what would you think about a badge on the notification center icon (in the menubar)?

[acosmichippo]

Like this:

I personally find it tedious to look at the icons on the dock for new notification badges. To me, it would be much easier to be able to look in just one place for new notifications, and then click on that same place to see them in detail.

 

[3282868]

Never consider it, yet a good idea. For non-alert notifications that fade out, you may miss something while away from your system.

I wouldn't mind an app that you could place in your dock (something akin to Mail, Contacts, etc), might be easier to see.

Good idea

Recommend giving feedback:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

 

[Krazy Bill]

I wouldn't mind an app that you could place in your dock (something akin to Mail, Contacts, etc), might be easier to see.

I don't have ML booted up right now but don't your icons already do this in the dock? I think mine bounce as well.

 

[3282868]

I don't have ML booted up right now but don't your icons already do this in the dock? I think mine bounce as well.

They do for individual app's, good point. Was thinking of a way to make it easier to notice notifications that may not be in your dock. Hmmm. Oh well.

 

[marc11]

I hate badges for some reason but some sort of reminder that you have pending alerts would be nice. Maybe a dimming icon on the menu bar? Turn the icon red itself?

 

[cambookpro]

Would love this!

 

[bushido]

this looks sweet, anyone able to hack that?

 

[paronga]

please not a badge or a red thing.
It's meant to be unobtrusive.
in the betas, the icon was a ring. when you had notifications, it had a black dot inside the black ring.

a red icon will distract me, but the current black one (and the other menu bar icons) don't. And they shouldn't!

 

[Crisis]

Exactly the same thing I have thought about. Now there is no number and I don't feel any difference if there are or there aren't notifications.

 

[ixodes]

Like this:

Image

I personally find it tedious to look at the icons on the dock for new notification badges. To me, it would be much easier to be able to look in just one place for new notifications, and then click on that same place to see them in detail.

Very nice work!

Give us an easy way to turn it off when we wish & you'd have the best of both worlds.

 

[TheRainKing]

At first I was gonna say no, but it doesn't look that bad.

 

[zen]

I was going to post the exact same thing. I love the notification centre, but it seems a little pointless as it doesn't actually notify me of anything unless I open it. If I'm away from my desk for a while, and the Growl-like banners have gone (I know the alerts setting means they stay on screen), I want to know what notifications I have at a glance. I'm surprised there is no badge/icon/alert. Even if the notifications icon in the menubar could glow or pulse when there are new notifications, that might be less obtrusive than a red badge.

 

[iMacFarlane]

The badge idea is already in use for Mint.com's toolbar icon, and it works great. The red is an attention grabber. One click, and the red goes away. I think it's a great idea for notification center.

 

[acosmichippo]

please not a badge or a red thing.
It's meant to be unobtrusive.
in the betas, the icon was a ring. when you had notifications, it had a black dot inside the black ring.

a red icon will distract me, but the current black one (and the other menu bar icons) don't. And they shouldn't!

It gets my attention, which is the whole point; if I have an important notification that I missed the banner for, I want to know about it.

 

[Sylon]

Some sort of indication would be nice, not everyone has every app in the dock. However, instead of a badge, I was thinking if the NC icon had a subtle blue glow around it, it wouldn't be annoying, it would look nice, and still show that you have notifications waiting.

 

[0038396]

I would like this.

 

[paronga]

It gets my attention, which is the whole point; if I have an important notification that I missed the banner for, I want to know about it.

pfft.
if it's important, you'd have an alert, not a banner.
aMost people don't want badges everywhere. especially red ones. Menubar icons should be black or grey. If you need an icon, look at your dock.

 

[acosmichippo]

Right, well if you read my reasoning in the initial post, you'd know the idea is to consolidate notifications in one spot for quick checking. Alerts are silly because they aren't just obtrusive - they're intrusive. I don't want to have to click an alert every time I get an email, message, etc. just to uncover what is lying beneath them. And by the way, the battery icon turns red when it's low. You know, to get your attention.

I understand that it doesn't suit your needs. More power to ya.

 

[lannisters4life]

I think I'd prefer if the notification centre icon just changed colour, perhaps to red, if there are notifications that haven't been seen yet, but I could live with a badge.

 

[matrix07]

I think I'd prefer if the notification centre icon just changed colour, perhaps to red, if there are notifications that haven't been seen yet,

Sound great. Just change color to call our attention. No badge there please.

 

[paronga]

i get the idea. But a red badge is a crummy idea. Just like it changes to grey if notification centre is off, i would welcome the option for the icon to change if there are new notifications.

but there is a deep issue with that. I've always got some ical event in my notifications centre. So it's always going to have some items in there. These iCal events don't go away just because i've seen them. So is my notifications centre always going to be showing 'new items'? or a badge?

 

[acosmichippo]

but there is a deep issue with that. I've always got some ical event in my notifications centre. So it's always going to have some items in there. These iCal events don't go away just because i've seen them. So is my notifications centre always going to be showing 'new items'? or a badge?

I doubt it would show new items for regular iCal events - probably only for alerts set for the events. Or at least that's how I'd imagine it.

Just like in iOS, we don't get a notification for every single calendar event - just alerts.

 

[Hephaestus]

This may sound off topic, but could you post the wallpaper in the original post?

 

[paronga]

I doubt it would show new items for regular iCal events - probably only for alerts set for the events. Or at least that's how I'd imagine it.

Just like in iOS, we don't get a notification for every single calendar event - just alerts.

it's not about the alert though.
in iOS, it doesn't tell you how many items are IN the notification centre.

what you want, is a counter saying how manny banners you've missed.
and it's unlikely that you're going to get that option.

if it's important to you, use an alert, if it's not so important, use a banner.
BOTH end up in the notification centre for you to look at later.
you can see how many you missed in the dock.

 

[acosmichippo]

what's wrong with a counter? If we're changing the color or adding a badge, why not a number too? Seems like an efficient use of space to me.

How iOS does it is irrelevant; it's a different platform. On my iPhone, notifications I miss get collected on the lock screen, which I will see next time I unlock my phone. OSX doesn't have a lock screen (at least not one that works like iOS's), so missed notifications just get silently dumped into the notification center. This means I have to either click on the button to check them, or scan my dock with dozens of icons for new badges.

Regarding your other points, I have addressed those earlier, so I'll leave it at that.