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I have a panel with 6 possible view modes. Due to lack of space, my current solution is a "View" dropdown.
However, two of these views are an Errors view and a Messages view. Neither of these is the default view, but I want my users to be able to quickly recognize that there are new errors or messages.
While I can just show icons next to the drop-down, I am not sure this makes it clear that the notifications can be viewed by opening the drop-down.
What you could do is split your notifications up, one section errors one notifications. By doing this it allows the user to know which is which without opening the dropdown. Here's and example you should follow.
If I understood the situation correctly you have 6 views in a dropdown:
View A
View B
View C
View D
View Errors
View Messages
The last two views need to indicate new elements. So you propose having two buttons, which show the number of errors and messages, next to the dropdown. Clicking these buttons bring the user to the corresponding view.
My suggestion is to reconsider which of those are views and which belong to their own Navigation drawer or similar. Consider if Errors and Messages are views at the same level as the others.
In the Stack Exchange App, for example, the views to select from the dropdown are Questions, Tags, Users and the Achievements and Notifications are left out to their own button (with a number) and open on a Navigation drawer. From Achievements the user is redirected to the Questions view on click in one of the elements.
