Axel Dörfler wrote:
Adi Oanca <adioanca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Display a note"? Where? And where is the relation between that note and the position of current window?
W is the window you're working with. W' is the window that wants to popup. N is a window that says "W' wants your attention!"
When W' displays a window and W is focused, N positions itself right next to W, preferedly to the left side, somewhere as "high up" as possible..
While the idea seems good (I see it like Kopete signals new people contacting me), I don't like it very much. It's quite the same with my 2nd option. If there is some free space near the focus window, the new window will be shown there. Why show another bubble-type window?
Although I am not really a friend of the bubble windows in Windows, I think they have at least one advantage over your 2nd suggestion: it doesn't change the window position.
It also makes sure that the user can grasp the whole title and origin of that window.
It could go away after a while, and it could also have a button that moves W' to the foreground.
Combine that with the transparency effect of yours and a hot key that the user can press during that fade out time (and afterwards as long as the bubble is open) to bring that window to front.
If you don't need to click the bubbles away, I think they are a good way of informative but unobtrusive way of getting information to the user. If there was such a popup, I think it would be nice to have a tray icon for all past events the user didn't acknowledge.
Also, what happens when the focus window is maximized...?
The bubble could always be ontop, always at the same position. Of course, only if that very position is not the hot spot of current user input (ie. the view having focus is covered).
Thanks, Adi.