Clearer alert on new messages

I agree. Oh, look, I have a message. I never would have known if it weren't for this topic, haha.

I think some sort of display like the friends notification would be best.

I just check that soon as I get on. I always check the top to see if I am logged in so naturally it's easy for my eyes to wonder over to see if I have any messeges.

I'd say give us the same box warning we get when we have a pending friend request.

Too intrusive, in my opinion..but certainly a valid approach.

just make it orange?

Is there anyway to make an audible tick sound or a combination of some of the suggestions already listed above.

@max

I'm sure there would be--the best way to do it would probably be flash. But...it's top heavy and I don't think the reward is really worth it. Besides, I hate websites playing sounds of any kind.

Maybe its those stupid "free smilies" banners that scream at you when you mouse over them. Damn those are annoying.

Unless I have something I'm listening to, I have no sound coming from my PC.

A different color seems fine, that's all we had on the old site and no one seemed too upset.

You're just not in the habit of checking that particular area for messages yet, like you were on the old site.

just a different color or icon works for me

Yeah ds, I know what you mean.. the tick sound though, is kind of like whats used by IE when you click on a link or something similar.

I was thinking of it being set as a choice so that those who don't want it or are incapable of hearing it, won't have to worry about it messing up their experience on the site.

Now that I think of it, I really wouldn't mind a sound effect, so long as it's optional and not obtrusive. A great example would be the OSX "Glass" sound effect. It's sort of a "Ding!" sound.

I wouldn't mind an optional polite notification sound, or a red (#) like old custo.

I sugest a 1000x1000 red box popup saying "NEW MSG LOL".

The LOL part is important, don't forget it.

we have a winner.

yes thats the one.

I concur

I would love to see something along the lines of what InvisionPowerboard does. But obviously not as intrusive. I would like to see a very visible and very eye-catching region displayed below the header but above content which would alert me to a newly arrived message - but something that was only displayed the one time, so that it didnt muck with my browsing.

something like the pop-up that shows when you click to zoom a wallpaper/screenshot (but not so big) showing the unread msg (just headers/senders) could work for me too.