David,
In my opinion (and only an opinion not intended to start a UI
design flame war here) is to not do this at all. This would be
similar to the "New software available." pop-up message for Windows
XP updates. I personally feel that this type of implementation is
nothing short of a distraction.
I much prefer an implementation more like that used for iChat or
the Apple Mail application. In those applications there is a
subtle, but noticeable, change to the Dock icon to provide a
notification. Then further details can be provided through the
Dock icon's pop-up menu or simple clicking on a Dock icon to open
the applications document window.
The window behavior will be like the messenger's one, pop up and
disappear
after 5 secs unless the mouse is over the window.
One issue with this approach is that if I'm not staring at my
screen every minute, I may never even see this message. Then you
end up with the same situation as the Windows style messages. They
keep popping up, on some timed bases, causing multiple
distractions. It's not until the user acknowledges it's existence
that it finally "goes-away." Still better to me if you indicate on
the icon so it's always visible, but does not distract.
Of course there are always exceptions to any design guideline. If
this is absolutely critical information that needs to be
communicated to the user in an "as-it-happens" scenario, then I'd
say use a regular dialog window to provide such notification. I've
seen many variations on this, some I like, some I don't.
I guess my bottom-line conclusion is this: make your applications
"feel" like Macintosh applications. Keep your target user in
mind. In other words think in terms of iChat not MSN Messenger.
On Mar 24, 2006, at 2:35 AM, David Chan wrote:
Hi all, I am sorry if this question has been asked, please kindly
refer me
to the link if it is so =)
Anyway, I need to do something like msn or yahoo messenger, to pop
up a
window on the righthand lower corner of the screen whenever there
is, let
say, new item available to download.
The window behavior will be like the messenger's one, pop up and
disappear
after 5 secs unless the mouse is over the window.
And the user supposedly able to interact with the window. E.g.,
click on a
button that invoke action in my main application.
What is the best approach to implement this? Thanks a lot.
Regards
David
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