[openbeos] Re: inconsistency?
- From: "Matt Henkel" <guildencrantz@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 22:08:37 -0600 MDT
Besides that there are several problems that arise with audible alerts.
First of all is the question of simply being noticed. I tend to listen
to music and audible alerts frequently go unnoticed (much as it would
if I had mute on, as was quite frequent in college) while flashing
messages, assuming you are looking at the screen, are much easier to
catch (usually because there is little movement on the screen, humans
are also very sensitive to movement). Alerts also need to be repeated
to make sure that they have done their job and actually notified the
user. Audible alerts can be extremely intrusive to people not even
using the system, especially if that user is away and the alert keeps
going off. With a visual alert the environment outside the computer
screen is undisturbed.
If you look at the way that audible alerts are used, especially in
instances where user attention is desired/required rather than acting
as a simple notification of task completion, they are usually paired
with visual alerts. This allows minimal obtrusion into the environment
outside of the direct user space while also allowing for notification
to users who may be looking away. In any event visual alerts are
extremely important.
Sorry for the long winded answer, but it was a good question and there
is a lot of reason why audible alerts are not a very good solution.\
~/Matt
> Alan Westbrook <alan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > I am curious as to why no one has thought of audio indicators as
> > well
> > as visual ones for this
> > purpose. Is sound so rare on people's systems?
>
> No, but audio indicators are a lot more obtrusive than any visual
> effect. Humans are very sensitive towards audio.
>
> Bye,
> Axel.
>
>
>
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