Microsoft Teams is about to get this feature it should have had on day one

[Windows Central]

Microsoft Teams will soon let you choose where notifications appear on the screen. The option is in testing now and should roll out to everyone soon.

Microsoft Teams is about to get this feature it should have had on day one : Read more

 

[GraniteStateColin]

I don't disagree that the ability to select notice placement is a good thing (and I love Teams -- best new product MS has released since Excel), but it does feel like different groups within MS still fighting each other instead of working together: Windows has a notification center. Ideally, ALL notices would use that for a consistent experience. Consistency is the single most important feature of a good UI. The proper solution here would have been for the Teams team within MS to push and work with the OS team to add this option to the system-wide notifications and still worked within that system. Then, everything would benefit and remain a cohesive UI. Instead, this just creates a one-off fix that further creates a chaotic feeling to using Windows.

If the Windows team said they couldn't do this for whatever reason (design reasons, lack of time, etc.), then Teams should offer an option to use the System Notifications or custom. That way, at least by default, it would continue to use the OS notification center, but users desperate to move at least Teams notices could do so. By the picture in the article, doesn't look like using the Windows Notification Center is even an option. That's bad.

 

[bazanime]

I don't disagree that the ability to select notice placement is a good thing (and I love Teams -- best new product MS has released since Excel), but it does feel like different groups within MS still fighting each other instead of working together: Windows has a notification center. Ideally, ALL notices would use that for a consistent experience. Consistency is the single most important feature of a good UI. The proper solution here would have been for the Teams team within MS to push and work with the OS team to add this option to the system-wide notifications and still worked within that system. Then, everything would benefit and remain a cohesive UI. Instead, this just creates a one-off fix that further creates a chaotic feeling to using Windows.

If the Windows team said they couldn't do this for whatever reason (design reasons, lack of time, etc.), then Teams should offer an option to use the System Notifications or custom. That way, at least by default, it would continue to use the OS notification center, but users desperate to move at least Teams notices could do so. By the picture in the article, doesn't look like using the Windows Notification Center is even an option. That's bad.

I hear you but some orgs disable the native notification area so maybe this apps behaviour is a solution to keep it independent of restrictions.

 

[GraniteStateColin]

I hear you but some orgs disable the native notification area so maybe this apps behaviour is a solution to keep it independent of restrictions.

That's a good point (is it true? I've never seen an IT group disable notifications en-masse for the org, just on public/shared PCs). Also makes sense for Teams to include this for other systems if Macs don't have a notification system (do they?). If that's the reason, I get the need for Teams to have its own, but then, per my second paragraph, it should only be an option to use Teams Notifications in place of the OS'. The default should always be to use the OS' built-in notification system for consistency.

Again, nothing is more important than consistency in UI design, unless that consistency would actually break critical functions (e.g., Excel and Word must do some things differently in table navigation because they have such different underlying structures and methods of use).

 

[marksv]

It's helpful to think about how things are developed at Microsoft, which is a platform company. Say, Office wants to add a new feature to an application (e.g., add notifications to Outlook). Office is on a separate cadence from Windows, so they just add the feature ("toast" pop-ups in the lower-right of the screen). Eventually, this feature is popular, so Windows adds an API and UI (e.g. Windows Notification Center). As more and more apps (Microsoft and 3rd party) adopt the capability, it gets harder and harder to significantly modify it without impact on the ecosystem (i.e. it may introduce a "breaking change"). Then a fast-moving internal team (Teams is the epitome of this) wants to extend the feature, and their request sits in the Windows new feature backlog for a while. Eventually, they just build the thing for themselves, and the cycle continues.

 

[kroty]

That's a good point (is it true? I've never seen an IT group disable notifications en-masse for the org, just on public/shared PCs). Also makes sense for Teams to include this for other systems if Macs don't have a notification system (do they?). If that's the reason, I get the need for Teams to have its own, but then, per my second paragraph, it should only be an option to use Teams Notifications in place of the OS'. The default should always be to use the OS' built-in notification system for consistency.

Again, nothing is more important than consistency in UI design, unless that consistency would actually break critical functions (e.g., Excel and Word must do some things differently in table navigation because they have such different underlying structures and methods of use).

The sad thing is that old Teams had an option to use either Teams or Windows style notifications. This is the only downgrade from old Teams for me because Windows notifications showed more content and stayed in notification center even when I missed the notification.