Comments on: A bit of a Communication Problem http://clarkbw.net/blog/2008/05/13/a-bit-of-a-communication-problem/ Absence makes the heart grow fungus Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:07:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Pooya Karimian http://clarkbw.net/blog/2008/05/13/a-bit-of-a-communication-problem/comment-page-1/#comment-5323 Pooya Karimian Wed, 14 May 2008 15:04:33 +0000 http://clarkbw.net/blog/?p=327#comment-5323 apple mail shows a little icon beside the folder name when it is offline and let user click it to go online. the good thing about clicking something to go online is that if you're on a slow connection downloading mails will not clog your line when you reconnect. apple mail shows a little icon beside the folder name when it is offline and let user click it to go online.
the good thing about clicking something to go online is that if you’re on a slow connection downloading mails will not clog your line when you reconnect.

]]> By: Bryan Clark http://clarkbw.net/blog/2008/05/13/a-bit-of-a-communication-problem/comment-page-1/#comment-5321 Bryan Clark Wed, 14 May 2008 13:39:05 +0000 http://clarkbw.net/blog/?p=327#comment-5321 Standard8: Oh, right!! But that's the status of offline/online mode, not really what's happening on my system. I'm gonna check out SM to see what they do. Mike: Good points. Motion and distraction has to be kept to a minimum and the controls need to keep the user in complete control of bouncing notifications. Cosimo: It's possible. Firefox currently listens for NetworkManager to gather online / offline status but this isn't in Thunderbird yet. Aaron: Right, I think regular plain text changes to title bars and other areas will be helpful indications for all users. Standard8: Oh, right!! But that’s the status of offline/online mode, not really what’s happening on my system. I’m gonna check out SM to see what they do.

Mike: Good points. Motion and distraction has to be kept to a minimum and the controls need to keep the user in complete control of bouncing notifications.

Cosimo: It’s possible. Firefox currently listens for NetworkManager to gather online / offline status but this isn’t in Thunderbird yet.

Aaron: Right, I think regular plain text changes to title bars and other areas will be helpful indications for all users.

]]> By: Aaron Leventhal http://clarkbw.net/blog/2008/05/13/a-bit-of-a-communication-problem/comment-page-1/#comment-5317 Aaron Leventhal Wed, 14 May 2008 11:30:40 +0000 http://clarkbw.net/blog/?p=327#comment-5317 Don't forget about color blind users (about 1 in 12 users have some sort of color sensing deficiency in their vision). Don’t forget about color blind users (about 1 in 12 users have some sort of color sensing deficiency in their vision).

]]> By: Cosimo http://clarkbw.net/blog/2008/05/13/a-bit-of-a-communication-problem/comment-page-1/#comment-5315 Cosimo Wed, 14 May 2008 09:05:35 +0000 http://clarkbw.net/blog/?p=327#comment-5315 Couldn't you use the OS API to get and notify the connection state? GNOME (and KDE too I think) already have NetworkManager which will pop-up a tooltip when the network is up. Windows users have something similar in the tray. Also, using NetworkManager you would avoid in some cases trying to reconnect with timeouts. Couldn’t you use the OS API to get and notify the connection state? GNOME (and KDE too I think) already have NetworkManager which will pop-up a tooltip when the network is up. Windows users have something similar in the tray. Also, using NetworkManager you would avoid in some cases trying to reconnect with timeouts.

]]> By: Mike http://clarkbw.net/blog/2008/05/13/a-bit-of-a-communication-problem/comment-page-1/#comment-5314 Mike Wed, 14 May 2008 08:07:07 +0000 http://clarkbw.net/blog/?p=327#comment-5314 Depending on how eye catching the notification is, this could be a problem. If it ever gets in a state of bouncing between online and offline, you'll forever be irritating the user with notifications "we're back", "no we're not", "yes we are". Perhaps the simplest solution is to indicate the state of an account when the core components of the account are in view. For email this would probably be the folder structure, and you could lighten/darken/colour the text depending on the state of the connection. The colour could change when the user has intentionally asked the account not to connect. This idea is already used in the message pane for labelling messages, and would still allow for some form of (small) image to represent the general health of the connection, perhaps up on the toolbar or the header of the sidebar? Depending on how eye catching the notification is, this could be a problem. If it ever gets in a state of bouncing between online and offline, you’ll forever be irritating the user with notifications “we’re back”, “no we’re not”, “yes we are”.

Perhaps the simplest solution is to indicate the state of an account when the core components of the account are in view. For email this would probably be the folder structure, and you could lighten/darken/colour the text depending on the state of the connection. The colour could change when the user has intentionally asked the account not to connect.

This idea is already used in the message pane for labelling messages, and would still allow for some form of (small) image to represent the general health of the connection, perhaps up on the toolbar or the header of the sidebar?

]]> By: Standard8 http://clarkbw.net/blog/2008/05/13/a-bit-of-a-communication-problem/comment-page-1/#comment-5313 Standard8 Wed, 14 May 2008 07:29:04 +0000 http://clarkbw.net/blog/?p=327#comment-5313 The silent state of offline? Have you not noticed the little icon on the left of the status bar? Maybe that's just proving the point. Note, that TB's version is a lot less clear than the SM one which is on the bottom right and is probably in more people's field of vision because that's where the scroll bars meet. The silent state of offline? Have you not noticed the little icon on the left of the status bar?

Maybe that’s just proving the point.

Note, that TB’s version is a lot less clear than the SM one which is on the bottom right and is probably in more people’s field of vision because that’s where the scroll bars meet.

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