[PATCH] Turn Powerdevil suspend notification into a dialog

[David Nolden]

Am Mittwoch 23 September 2009 03:22:06 schrieb Aaron J. Seigo:
> On September 22, 2009, David Nolden wrote:
> > For sure, the user feels less confused when he's disturbed by a dialog,
> >  then when he's disturbed by the shutdown of his computer.
> 
> again, where's the evidence that this is even happening?
> 
> where is the "my computer turns off and i didn't know it because the
> notification didn't let me know this"?

I remember that it happened once to me that my computer just shut down and I 
didn't know why. I think at that time I didn't have working suspend, and that 
was on KDE3. But it could happen on KDE4 easily too (Although I have working 
suspend now)

> > But the result would be something similar to a modal dialog
> > anyway, as it _must_ disturb the users workflow.
> 
> you don't need a modal anything to get user attention. and no, you do NOT
>  need to FORCE a disturbance upon the user. i want to know when i need to
>  take action, but i don't want to have what i'm doing interrupted forceably
>  for that information to be passed on. the only things that piss me off are
>  things i can't control, such as disk checks on start up (as one example).
>  i am not unique in this way.
But you get disturbed anyway, so isn't it better to get disturbed in a 
familiar and controllable way (dialog) than an uncontrollable way (shutdown or 
suspend)?
> > Maybe a very prominent
> > colored, flashing and non-disappearing popup somewhere near the panel
> > would work as well.
> 
> well, colored and flashing is probably unnecessary. non-disappearing is
>  easy; large is easy, too.
Consider my usecase for example. I have two large screens, about 15 centimers 
between them, and mostly work on the left one. Notifications always pop up in 
the bottom right corner of the right one. And there is often some 
notifications popping up, mostly I simply don't care about them.

If you really want the notification to be noticed, you've got to highlight it 
somehow specially.
> > But dialogs have their advantages too: Everyone notices them,
> > and everyone knows how to use them.
> 
> that's a fallacy. people who know how to use a computer know what a dialog
> looks like because they've seen them before. but there is nothing that says
> that they will use THIS dialog in the way we are hoping to.
Yes but if you want a reaction within 15 seconds, it's not a perfect idea to 
confront the user with an unfamiliar user-interface. I know that average-joe 
is very confused by everything new.

Anyway when talking about the notification system, if such "demands attention" 
notifications would be shown with a big (maybe blinking) exclamation mark on 
the left side of the panel (near the start menu) instead of the right, with a 
timer that shows how many seconds are left, that would probably make sure that 
everyone notices it.

Greetings, David