Ubuntu‘s Messaging Menu icon turns blue when a new e-mail, tweet or IM, etc, is waiting for you.

But if you find the baby-blue notification too subtle why not have it blink to attract your attention?

Install Blinking Messaging Menu Indicator in Ubuntu 12.04

A reworked version of the Messaging Menu that adds a ‘blinking’ blue alert has been put together by Anders Nor Berle. 

Anders’ version doesn’t alter any other function or aspect of the menu; you’ll still get the same notifications for the same applications. The only change made is the blinking.

The tweak is only available for Ubuntu 12.04 users and can be installed by adding the following PPA to your Software Sources: 

  • sudo add-apt-repository ppa:berle/blinking
  • sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade 
You will need to log out and back in to Ubuntu before the ‘blinking’ version takes effect.

When you’re bored of/annoyed by it it’s easy enough to uninstall, just run the following two commands in a terminal. These will remove the blinking version and re-install the normal one.

  • sudo apt-get install ppa-purge
  • ppa-purge ppa:berle/blinking

Note: you will need to logout and back in before the ‘old’ version is enabled.

Thanks to MotionShot

messaging menu