Comment 2 for bug 1001012

Usage patterns may vary significantly, therefore I think the user should be allowed to define its own danger zone, very much like in the task urgency color plugin. One could even set the danger zone to zero and the icon would only turn colored when there is something really urgent. Or one could simply disable this feature and have it white all the time. I think two more settings in the plugin preferences should do the work.

For what is worth, here is my workflow. I usually have a danger zone of one day, since I want to know about tasks due tomorrow so as to get ready. Second, I need to know what tasks are due today (or are overdue). I am a lucky person and there are days where I have nothing urgent to do, although I may have many doable tasks (those in the workview). I just want to be visually and quickly reminded about urgent things (today or tomorrow).

Having this reminder only at startup wouldn't work well for me. The computer may be already open, for instance at work. On my laptop I have GTG in the startup applications launched as minimized and I could easily miss the notification... eventually I would open the GTG window to check. I think a persistent visual reminder is not bad. Suppose I leave my computer for a couple hours: when I am back I know there is still something to do at a glance.

I agree that having a red icon there all the time may be annoying. What about a less obstrusive color? For instance the same light blue used in the Ubuntu messaging menu?

And yes, only workable tasks would matter. But like I said it would be great to make the danger zone a flexible, use-defined time span and to be able to "reduce the noise" depending on the usage pattern. Incidentally, similar issues have been discussed for the messaging menu (chat and emails), see Bug #957922.