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Consider changing the volume OSD (and other OSDs) to make it less disruptive (change size and position)

Currently there are 3 ways to change the volume on GNOME:

  1. Click on the status icons and changing the volume via the volume bar
  2. Scrolling on the volume icon on the volume status icon
  3. Using the multimedia keys

Both 2 and 3 trigger the volume OSD. The problem with the volume OSD is that it can be disruptive. Some reasons for that:

  • On Adwaita the background of the OSD is opaque
  • The OSD is horizontally centered on the screen and is positioned on the lower third vertically
  • The OSD is pretty big
  • Its icons are white

All these can cause temporary obscuring of content, which might be disruptive on full screen content such as watching a video or playing a game.

Please, consider changing it to something similar (but preferably better than) what is done on Windows 8 and 10 or Android Pie.

On Windows 8 and 10 the volume OSD is on the top-left corner and it is vertical. See this image from this article.

On Android the volume bar was changed from horizontally on the top of the screen to vertically on the right of the screen. See this image from this article.

Solved that it might be a good idea to analyze how OSDs such as screen brightness, keyboard lights brightness and airplane mode works.