On Wed, 2009-09-30 at 10:46 -0400, Kris Warkentin wrote: > Matthew Allum wrote: > > On Wed, 2009-09-30 at 09:09 +0100, Денис Невмержицкий wrote: > >> Hello! > >> > >> I'm thinking about feature to integrate notification area/systray into > >> myzones (for example). Is it possible? > >> > > > > Yes its possible but the issue is that systray by its very nature needs > > to be always visible and the myzone isn't. > > I disagree with this argument. Almost all panels can be 'auto-hidden' > whether on Windows, Linux or OSX. This doesn't take away from the > functionality of being able to dock to the panel. And, as someone else > mentioned, there are still the notification popups to show status updates.
Well this just highlights a couple of the interaction design issues of the systray. First is that it get's used in lots of inconsistent ways; * some apps (typically IM type apps) use it as a status area (assuming it's always visible and can't be removed) - but some don't * some apps use it to bring up windows that have been hidden on the close window signal (again assuming it's always there) - but some don't * some systray things are self contained applets that don't have an associated app * some systray applets are truly for system level control; network, volume, power, bluetooth, but most are not - mostly they are used as crutches for bad/lazy design and end up breaking patterns (eg for 99% of apps, close window == exit app, except those that abuse the systray) The second issues is scalability. Suppose every app on you system had an associated systray element (or put another way suppose you installed every app that uses a systray element) - on a 1024x600 wide screen you quickly run out of space, unless you start doing weird things like hiding some applets by default, or putting applets in rows. Small nit: while OS X has a dock that can autohide, this does not provide an area for systray like applets. Those few that exist live in the menu bar of OS X, which is always visible. Paul > cheers, > > Kris > _______________________________________________ > Moblin dev Mailing List > [email protected] > > To manage or unsubscribe from this mailing list visit: > http://lists.moblin.org/listinfo/dev or your user account on > http://moblin.org once logged in. > > For more information on the Moblin Developer Mailing lists visit: > http://moblin.org/community/mailing-lists -- Intel Open Source Technology Centre http://oss.intel.com/ _______________________________________________ Moblin dev Mailing List [email protected] To manage or unsubscribe from this mailing list visit: http://lists.moblin.org/listinfo/dev or your user account on http://moblin.org once logged in. For more information on the Moblin Developer Mailing lists visit: http://moblin.org/community/mailing-lists
