Appearance of the OmniFocus Badge in the Dock
 

Good morning!

The Dock Icon Badge of [I]OmniFocus for Mac[/I] is located on the bottom right, instead of the top right, and does not feature the design that we're used to from other apps in iOS or Mac OS.

[B]Is there a way to enable [I]OmniFocus for Mac[/I] to display the Dock Icon Badge the way other apps do?[/B]

Although it's «just» a cosmetic issue, I'd really appreciate being able to change that. Currently stands out on my screen — in an ugly way.

Uh, which design is it that you're missing?

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/269/screenshot20120427at933.png/][IMG]http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/7826/screenshot20120427at933.png[/IMG][/URL]

Moving the badge to the upper right corner wouldn't allow for larger numbers without overlapping the icon contents, as you can see with the Mail example.

[QUOTE=whpalmer4;109855]Moving the badge to the upper right corner wouldn't allow for larger numbers without overlapping the icon contents, as you can see with the Mail example.[/QUOTE]

There must be some problem with the image you posted, when I view it it says you have 19637 emails.

@psidnell:
I suppose that must be osx.flashback doing it's thing...

@whpalmer4:
Thanks for the insight! I would like to see [I]OmniFocus for Mac[/I] be presenting it's badge as the [I]App Store[/I] and [I]Mail[/I] are doing.

[I]OmniWeb[/I]'s Dock Icon Badge in this image is adding insult to injury... Maybe we should start with consistency inside OmniGroup apps and then start implementing the Human Interface Guidelines Recommendation on Badging in the Dock.

[QUOTE]Use badging to give users noncritical status information in an unobtrusive way. A badge is a small red oval that appears over the upper-right corner of an app’s Dock icon. For example, iCal displays the number of new events in a badge; when there are no new events, the badge disappears (it does not display 0).[/QUOTE]

[IMG]http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/userexperience/conceptual/applehiguidelines/art/mt_badgeinical.jpg[/IMG]

Yes, it will cover the icon. That is the purpose of a badge — just as my name tag is on my uniform and not above it and the mail stamp is on the envelope and not above it. ;-)

[QUOTE=psidnell;109857]There must be some problem with the image you posted, when I view it it says you have 19637 emails.[/QUOTE]
No, that's 19637 [B]unread[/B] emails :-)

[QUOTE=whpalmer4;109859]No, that's 19637 [B]unread[/B] emails :-)[/QUOTE]

If you spend an 30 mins a day reading one a minute and never receive any more then you should be done around Easter 2014.

More importantly, I think we've just discovered where dark matter in the universe was hiding.

[QUOTE=chrisleduc;109858]
@whpalmer4:
Thanks for the insight! I would like to see [I]OmniFocus for Mac[/I] be presenting it's badge as the [I]App Store[/I] and [I]Mail[/I] are doing.
[/quote]
Speaking of consistency and attention to the rules, fnd t msng tht n wth sch fn y fr dtl wld nt trn thr dscrnng gz nwrd n us "ts" s th pssssv djctv nstd f th ncrrct "t's" ( cntrctn f "t s" or "t hs") ;-)
[quote]
[I]OmniWeb[/I]'s Dock Icon Badge in this image is adding insult to injury... Maybe we should start with consistency inside OmniGroup apps and then start implementing the Human Interface Guidelines Recommendation on Badging in the Dock.
[/quote]

The Omni Group apps seem to be consistently putting their badges down at the bottom, so internal consistency doesn't seem to be an issue. I'm fairly confident that if anyone from Omni responds, the answer will be that the position was chosen to not obscure the graphic of the icon. It may also be the case that said placement predates the text in the current HIG document. You might even find that Apple is less than perfect at adhering to the full contents of the HIG document :-)

[quote]Yes, it will cover the icon. That is the purpose of a badge — just as my name tag is on my uniform and not above it and the mail stamp is on the envelope and not above it. ;-)[/QUOTE]
The stamp doesn't cover the company logo on the envelope, however...

For best results in getting Omni to change something, you need to also send email feedback via Help->Send Feedback, which gets the request into their database. Posting on the forum is not guaranteed to do so, or even be seen, unlike the email. If the badge placement really bothers you, I would suggest turning it off via the "Show item counts: In the dock" checkbox in the Data preferences, because they are unlikely to act quickly on this! You do have the option of showing the same count in the menu bar, where you may find it less objectionable, yet still visible.

[QUOTE=psidnell;109861]
More importantly, I think we've just discovered where dark matter in the universe was hiding.[/QUOTE]

Found some more at Yahoo :-) The count has gone up substantially since the LHC first circulated beam. Coincidence?

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/138/screenshot20120427at114.png/][IMG]http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/4263/screenshot20120427at114.png[/IMG][/URL]

Unsure what the HIG says on this, or if this is one of those cases where violating a guideline is still the best choice. In any case, I'm happy to write up a feature request on it.

It'll get in front of the eyeballs best-equipped to consider it that way. :-)

[QUOTE=whpalmer4;109855]Uh, which design is it that you're missing?

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/269/screenshot20120427at933.png/][IMG]http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/7826/screenshot20120427at933.png[/IMG][/URL]

Moving the badge to the upper right corner wouldn't allow for larger numbers without overlapping the icon contents, as you can see with the Mail example.[/QUOTE]

Well, it would just write the larger number across the middle of the icon, then.

There is a built-in facility in the OS for badging, and all applications that use it badge in the upper right corner. Also, those that use the built in OS X facility changed appearance with Lion, so they now have a white ring around the outside of them to improve readability. From this, I can deduce that your'e still running Snow Leopard, Bill ;-)

It would be nice if the OG applications would use the standard conventions; the one downside being in this case that there's no orange so you'd lose the ability to delineate between overdue/due soon/flagged as you can already. Bill with 96 in "due soon" and 0 overdue I can see you're not one who avoids due dates ;-)

[QUOTE=CatOne;109890]
There is a built-in facility in the OS for badging, and all applications that use it badge in the upper right corner.
[/quote]
To quibble a bit, I don't believe that's truly part of the operating system. The documentation I looked at described how to do your own custom representation, and I haven't seen anything that shows the Mac App Store version of OmniFocus with different badges, so Apple apparently isn't as worked up about this flagrant violation :-)
[quote]
Also, those that use the built in OS X facility changed appearance with Lion, so they now have a white ring around the outside of them to improve readability. From this, I can deduce that your'e still running Snow Leopard, Bill ;-)
[/quote]
I am indeed. RobTrew and I decided last year that "after the new year" was a good time to take the plunge, and indeed Rob did so recently, what with the better-known (Jewish, calendar, Chinese) new years having now passed us by. However, I recently discovered the Lao and Nepali new years were both in mid-April, and now I see the Ethiopian one is in mid-September which pretty much gets us to the first new year on the list :-)

MobileMe's impending shutdown will probably force me to start using Lion part-time before then.
[quote]
It would be nice if the OG applications would use the standard conventions; the one downside being in this case that there's no orange so you'd lose the ability to delineate between overdue/due soon/flagged as you can already.
[/quote]
OmniFocus also uses gray for badges if red or orange aren't appropriate.

I don't know what it looks like in Lion, but I dislike seeing the red badges from the MAS, Mail, DevonThink, etc. because I don't think any of them have anything to say that merits red paint! Twitterrific uses a non-standard badge like Omni, and I appreciate the lower-impact labeling.

Also, just stumbled across another reason for the alternate dock icon: OmniFocus still supports Tiger, where you have to draw your own badge.
[quote]
Bill with 96 in "due soon" and 0 overdue I can see you're not one who avoids due dates ;-)[/QUOTE]
I'm not afraid of due dates, but that number is misleading. I'm showing due soon and flagged there, and all but 8 are flagged, not due soon. (Curiously, the number gets bigger if I uncheck one of the boxes!) However, I'm glad you brought that up, because it gave me the opportunity to find and fix an error in the abbreviations file for Where in OF!

[QUOTE=whpalmer4;109862]Speaking of consistency and attention to the rules…[/QUOTE] Can't fix it anymore, thanks for noticing nevertheless. ;-)

[QUOTE=Brian;109889]Unsure what the HIG says on this, or if this is one of those cases where violating a guideline is still the best choice. In any case, I'm happy to write up a feature request on it.

It'll get in front of the eyeballs best-equipped to consider it that way. :-)[/QUOTE]
That would be great. While I understand the HIG only recommends a red badge, I'm sure Omni can cook up a custom badge that works in all colours. Somehow.


[QUOTE=CatOne;109890]…the one downside being in this case that there's no orange so you'd lose the ability to delineate…[/QUOTE]
I think you can still use a custom badge such as the one OmniFocus currently uses, however make it look like the system badge — but with colors.

@whpalmer4
I think it's a guideline, so non-compliance is certainly not a problem. OmniFocus isn't the only app that is non-compliant — but if you prefer running apps that have a good citizen «feel» on Mac OS, you'll see that it's one of the few still deviating from the recommendation.