolithic panel > that can not be destructed > by accident. Since GNOME 2.2 or so where I started to use GNOME I > experience now and then that parts of the panel got lost. This could > also be better from a memory perspective. Today you have a panel and > many processes and some alone take some 50-60 MB. I suppose if these > were integrated this would be less? > > * If somebody wants to add additional functionality I suggest that > this functionality is added where it makes sense from the panels > perspective (or better from the perspective of HIG, usability > standpoint) > > * I would expect more features like queuing of icons/messages/applets > on the panel to save space. Like the "Window selector applet" - you > only have one visible icon but then can select multiple applications. > > * Somehow the icons in the notification area have become another menu > for applications. I mean you can open preferences and much more (like > with GAIM). > > > > Any thoughts or plans on this? > > > Thilo _______________________________________________ Usability mailing list [email protected] http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/usability
