This is a response to Bert Bos' review [1] of the Widgets 1.0 Requirements document [2].
COMMENT 19) In a multitasking environment, a program cannot always put itself on top of all other programs on the screen. The widget (or some window of the widget) can categorize itself as critical and then it is up to the OS or window manager to find a suitable way to inform the user. E.g., Mac OS X bounces the program's icon in the dock when the program has a critical window to display. That way other programs are not interrupted and don't loose the focus. So the requirement should be that the widget (or any of its windows) can categorize itself as critical, floating, output-only, etc., which may cause some environments to treat it specially.
I have added a new requirement to reflect this. The text is a little flaky but I will fix it as soon as possible. For lack of a better title, I have initially called the new requirement "Priority Categorization": R26. Priority Categorization An instantiated Widget (or any of its windows) should be able to categorize itself to the widget engine as critical, floating, output-only, etc. Some of these mode changes may require the user's attention, in which case the widget engine should find a suitable and non-intrusive way to draw the user's attention. An example of this kind of behavior can be seen on Mac OS X, where a program's icon bounces in the dock when a program has a critical window to display. -- Marcos Caceres http://datadriven.com.au [1] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-appformats/2007Feb/0131.html [2] http://www.w3.org/TR/2007/WD-widgets-reqs-20070209/
