Irritating eye-candy

[hazel]

Firefox has acquired a bad habit. When I do a download, as soon as it is finished, a little box comes up with the message "All downloads completed" and slowly sinks behind the panel, like the sun setting into the sea. At the same time, the panel shimmers and shudders wildly until the box is gone. This happens even when I am on another desktop and can't see the message that supposedly explains why my panel is misbehaving.

I am sure someone in the Firefox team must have said "Wouldn't it be cute if...". Well, it's not cute, it's very tiresome. If a Windows user saw this happening to his taskbar, he would probably assume that he had a virus infection. And someone with photo-sensitive epilepsy could well have a seizure.

Do other people have grouses about unnecessary "special effects" that modern programs incorporate?

[techieMoe]

This tweak might fix your particular gripe, hazel:

Chris Ilias’ Blog Turn off the “Downloads Complete” alert in Firefox.

As for me, yes. There are a number of little "effects" that annoy me on a day-to-day basis. Most have to do with programs I use at work. I'll think about it and see if I can come up with a few examples. I just wanted to toss that link your way first.

[oz]

My panel doesn't do all that shimmering and shuddering so that particular feature isn't all that bothersome for me. That said, it would definitely be nice if more so-called features that came with software had easy methods to disable them for those users that choose to do so.

[Mudgen]

This tweak might fix your particular gripe, hazel:

Chris Ilias’ Blog Turn off the “Downloads Complete” alert in Firefox.

As for me, yes. There are a number of little "effects" that annoy me on a day-to-day basis. Most have to do with programs I use at work. I'll think about it and see if I can come up with a few examples. I just wanted to toss that link your way first.

Thanks!!! Great tip.

[MASONTX]

A switch to turn off eye candy would definitely appeal to me too. Why do so many prgrams think that flashing, shimmering, or moving, items takes the place of genuinely useful features. As Sara Palin said, "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig."

[elija]

The human eye is attracted to motion so I guess that notifications move so we notice them. In some cases I find these useful and in others such as the Firefox example here I find them pointless and annoying.

Thanks for the tip TechieMoe.

[MASONTX]

It is one thing if the motion/flashing/pop up window is drawing yhour attention to something important, like an attack, imminent equipment failure etc, but most of them seem so pointless to me. Sometimes it seems as if program designers run out of ideas for real improvements, so substiute flashy visuals to disguise the fact the new version doesn't do anything the old version didn't. I generally prefer a plain design that isn't a resource hog to flashy visuals.

[Jonathan183]

I generally prefer a plain design that isn't a resource hog to flashy visuals.

I agree ... I switch off almost all effects and notifications - the technology is there for me to use, I'm not going to be driven by the technology. For example if I want to read emails I'll do it, I don't need to be told a new email has just arrived ... same applies to lots of other applications as well. Thanks for the tip techieMoe

[peteh]

I use the Download Statusbar Add-on which I find useful and unobtrusive. I assume it must stop this pop-up you mention because I don't recall seeing it.

[hazel]

Thanks, Techie Mo. I've been able to switch the whole thing off now. But it's the principle of the thing that annoys me. I can see why updated proprietary software would want extra eye candy to induce people to buy it, but FOSS is supposed to be about providing tools for adults. We, the users, are supposed to be in the driving seat. Why put in something that looks like a silly marketing trick?

If they do want to provide that, it should be something that you switch on if you want it, not something that's there by default. It's not just a matter of making it easy to switch off; it shouldn't be switched on in the first place if it isn't directly useful.

Having said that, I do like email notifications as long as they don't move or flash. Sylpheed puts a little red marker beside the envelope in your system tray and that's fine by me