[Panel-devel] Systray (was Re: Drag'n'drop everything)

[Vince Negri]

Aaron J. Seigo wrote:
> On Tuesday 16 August 2005 09:55, Georges A.K. wrote:
> 
>>It could also be a sleeping daemon, waiting for user input. Although
>>it is started, it's not technically running. If I look at my tray
>>right now, an example would be kscmp (for those who are not familiar
>>with SuSE, it's a utility that allows you to change working profiles,
>>for example wireless settings, printer settings...). Although it
>>doesn't raelly relate to hardware, nore does it alert me of anything,
>>it's still very useful to have.
> 
> 
> yes, and this is the most controversial type of the bunch. should it be an 
> applet? if we force it to be an applet, are we just relocating the problem? 
> perhaps splitting the systray visually to denote the two kinds of icons 
> (notification vs mini-interface) is the way to go...

I'd vote for something on those lines. There is no reason why 
"mini-interfaces", which are just another sort of applet (but smaller :)
logically need to be mixed in with notifications. Moreover, if you place 
your mini-interface area next to the notification area on the default 
panel layout, the visual effect is sufficiently similar to the 
traditional systray as to eliminate culture shock. The user, though, 
could take the mini-interface area and put it somewhere else on the 
screen if he/she wished.

A related (though interesting) question is, what is the best place for 
the notification area?

If the notification area is distinct from the mini-interface area, and 
(as Georges suggested in a later email) the notification icons only 
appear when they are notifying, then the logical next step is to hide 
the notification area altogether when no-one is notifying. That opens up 
  more possibilities for onscreen positioning (e.g. top centre of 
screen, overlapping any window titlebars)

Vince