Bug 403792

Summary:	PassiveNotification UI element does not work and should be deleted
Product:	[Frameworks and Libraries] frameworks-kirigami	Reporter:	Nate Graham <nate>
Component:	general	Assignee:	Marco Martin <notmart>
Status:	RESOLVED NOT A BUG
Severity:	normal
Priority:	NOR
Version:	unspecified
Target Milestone:	Not decided
Platform:	Other
OS:	Linux
See Also:	https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=403791 https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=388086 https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=403809 https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=403810
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Nate Graham 2019-01-31 04:16:11 UTC

This UI element displays a tiny pop-up message that disappears automatically after a few seconds. It does not work and should be removed.

Anything worth showing to the user should not time out after a few seconds or else it will be missed and the user will be confused and frustrated. If the message can safely be missed because it's timed out before the user sees or comprehends it, the it wasn't important enough to show the user.

Furthermore, The UI element's existence encourages abuse by developers. Discover inappropriately uses PassiveNotifications for everything (Bug 403791), resulting in important error messages that never get seen by the user and a neverending stream of un-actionable program status messages that make users feel nervous and unhappy.

I recommend deleting this UI paradigm and instead recommending the use of InlineMessages, which are useful because they don't disappear before you've read them, and they come in multiple colors that convey information about the message's severity.

Comment 1 Nate Graham 2019-01-31 17:33:25 UTC

An additional point: it's redundant! We already have a UI for transient, self-disappearing, low-priority  messages in the form of system notifications. However those have the advantages that they stick around on the screen for much longer, they can be marked as sticky and not go away without user intervention, and their text is tracked in the notifications widget's history in case you miss one.

Probably anything that wants to send a PassiveNotification for low-priority text should just use the system's existing notification system instead.

Comment 2 Marco Martin 2019-01-31 17:47:35 UTC

first of all: no component can ever be removed, at least until KF6 that is.

in discover they are abused, they have a very precise scope which is a very short status message, in the context of the applications, that's the thing android calls "toast" which we need for mobile use.
 for instance in telegram desktop is used for the message "can't connect, retrying in x seconds"

it doesn't need to be removed but it needs to
a) never be dismissed when the window doesn't have focus
b) have an hig page that explains its usage

Comment 3 Nate Graham 2019-01-31 17:53:40 UTC

We talked about this and Marco convinced me.

Action items:
- Stop abusing it in Discover: Bug 403791
- Only start the countdown timer when the parent window has focus: Bug 403809
- Increase the default timeout: Bug 403810
- Add a close button on desktop mode so it feels less alien: Bug 388086