[Wylug-help] Evolution Alerts

[Smylers]

John Hodrien writes:

> On Fri, 7 Apr 2006, Smylers wrote:
> 
> > Users, rightly, objected to IM windows popping up and stealing the
> > focus, since if you're in the middle of typing something in another
> > window you suddenly find your text going into an instant message.
> 
> And gaim's default of using Ctrl-Return to send a message means this
> isn't a major threat to privacy, more just an annoyance.

Ah, is that the default now?  At the time the default was just Enter,
but Ctrl+Enter (and, more importantly, disabling plain Enter) was
available as an option.

> > While in general I agree with the Gnome (and Firefox) viewpoint that
> > excessive configuration options should be avoided in favour of
> > behaviour that is good by default, I'd rather have something with a
> > few too many options (which I can ignore) than be missing something
> > I really want -- and failing to spot "instant" messages from my boss
> > popping up on screen is definitely a problem that needs solving, not
> > just a whim.
> 
> I *think* that the new notification message box things in the latest
> gnome could[1] make all this go away.  Now taskbar applet type things
> can prod you with a little box that appears near them,

But that only works if you have a taskbar visible, which it isn't if
you've got all your panels set to auto-hide.

> that appears then disappears within a few seconds.

That's also less-good than raising the window, cos it means you don't
see it on returning to your computer from being away for a few minutes.

It wouldn't be so frustrating that the implementation doesn't match my
desired behaviour if it weren't that the software _used_ to do this!

> [1] assuming the gaim people take advantage of it.  Adding gnome
> specific cruft to gaim I assume...

I got the impression that the Gaim folk are willing to do this --
they're just frustrated that currently they are getting bug reports
complaining about a feature apparently going missing from Gaim that is
out of their control.

In my current set-up Gaim does have an icon in the Gnome notification
area ... though unfortunately it only seems to indicate whether I'm
logged in or not, not whether I'm inadvertently ignoring my boss[*0]

Also, it might not be Gnome-specific: a common API that also works with
KDE could be agreed upon.

Smylers