Thepop-up notification (ortoast,passive pop-up,snackbar,desktop notification,notification bubble, or simplynotification) is agraphical control element that communicates certain events to the user without forcing them to react to this notification immediately, unlikeconventional pop-up windows. Desktop notifications usually disappear automatically after a short amount of time. Often their content is then stored in somewidget that allows the users to access past notifications at a more convenient time.
On mobile devices, apush notificationsystem is typically used.
InWindows 2000,Microsoft introducedballoon help-like passive pop-up notifications, tied to the notification area of thetaskbar. Notifications get queued when user is away or screensaver is running, and get shown when the user resumes activity. They remain on screen for nine seconds while fading out if the user appears to ignore them.[1] Microsoft also adopted similar notifications for its other software such asWindows Phone using theMicrosoft Push Notification Service,[2]Internet Explorer 7 and later,Microsoft Outlook,Microsoft Security Essentials, as well asWindows 8 andWindows 10 using theWindows Notification Service.
Desktop notifications are a proposed standard forfreedesktop.org,[3] but all the major desktop environments running on theX Window System already support this standard, making them typically available onLinux and otherUnix-like systems. Google adopted the concepts ofnotification drawer[4] and toast popup messages[5] for user notifications as basic components of itsAndroid operating system.
As of 10.8 Mountain Lion,OS X provides desktop notifications viaNotification Center. Previous versions of OS X have no built-in desktop notification feature; however,Growl is a popular application that provides similar functionality and enjoys broad support from third-party software.[6]iOS also includes Notification Center as of iOS 5.
Browsers that support JavaScript typically implement the NotificationAPI.[7] This API asks for user confirmation to allow popups and give the programmer the opportunity to display notifications with a text (body) along with a descriptive icon and header.
While passive pop-ups do not require any user interaction, some implementations still provide a way for the user to optionally interact with the pop-up. This is calledactions.[citation needed] For the Freedesktop specification, this is an optional feature that clients cannot rely on, and its use is discouraged by some design guidelines.[8]
Android adds the ability to provide actions with Jelly Bean.[9]
Google'sMaterial Design introduced the termsnackbar to refer to a user-interface element displaying a temporary, closable notification:
Snackbars inform users of a process that an app has performed or will perform. They appear temporarily, towards the bottom of the screen. They shouldn’t interrupt the user experience, and they don’t require user input to disappear.[10]