---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Alex Faaborg <[email protected]> Date: Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 10:44 AM Subject: Re: Keep bar-style notifications for Firefox 4 on Linux instead of doorhanger notifications which breaks consistency on GNOME desktop To: Allan Caeg <[email protected]> Cc: Citizendruide <[email protected]>, [email protected], [email protected]
Do we have a list of UI solutions that deviate from the platform? We, people > who work on the desktop, can look at that list so we can integrate them to > the GNOME desktop. > I should give this some more thought, but here's what comes to mind off of the top of my head of aspects that somewhat deviate. Also some of these are just aspects of Firefox's design approach that I think are generally a good idea and I would really like to see cross pollinate into other open source projects: -The notion of an application button that simultaneously serves as both window title and contains all top level commands -Lightweight and reproducible notifications (ok/meh instead of ok/cancel) -A general hesitation to interrupt the user with (probably) non-actionable information. For instance, Firefox used to very aggressively inform users when there were updates available for their extensions, even though the vast majority of users don't actually care. An analogy to the desktop would be when the Windows system tray informs me that someone in the office just turned on a media center PC, or when OS X tells you about spotlight indexing, or time machine backup. None of these things are likely to be actionable. I can't immediately think of a good example of a meaningless GNOME notification, but sometimes just providing the API can be problematic. I think there's a reason apple didn't ship anything like Growl, so GNOME might want to seriously consider if giving applications a way to ping the user with d-bus is a good idea. -Leveraging the user's spatial memory. Panorama is a good example of the potential here, and I think the design principles it employs definitely apply to managing files and applications in a desktop environment. -Toolbar controls that have a visual hierarchy. This is something that I would like for us to be able to do on Linux, but isn't really compatible with the system native icons. I have a post about what I mean by visual hierarchy here: http://blog.mozilla.com/faaborg/2008/10/24/firefox-themes-the-contention-between-visual-hierarchy-and-toolbar-customization/ Hopefully that helps, and I'll give this some more thought as well, -Alex On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 9:58 AM, Allan Caeg <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello, > > There's a discussion on Mozilla's Usability list ( > [email protected] ) entitled "Keep bar-style notifications > for Firefox 4 on Linux instead of doorhanger notifications which breaks > consistency on GNOME desktop." You can find the discussion > here<http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.dev.usability/browse_thread/thread/21871b42093e5196>and > the related bug report > here <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=598337>. > > Alex Faaborg said > >> On Wed, Sep 22, 2010 at 4:19 AM, Alex Faaborg <[email protected]>wrote: >> External consistency is important, but in cases where we feel we have a >> better solution to a particular interface, there is an advantage to using >> that solution (even if it is different). We've also seen aspects of >> Firefox's UI influence the design of Gnome (most recently a discussion >> around application buttons that encapsulate the title and main commands). >> So these types of changes are more fluid and incremental than a top down >> approach where the Gnome team writes a Human Interface Guidelines rule >> book, >> and then every application has to blindly follow it regardless of if a >> better solution exists. >> >> The specific advantages of our new panel based system are: >> >> 1. Identifiable with low resolution peripheral vision >> 2. Easy to ignore, by clicking outside to close >> 3. Easy to bring back, since they have a persistent anchor (supporting >> undo >> if the user changes their mind) >> 4. Natual mapping to the site identity block that is originating the >> notification, making it clear who is asking for what (more important in >> the >> case of the Web, where these notifications involve permissions, and we >> want >> users to consider the identity of the site asking for their physical >> location, or a live feed from their webcam, etc.) >> >> -Alex >> > > I suggest that we incorporate the UI solutions that upstream projects like > Firefox come up with to achieve consistency and (of course) make the desktop > experience smoother. I asked for a list of UI solutions like the doorhanger > notifications so we can see how we can incorporate each of them to the > desktop. > > -- > Regards, > Allan > http://www.google.com/profiles/allancaeg#about<http://www.google.com/profiles/AllanCaeg> > +63 918 948 2520 > > -- Regards, Allan http://www.google.com/profiles/allancaeg#about<http://www.google.com/profiles/AllanCaeg> +63 918 948 2520
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