Feedback : notification displaying and removal

Question

I have some web applications which allow the users to do some actions. For example, i need to show a paginated items list.

When the user clicks the "Create Item" button, a modal window is displayed. When the user validates the creation form, if all is ok, the modal window is closed. Then, the items list is refreshed and a positive notification appears, floating on top of the screen.

The user is able to close the notification with the "x". I plan to automatically remove the notifcation when the user goes to another page of the application or when he reloads a part of the the current page.

Should I plan to automatically remove the notification when : - the user goes to the next page of the paginated list ? - the user scrolls down on the current page (for example if we show 100 items / page) ? - the user opens a new modal window ?

What are the best pratices on this topic ?

Answer 1

I've seen it done several ways, even with notifications that animate in and out (no action needed to hide notification).

I don't know about best practice for this, but my gut reaction would be to hide the notification on the next click, whether that is selecting another item, or navigating to another page.

The only instance that I would require the notification to be X'd out manually would be if there was some functionality IN the notification. eg. "New Item Created! [view item] [undo]"

Answer 2

I'm not sure about the "next click" idea; depending on how active the user is likely to be on the page it might make the notification disappear rather quickly.

I like the idea of an explicit "close" control in case someone is a control freak and the message annoys them. But I also like to have the notification fade on its own over the space of 4-8 seconds. That's what I've done in an app with a background sync function - when new information is available, the user is given an alert which animates up from the bottom (the motion attracts the eye), and can be either explicitly closed, or it will fade on its own after 5 seconds, over the course of 2 seconds. It's a pretty common paradigm.

Answer 3

I'm not clear on the best practice for this particular example, however I would ask, how long does the user need to be aware that the item has been created, after the creation event has taken place.

If you want to be 100% sure that the user is aware the creation has successfully completed, then I would get them to close the notification manually or press a confirm button within the notification. However, my gut says this is unnecessary.

A time out approach is ok, but what if they create the item, then get called away from their desk, then it disappears in the time they were looking away.

I think all your suggestions are valid. I would remove the notification once the user navigates away from the current page, or opens a new modal. I think the onScroll idea is interesting, however I would give it some length, so it doesn't disappear as soon as they scroll, perhaps once they have scrolled a certain % of pixels relative to how long your page is.