The notification area in Ubuntu is to be removed by Ubuntu 11.04 the Canonical design team have announced.
Labelled as ‘ineffective’ and ‘inconsistent’ Ubuntu will instead be encouraging applications to make use of panel menus that assemble related applications into one area.
“An instant messaging client should respond to status changes in the “me” menu. And a music player should integrate into the sound menu.” ~ MPT
Also announced were plans for new power, network and clock menus, all replacing their respective panel applets. The sound menu, already present in Ubuntu 10.04, to be expanded to take in ‘…notification area items for music players.’
“Many programs that previously used the notification area should use other notification mechanisms instead.” ~MPT