Arch Linux

darthpenguin

Member

Registered: 2011-09-16

Posts: 113

Anyone interested in helping a noob write a Gnome Shell Extension?

Hi All,

Not sure if this belongs in the Newbie Corner or in Programming & Scripting.

I have an idea for a gnome extension that I would like to create but I am not very familiar with JavaScript (I have only ever dabbled in shell scripting, python, and HTML/CSS). Basically I would like the remove (hide) the notifications history area that is beside the calendar (accessed by clicking on the clock in the top bar). This seems like it should not be too difficult.

Honestly, I feel the notification area is not required at all so I'd be happy to see it go. But, if I get the hang of writing extensions I might try to find a way to hide the notification centre when there are no notifications and reveal the area beside the calendar only when new notifications are available.

(Small rant starts here)
The notification centre *really* does bother me, and perhaps more than it should, but I just don't see the utility in it. I need my laptop computer to notify me of only two important things and one of then is not really all that important. First, I want to be notified when new updates are available for my system. I can use the "Arch Linux Updates Indicator" Gnome Shell Extension to show me the number of available updates in the system tray at the top right corner of the screen. This is just nice to have and by no means a requirement since I can just install updates whenever I think to do it. Notifications about available updates do not show in the notification centre anyway, so I don't need it for that.

Second, I need to be notified about new emails. What *really* grinds my gears on this one is that Thunderbird does not, by default, contain **any** built-in functionality to allow it to perpetually run in the background (minimized to the system tray or something like that). You can achieve that behaviour on different platforms with various add-ons but I find that to be simply absurd. Half the reason to use a mail client is to be notified of incoming mail. If the mail client actually terminates when the window's 'X' button is clicked then it will not notify the user of new mail until the user thinks to open the mail client again. Gnome does not seem to have a built-in method for notifying the user of new mail either but maybe it has some integration with Evolution or something (never checked). So I'll give the Gnome guys a pass on this one. I just think it is obnoxious that, in order to get email notifications, I need to install mailnag plus the mailnag extension for Gnome Shell. The point is that with mailnag handling my email notifications I never have any notifications in the notification centre and therefore have no need of it.

End of Rant