How to get better Skype notifications in Ubuntu?
In Ubuntu, I want to be notified in a customizable way when someone speaks in a Skype conversation (but not in group Chat 'channels').
The problem is:
- I have lots of windows open, so I often don't notice when a new one appears in the taskbar, or if its icon changes.
- The built-in Skype notifications are tiny, and disappear almost immediately, so I don't notice them
- I tried using this script in the Skype notification options, but it also disappears too quickly:
notify-send "%sname:" "%smessage" -i skype-chat(update: notify-send now supports customisation) - I tried using pidgin instead of Skype, in the hope its notifications would be better, but it is missing too many features, e.g. listing bookmarked chats above my contact list
Is there some better notifications package I can use instead of notify-send?
Or some other solution?
UPDATE: Ideally a notification window would stay on top of all other windows, and require the user to click on it before disappearing, in order to make sure they have seen it.
There's a program called Skype-Wrapper that attempts to improve Skype's notification system in Ubuntu by integrating it into the Ubuntu messaging menu.
You can see installation instructions from this article in OMGUbuntu.
There are additional instructions in the first answer to this question on AskUbuntu (which is my source for this information).
I typed /alertsoff and muted the group chat. More info - https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA10042/what-are-chat-commands-and-roles
hope that helps. I am happy.
xfce4-notifyd has an option to set its theme, transparency, and time before it disappears.
I personally had to uninstall the previous notify daemon to set the new one as default...
If you're using notify osd (gnome-notify), GUI tools to customise it can be found here.
If you're using notify-send and it seems to disappear too fast, you can try specifying its timeout:
"notify-send --expire-time=5000"
That should hide the message in 5 seconds (5000 ms).