954098 - Implement alerts tab on buddy list for notifications and alerts

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Instantbird Graveyard :: Contacts window, enhancement)

Description

[Instantbot]

*** Original post on bio 663 by Paul [sabret00the] <sabret00the AT yahoo.co.uk> at 2011-01-25 11:18:00 UTC ***

*** Due to BzAPI limitations, the initial description is in comment 1 ***

Comment 1

[Instantbot]

Attachment: Rough Mockup of idea for Alert Tab

*** Original post on bio 663 as attmnt 501 by sabret00the AT yahoo.co.uk at 2011-01-25 11:18:00 UTC ***

An alerts tab is a tab that would house all global alerts including but not limited too.

* Mail notifications
* Friend requests
* Disconnect alerts/Reconnect requests
* Chat invites

The tab would be like a browser tab on the buddy list, thus open at all times. By default the client would open on the buddy list tab. Users could switch to the alert tab by either clicking the tab itself or clicking on a flashing system tray icon.

The alerts tab should also display in brackets, the number of alerts it holds. And like Firefox App Tabs, it should highlight upon receiving new alerts.

Comment 2

[aleth [:aleth]]

*** Original post on bio 663 at 2012-02-18 15:17:39 UTC ***

After discussing this on IRC, it is not quite clear which problem this tab is intended to solve. Therefore it is not clear a tab on the contacts window is the best solution.

Also, the items suggested as alerts seem very different from each other. Some the user needs to respond to, some not. There is no way to distinguish between what requires an urgent response from the user (invites, errors) and what are just notifications. There are (currently) no mail notifications, and disconnect/reconnect messages are more akin to "server tab" messages (and any errors would better be handled via the account manager, as they are at present).

Thanks for the mockup though! Personally I like the idea of the Instantbird button in the title bar ;)

Comment 3

[Instantbot]

*** Original post on bio 663 by Paul [sabret00the] <sabret00the AT yahoo.co.uk> at 2012-02-19 00:22:07 UTC ***

(In reply to comment #1)
> After discussing this on IRC
Something that makes no sense given that it's so inaccessible. The correct place would've been a newsgroup or even here. But I guess this isn't the place to discuss that.

>, it is not quite clear which problem this tab is
> intended to solve. Therefore it is not clear a tab on the contacts window is
> the best solution.
This bug blocks bug 954042 (bio 606). There's currently nowhere to display notifications

> Also, the items suggested as alerts seem very different from each other. Some
> the user needs to respond to, some not. There is no way to distinguish between
> what requires an urgent response from the user (invites, errors) and what are
> just notifications. There are (currently) no mail notifications, and
> disconnect/reconnect messages are more akin to "server tab" messages (and any
> errors would better be handled via the account manager, as they are at
> present).
Urgent attention? All the items listed were clickable. Certain types of styling can distinguish urgency.

Anyway, I tried.

Comment 4

[Patrick Cloke [:clokep]]

*** Original post on bio 663 at 2012-02-19 14:06:58 UTC ***

(In reply to comment #2)
> (In reply to comment #1)
> > After discussing this on IRC
> Something that makes no sense given that it's so inaccessible. The correct
> place would've been a newsgroup or even here. But I guess this isn't the place
> to discuss that.
I'm not sure how #instantbird isn't accessible, it's a fully open forum. aleth proposed closing this bug, but wanted a second opinion. I agreed that a clear issue that was trying to be solved was not identified in this bug and that we should look into solving each of the notification problems separately in order to ensure the user's interaction with them is smooth and intuitive.

> >, it is not quite clear which problem this tab is
> > intended to solve. Therefore it is not clear a tab on the contacts window is
> > the best solution.
> This bug blocks bug 954042 (bio 606). There's currently nowhere to display notifications
But showing new mail notifications will be handled in bug 954042 (bio 606) where the best solution can be found, we don't need a separate bug that proposes an individual solution.

> > Also, the items suggested as alerts seem very different from each other. Some
> > the user needs to respond to, some not. There is no way to distinguish between
> > what requires an urgent response from the user (invites, errors) and what are
> > just notifications. There are (currently) no mail notifications, and
> > disconnect/reconnect messages are more akin to "server tab" messages (and any
> > errors would better be handled via the account manager, as they are at
> > present).
> Urgent attention? All the items listed were clickable. Certain types of styling
> can distinguish urgency.
I believe what aleth is saying, is that some types of notifications should more aggressively try to get a user's attention (perhaps being asked to join a chat or accept a buddy invite); this is exactly why we should look at how each notification is treated and how a user would be expected to interact with them before just making a blanket UI to accept all invitation types.

> Anyway, I tried.
Sorry that you feel your feedback isn't being taken into account, but we try to file clear actionable bugs that file a problem, i.e. "Mail notifications are not shown". This is clearly an issue and can spark clear discussion of the best way to solve this problem.