Re: Is there a standard about how apps should use the NA?

["William Jon McCann" <mccann jhu edu>]

Hi,

On Wed, May 21, 2008 at 4:53 AM, David Prieto <frandavid100 gmail com> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> Some time ago I filed a bug against the gnome panel, asking for the
> notification area to have a button to hide unused icons and avoid
> getting it overcrowded, just like windows. The answer was that the NA is
> intended for NOTIFICATIONS, and if it's crowded it's because apps don't
> use it properly. The HIG specifically say:
>
>
>> The utility of the notification area decreases rapidly when more than
>> four icons are displayed at the same time. Icons that appear only
>> temporarily, in response to specific events, are therefore preferable.
>
> Still, there are lots of "background" apps that sit on the NA.
> Rhythmbox, Pidgin, Transmission are the first to come to mind. The way
> they do it is a mess, too. Some of them close when you press the X
> button, some are minimised to the NA. Some use the close animation, some
> use minimise. Some bring the app to the front when you click the NA
> icon, some hide it. Some have a checkbox (not) to use the NA, which is
> nice since they are not supposed to be using it in the first place...
> some don't.
>
> As far as I know, the HIG's standards are pretty lax about these cases.
> Shouldn't some guidelines be decided to decide what the better way for
> these apps to behave should be? That way the inconsistency we're having
> now would be greatly reduced.

Well, Windows has a pretty nice guide for this:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa511448.aspx

Jon