[u385639]

I can understand that there are places/screens/experiences where you'd like some peace and quiet but the idea that communication with technology should as a "general rule" not "ever. ever ever" be anything but unidirectional from user to device is absurd.

[ninkendo]

I’d welcome a challenge to this rule or trying to find an exception to it!

I actually think about this a lot. I try to keep mental track for every notification I get and they’re all either:

1. A person contacting me

2. The response for some action I took, and is typically just a chime or small transient notification (a download finished, etc)

3. Something that shouldn’t exist at all (“try new feature” dialogs, etc)

4. The grey area: Something I wanted to know, but could have been implemented in a better way.

The “other way” things should be implemented in case 4 varies, but here are some examples:

- Xcode shouldn’t alert me with a modal popup when something fails, it should just put the failed status in a multi-item notification drawer that can be ignored

- That thing telling me my password is incorrect shouldn’t be a modal popup, but just a small status text on the UI I’m already using

- The “tips”/“what’s new in X” information should be in the app’s menu in a section that can have some level of prominence so long as it’s reasonable (bold, highlighted, etc, but never in a dialog that I have to dismiss to continue using your app.)

[u385639]

I was clumsily pointing out the oddity of saying "ever" in a rule ostensibly "general" aka with exceptions. Otherwise, it just looks like a preference to me. Why should (3) never exist at all? I've definitely found features that have existed for a long time in a product and wished I somehow new earlier. Does it mean they could have designed it better? Perhaps. An app driven nudge is a hammer, sure, but it's not a sacred violation.

[tomc1985]

No, it isn't. Many of us do not want our devices talking to us without really good reason