My first ever question on UX. The problem is with a desktop web app, it currently plays host to an "activity" ticker (where activities of other users and self are displayed in a cubic spin animation at the bottom of the page) and the introduction of a new notifications panel as seen on IOS and Android operating systems (on the top of the page)
The application has quite a few hurdles:
- A header on tables that dock to the top of the page when a user scrolls
- The activity notification area expands into a table that shows past activity in chronological order (recent to old)
- The activity notification is a crucial part of the app, since it shows what the other users are doing eg. *user_name has removed feature X from the application, user_name has initiated a new build, You have banned user_name from xxxx to yyyy, etc.*
I've decided to redesign the existing activity notification area while designing the new notification area and fit all notifications received by the application into one panel, primary to avoid end up having notifications saying "your xx-notification area has new notifications" or "user_name is viewing notifications.
Should I focus on existing patterns and improvise on that or can I force my users into something new?