Comment 4 for bug 793788

On Tue, 2011-06-07 at 15:23 +0000, Nathan Handler wrote:
> I still don't think automatically switching tabs is the best approach.

Why? The whole purpose of displaying slides is that the user sees them.
Today with Lernid if a slide change happens the user will likely never
see it. This is in my mind a serious usability flaw in the app - the
goal of Lernid is to provide a simple integrated experience that reacts
to events in the session and displays them (such as changing the web
browser when a link is detected, or displaying a slide).

If the user is looking at another tab when the slide is changed, I would
consider this an edge case. The user should really be looking at the
slides and engaging in the session.

I see no reason why we could not accommodate this edge case with a
configuration option that does not automatically focus on the tab that
requires attention, but I really think it would devalue the app if this
functionality is on by default as it is now.

> Some things that I would add to help with this issue include:
> * Having the tab actually flash when a new slide/URL is shown.
> Flashing tends to attract a bit more attention.

This is the modern equivalent of the <blink> tag. ;-)

> * Utilize the status bar more to show that "Presentation has changed
> to slide #5" or "Now showing http://ubuntu.com/".

I don't think users will notice this. Today the tab name bolds when a
slide changes and many users don't see this.

> * Have a preference/setting to allow the user to tell Lernid to
> automatically switch tabs. This allows the user to choose the behavior
> that they prefer.

As I said above, I agree with an option, but the automatic focus should
be switched on by default.

> * Have the presentation always displayed (when there is one),
> regardless of what tab is displayed. The presentation is fairly small
> in size, so users who are working in the terminal should still have
> plenty of room. This doesn't help with the URL switching, but I think
> that is a bit less important than slide switching for Lernid.

This could be an option, although I think it is pretty neat having the
webpage and the slide next to each other - it is useful if a session
leader wants to reference both (e.g. a slide to show the key points and
a web page with sample code).

 Jono

--
Jono Bacon
Ubuntu Community Manager
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