Re: [Usability]Re: Notification area (was: Music player UI)

[Per Cederberg <per percederberg net>]

Sean Middleditch wrote:
> On a home machine, you can't stop it no matter what.  If people install
> Crap(tm), Crap(tm) will run.  If not a status docklet, then an applet,
> if not an applet, a whole new panel, etc.  At the office, well - users
> shouldn't be able to install Crap(tm).  

But the anarchy on Windows is worse than that. A lot of the
applications that I actually *needed* to have for work showed
silly tray icons informing me that they were running. The
anti-virus program had two for example, and they couldn't
be removed by other means than stopping the service... :-(

So even in a controlled environment, things tend to get out
of hand when every application thinks it is the most
important one. Of course, this problem is not limited to the
system tray.

> Ya, the multimedia keys one is pretty dumb.  I'm not sure what its
> purpose is.  We don't have gconf or bonobo-activation running in there,
> neither should we have a key-binding daemon there.  Preferences should
> be linked to in the Control Center, like usual.

Yes. I've been wondering why there was a button "Launch
multimedia key daemon" in the preferences for the multimedia
keys... It also took me some time to figure out how to
activate it upon login (and thus avoid going into the prefs
every time).

I know, time to stop whining and go file some bug on this.
(If there isn't one already, which wouldn't be surprising.)

> Ya, hide Applets from users.  Applets are evil evil evil.  ~,^  They
> offer a lot of functionality for the advanced user, just like a terminal
> does (a very useful app, but not something I'd embed in Nautilus or the
> panel... oh wait, we already have one in the panel).  A user does *not*
> need a command-line on the their panel, nor do they need to see their
> CPU usage graphed, etc.

You're probably right, although I love my CPU usage
applet... ;-)

But maybe right-click and "Add to Panel" isn't so intrusive
for the general user after all? I don't see it as altogether
wrong to keep this even if the notification area and the
applet panel are merged together.

/Per

----
Per Cederberg
http://www.percederberg.net/