Notifications

Notifications of application events have varying levels of urgency or interruption. An event may be as inconsequential as a download completing or as important as equipment unexpectedly going offline. Astro provides a variety of situationally appropriate mechanisms to notify users of events with varying levels of urgency.

Below are examples of Astro Notifications from least urgency to highest priority:

Log

Events of least urgency may be added to a Log. Logged events aren’t likely to receive the user’s attention (Logs aren’t always in the user’s view), but are captured for later forensic use. Examples of low-level events are ordinary device state changes or routine consistency checks.

Notification Symbol

Events that require some user attention, but no immediate response, may be indicated by changes to a Notification Symbol.

This Notification Symbol shows that five events related to a satellite have occurred. You may hyperlink icons to reveal a deeper view of relevant Notification information. You may also link to the general Log.

Events that deserve more urgent user attention, but don't require a response, may be displayed in a Notification Banner. The Banner displays within the user's field-of-view, but doesn't block other interaction.

If the user is currently working in a specific screen area, the Banner may be presented in that area. If the Notification is more general, or doesn't relate to a specific area of the screen, it may be presented in the center of the screen just below the Global Status Bar.

For events that require the user's immediate attention and response, a modal Dialog Box may be used. Modal Dialog Boxes should be avoided if possible, as they deliberately interrupt all other user interaction which could be critical.