notify-osd needs a "privacy mode"

Bug #461058 reported by Jono Bacon
108
This bug affects 19 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
notify-osd (Ubuntu)
Triaged
Wishlist
Mirco Müller

Bug Description

Binary package hint: notify-osd

A problem with notify-osd is that it can often display conversation content from IM or IRC in situations where you would prefer those sitting around you to not see it over your shoulder, such as conferences. An example is if your partner sends you a private message with some possibly comedic yet embarrassing content, and your colleague or friend sees it.

An ideal solution would be to have a feature in indicator-applet-session that is akin to Private Browsing Mode in Firefox, which would stop showing notification bubbles around conversations. This could be a checkbox menu in the indicator-applet-session called Privacy Mode.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Mon Oct 26 13:47:40 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
GtkTheme: Dust
IconTheme: Humanity-Dark
MachineType: LENOVO 7417CTO
Package: notify-osd 0.9.24-0ubuntu1
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=d0c0ae51-5326-4259-8fa7-82f0ddc8e582 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-14.48-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 xserver-xorg 1:7.4+3ubuntu7
 libgl1-mesa-glx 7.6.0-1ubuntu4
 libdrm2 2.4.14-1ubuntu1
 xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.9.0-1ubuntu2
 xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.12.99+git20090929.7968e1fb-0ubuntu1
SourcePackage: notify-osd
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-14-generic i686
WindowManager: compiz
dmi.bios.date: 01/09/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 7UET56WW (2.02 )
dmi.board.name: 7417CTO
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr7UET56WW(2.02):bd01/09/2009:svnLENOVO:pn7417CTO:pvrThinkPadT400:rvnLENOVO:rn7417CTO:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 7417CTO
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T400
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO

Revision history for this message
Jono Bacon (jonobacon) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Mat Tomaszewski (mat.t.) wrote :

You'll probably find this related conversation interesting: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/notify-osd/+bug/428509

Revision history for this message
David Barth (dbarth) wrote :

Thanks for the suggestion Jono.

Changed in notify-osd (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Wishlist
status: New → Triaged
Changed in notify-osd:
importance: Undecided → Wishlist
status: New → Triaged
Mirco Müller (macslow)
Changed in notify-osd:
assignee: nobody → Mirco Müller (macslow)
Changed in notify-osd (Ubuntu):
assignee: nobody → Mirco Müller (macslow)
Revision history for this message
dickohead (tim-miteon) wrote :

I can confirm that this usability / human-computer-interaction bug (as opposed to a technical bug) also affects me.

Maybe the notifications could be displayed in a more minimal fashion and when we mouse-over them they expand to reveal their contents? E.g.
Notification: "New message from Mark Shuttleworth."
Mouse-over: "Mark says: "Beers at mine tonight?"

While they can be disabled quite easily (http://askubuntu.com/questions/13464/how-can-i-customize-disable-notification-bubbles), it would be nice to have a system option to disable notifications per application, during certain circumstances, or just all together if the above is too difficult.

Much love.

Revision history for this message
dickohead (tim-miteon) wrote :

I'm using Ubuntu 11.04 if that helps?

Revision history for this message
komputes (komputes) wrote :

Please note that this is not yet fixed in Oneiric's unity.

It has, however, been corrected in gnome-shell (see attachment).

komputes (komputes)
tags: added: css-sponsored-p
no longer affects: notify-osd
Revision history for this message
Or Schiro (orschiro) wrote :

It would be nice if this feature was available as an easily accessible indicator icon!

Warmly,

~Robert

Revision history for this message
searoso (searoso) wrote :

Would be really useful to have _focus_ mode, where messages and browser alerts are accumulated in notification drawer without pop-ups while calendar is allowed.
Not sure if it's the same as _privacy mode_, which design has become widely spread as notifications having only app name without content.

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