Notification Center Idea that compliments the OS

[Robert Carpenter]

Just sharing my idea... I saw some arguments about how Live Tiles solve the need for a notification center, and adding a notification center will detract from their use. So I wanted to share my concept that caters to both.

Swipe left from the start screen to get to the notification center.
This is the most intuitive and obvious approach. I saw people complaining that in iOS, for example, you don't have to leave your app and that's how it should be. This is pointless because if the notification center is going to cover the ENTIRE SCREEN regardless, why does it matter if it's in a separate window? Given this, and the fact that the "back button" allows one-press access to whatever you were previously in, a separate window approach fits the Windows Phone OS just fine.

Keeping the concept of Live Tiles
The notification center is missing in the first place because Live Tiles technically replace the need for it. So here's an idea that will not take away from the purpose of the tiles.

When you swipe left, the screen should resemble the start menu with nothing but "medium-sized" tiles. That means 2 tiles per row. The tiles should be ordered according to when the notifications arrive. The tiles should be represented with the Live-Tile functionality they would have on the start screen, thus giving developers further incentive to make use Live Tiles as much as they can. This will give all Live Tiles a chance to be displayed, regardless if they are pinned to your start screen or not. This helps the discoverability of tiles; The user might see a Live Tile performing its functions and decide that it's a useful tile that they want pinned to the start screen. Users should also be allowed to block apps from appearing in the notification center. (Maybe the live tile for the app on the start screen is sufficient; also allows the notification center to be configured as a place for urgent notifications based on user preference)

Inside of the Notification Tiles
Clicking on one of the Live Tiles in the notification center will simply display the list of notifications associated with the app. Notifications could possibly auto-delete in a specified number of day, and allow manual deletion.



I think this concept solves the problem of a missing notification center without taking away the importance of Live Tiles. It gives you access to Live Tiles that you do not want cluttering your start screen. It also gives you access to Live Tile information that normally would not be seen if you have the tile set to the smallest size.

The start screen is the main hub for everything. This concept essentially: gets rid of the apps on your start screen without notifications, adds the apps missing from your start screen with notifications, and organizes it chronologically giving every app a chance to show off it's live tile functionality.

Please share your thoughts if desired.

 

[Reflexx]

I like the idea of having a separate "start screen" that is only for notifications. You can keep your main ones on the main start screen, but still be able to keep the all the tiles on the seconds screen. Also, since they are regular sized tiles, they all can display more information. So the ones on your start screen could be really small, and if you want just a little more info you go to that notification screen.

Good idea.

 

[wpoblation]

Do you think that 'pull down notification' thing for other mobile platforms is patented, which is why MSFT isn't using it?

 

[tebugg]

head over to windowsphone.uservoice.com and start a new idea. maybe it will get noticed.

 

[Coffee]

Do you think that 'pull down notification' thing for other mobile platforms is patented, which is why MSFT isn't using it?

Well, it's not consistent with the Metro-style design, so I would assume it will be something like the left-swipe from the Home screen.

 

[Robert Carpenter]

I like the idea of having a separate "start screen" that is only for notifications. You can keep your main ones on the main start screen, but still be able to keep the all the tiles on the seconds screen. Also, since they are regular sized tiles, they all can display more information. So the ones on your start screen could be really small, and if you want just a little more info you go to that notification screen.

Good idea.

Gives every tile a chance to shine. Also, if all notifications have been read from an app, or manually cleared by the user, the Live Tile will not show up in the notification center. If you see a Live Tile there, then it means there is an unread notification.

 

[kthoag]

I like it.

 

[AgentTheGreat]

Having two different pages with tiles on them, one of which launches the app and another shows a list of notifications...I think that would be confusing. I don't think we need tiles for the repository of notifications. Take a look at this:

http://forums.windowscentral.com/wi...ist-notification-center-concept-take-two.html

Tell me about any potential problems this design may have.

 

[AgentTheGreat]

Gives every tile a chance to shine. Also, if all notifications have been read from an app, or manually cleared by the user, the Live Tile will not show up in the notification center. If you see a Live Tile there, then it means there is an unread notification.

Still, you won't have access to an archive of notifications if it works that way. That's how it works on Android, but there are better ways you could use to both notify the user and keep an archive.

 

[Joelist]

I'm still not convinced we even need a notification center in the first place. Remember we get toasts and also that we will see that we have email/messages and such right on the lockscreen even after the toast is gone.

If you HAD to have some type of notification functionality then put it on the lockscreen - namely if an app generates a toast then note it on the lockscreen regardless if it is one of those you selected to be on the lockscreen. And modift the lockscreen functionality so tapping on the appropriate alert (like email) on the lockscreen both opens the lockscreen and launches the app in question (subject of course to any security the user has enabled).

 

[Robert Carpenter]

Still, you won't have access to an archive of notifications if it works that way. That's how it works on Android, but there are better ways you could use to both notify the user and keep an archive.

You must have misinterpreted my idea. I stated that after you click one of the Live Tiles in the notification center, you would be presented with the archive of notifications from that app only. Meaning all notifications will be grouped according to the app they are for, and clicking on the Live Tile will take you to the appropriate group.

 

[AgentTheGreat]

You must have misinterpreted my idea. I stated that after you click one of the Live Tiles in the notification center, you would be presented with the archive of notifications from that app only. Meaning all notifications will be grouped according to the app they are for, and clicking on the Live Tile will take you to the appropriate group.

But you said only apps with new notifications would have a tile in the notification center. Meaning when you view an app's notifications the corresponding tile would be removed from the center, which would in turn make the archive of notifications for that particular app inaccessible.