Re: [Usability] Notifying about expected things

["Randall Wood" <randall h wood alexandriasoftware com>]

On Sun, Aug 3, 2008 at 8:19 AM, raw sausage <rawsausage gmail com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I recently reported
> (https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=406433), my point being:
> "Why does gnome-network-manager spam me each time it connects to wlan
> with a libnotify-popup? It's silly especially because I have to see it
> couple times a day (when I reboot the computer and log in), and it
> really does not produce any extra value to the user."

Is bugzilla.novell.com or bugzilla.gnome.org the place for network
manager bugs? See http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=455250
which has a patch to simply disable the network manager notifications.

> After getting that WONTFIX I started wondering whether the Gnome HIG
> has got something to say about this. It does not seem like that. At
> least I could not find anything with my quick search that takes a
> clear position on the principle.
>
> This behaviour does not seem very good usability in my humble opinion.
> Announcing a normal most usually expected event, in a way that craves
> for user focus, does not seem very good to me. The other way around,
> announcing unexpected problems, would make more sense. After all, we
> do not get told by every application on our desktops what they did,
> when, and how (ie. showing detailed trace logs of every action) the
> actions that we expect from them.

I think that the Apple way is more subtle: When it can't find a
"trusted" network, it displays a notification, asking you if its okay
to connect, with a little checkbox to add the network to the list of
trusted networks, so that next time it sees the network, it will just
connect.

> I have only one focus, and I value it. Distractions can be quite bad
> (see what happened to for instance aircraft cockpits for the same reason btw)
>  and umm.. I amwondering, whether
> 1. The Gnome HIG actually does mention about this sort of thing
> 2. If it does not, shouldn't it
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>



-- 
Randall Wood
randall h wood alexandriasoftware com

"The rules are simple: The ball is round. The game lasts 90 minutes.
All the rest is just philosophy."