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Notifications

Overview

Notifications in Inspire Design give users clear, visual feedback about their actions and the state of the system. They show whether a process has been completed successfully, whether a problem has occurred, or how an ongoing process is progressing.

Notifications appear as Local, Global, and Toast Notifications. Together with the Notification Icon in the header and the Notification Panel on the right side of the dashboard, they form a connected notification experience across the application.

Anatomy

Notifications within Inspire Design have five major elements:

• The Notification Icon inside the header.
• The Notification Panel that opens on the right side of the dashboard.

• Local Notifications in the form of Inline Notifications that are part of boardlets.
• Global Notifications as a pop-up at the top of the dashboard.
• Toast Notifications as a pop-up at the to-right of the dashboard.

The appearance of notification elements may vary between different types of notifications.

Inspire Design differentiates between the following types of notifications:

• Error Notification – Colored red, signals critical errors.
• Warning Notification – Colored orange, announces problems that may result in errors.
• Success Notification – Colored green, signals a successful process.
• System Notification – Colored blue, reports system information.
• Progress Notification – Colored blue with a progress bar, updates the user on an ongoing process.

Notification Icon

The Notification Icon is part of the header toolbar on the right side of the dashboard header.
The icon is located at the far right, immediately to the left of the overflow menu, if one is present.

When a new and unread notification appears, the Notification Icon gains a small blue indicator at the top-right.
The indicator disappears when the user has no unread notifications or opens the Notification Panel.

If the notification is an error, warning, or success notification, a special secondary icon appears to the left of the Notification Icon inside the header.
This icon matches the type of notification in appearance and vanishes when the user interacts with the notification.

A Progress Notification adds a progress indicator to the left of the Notification Icon.
It is circular and actively shows progress instead of being a static icon.

Notification Panel

Users can open the Notification Panel by clicking the Notification Icon in the header or on a Toast Notification.
It opens on the right side of the dashboard and has a fixed width.

The Notification Panel can be closed by clicking the close action in the toolbar or by clicking outside the panel.
Users can anchor the panel like the navigation panel.
An anchored panel can only be closed by clicking the close action.

The Notification Panel has two tabs: Unread and All.

• Unread – This tab displays all notifications the user has not interacted with. This is the default tab.
• All – This tab shows all information the user has received so far.

Unread notifications have a small blue status indicator at the top-right and a bold title.
By clicking the status indicator, users can set a notification as read.
Read notifications are grayed out and have a non-bold title.
Both tabs have an action to set all notifications as "read" to the left of the content switch.

Notifications are ordered and grouped by their date of appearance, regardless of the active tab.

Toast Notification

The Toast Notification appears in the top-right corner and visually floats above the dashboard.
Only one Toast Notification can be visible at a time. They do not disappear automatically.

The color of the Toast Notification depends on the type of notification it contains.
The general layout stays the same between notifications, with the Progress Noti

• 01 Notification Icon – Signals the type of notification and matches the icon in the header, except for the progress notification.
• 02 Title
• 03 Time Stamp – Shows when the notification popped up.
• 04 Close Action – Allows the user to close the toast notification.
• 05 Description – A short text explaining the notification.
• 06 Actions – Influence the process in progress.

• 01 Notification Icon - Signals the type of notification and matches the icon in the header, except for the progress notification.
• 02 Title
• 03 Time Stamp - Shows when the notification popped up.
• 04 Close Action - Allows the user to close the toast notification.
• 05 Description - A short text explaining the notification.
• 06 Actions - Influence the process in progress.
• 07 Progress Bar - Actively shows updates on the progress.

Global Notification

Global Notifications appear as a bar at the top of the dashboard as a pop-up. Up to two Global Notifications can be visible at any time. They disappear after a set amount of time or if the user clicks the "close" button, if one is present.

Global notifications do not support the progress variant.

• 01 Notification Icon - Signals the type of notification and matches the icon in the header.
• 02 Title - Few words describing the notification message.
• 03 Subtitle - Additional information clarifying the intend of the message.
• 04 Close Action - Optional close button for the notification

Inline Notifications

For more information on the component of the same name: Inline Notification

Inline Notifications appear inside components or boardlets in general. Their realm of influence is limited to the space they appear in and they are not listed in the Notification Panel. Inline Notifications have four states, determined by the type of notification. The content can vary by use case.

• Error Notification — Colored red; signals critical errors.
• Warning Notification — Colored orange; announces problems that may result in errors.
• Success Notification — Colored green; signals a successful process.
• System Notification — Colored blue; reports system information.

Modal Notification

The Modal Notification is a varriation of the Dialog and appears as a centered passive modal above a dimmed background. It contains a critical message and can only be closed with the close action in the header toolba. It blocks interaction with the dashboard until it is closed.

Best Practices

• Use toast notifications for brief, non-critical feedback. Don’t use them for critical information users must act on immediately.
• Be brief and easy to scan. Prefer a single sentence where possible.
• Timeouts must give users enough time to read. Prefer longer durations for accessibility, and pause timers on hover/focus where supported.
• Don’t stack multiple transient notifications. Show them one at a time, or replace outdated ones.
• Include a clear close/dismiss action when the notification covers content or interrupts attention.
• If a notification can disappear, provide another place where users can find it again (for example a notification center/panel).
• Keep notifications relevant to the user’s current goal. Don’t surface messages that aren’t actionable or useful in context.

Usage

Global Notification

Global Notifications give feedback on major user actions, for example saving a change inside a table. They appear at the end of a process and usually have an impact on the system, like changing data. They are always tied to user interaction or the inability for a user to perform an action.

Global Notification disappear after a set amount of time. This time should tailor to the notification length, so that users of all reading speeds can comprehend the message.

At the same time, it should only be if absolutely required, since the Global Notification is intrusive, blocking the header bar. In addition, the user should be able to close the Global Notification unless its presence is absolutely required.

Inline Notification

Inline Notifications deliver a direct response to a user action inside a larger process. One example for an Inline Action would be filling out a text field inside a form. The feedback, i.e. the notification, would be that the input is valid or invalid.

As shown in the example, Inline Notifications are used for immediate feedback on small scale user actions. They usually focus on sub-steps in a series and are tied to actions that on their own do not have a large impact.

Inline Notifications are not permanent, being deleted when the user abandons the process by for example switching dashboard. In addition, they are not displayed inside the notification panel.

These notifications usually change the layout of the boardlet they appear in, making them quite disruptive. Thereby they should only be used sparingly. For example, if a form has multiple text fields with specific requirements, they might only need one Inline Notification. This notification could then cover the message for all text fields, instead of every text field having their own notification.

It is also recommended to include the close button unless the presence of the notification is absolutely required.

Toast Notification

In contrast to Global and Inline Notifications, Toast Notifications are not focus of feedback of user actions. They inform the user about the system and background processes, for example downloading a file and the completion message afterwards. They can also include action beyond "closing" to influence the topic of the notification.

In contrast to Inline and Global Notifications, these Notifications are dynamic and live. They can replace each other, for example a success notification replacing a progress notification.

Toast Notifications are the only permanent form of notifications, being stored inside the Notification Panel. To not clutter the Notification Panel, the number of Toast Notifications sent should be no more than necessary.

Modal Notification

Modal notification is a consequence of direct user action. The trigger for the Modal Notification should be communicated clearly to the user with the use of the title or text. It is highly disruptive and therefore should only be used for critical information.

The text inside the modal notification can be longer than in other forms of notification. Despite this, it should be concise and to the point, since any type of user interaction is blocked by the overlay.

Text

Notifications in Inspire Design should be easy to scan and actionable.
Users should understand what happened, why it matters, and what to do next in a few seconds. They should avoid complicated or foreign words and abbreviation. Inline and Global Notifications should never have a message with multiple rows and Toast Notifications should avoid messages longer than three rows.

General Rules

• Use sentence case for notification titles and descriptions.
• Be brief. Keep the content to 1–2 short sentences where possible.
• Don’t repeat yourself. The description should add meaning, not paraphrase the title.
• Avoid technical language (error codes, stack traces) in the message text. If technical detail is needed, move it to details/help or provide a link.
• Add a period only for complete sentences; omit it for short, implicit messages.

Titles

The title is the “headline” of the notification.
It should communicate the main outcome in a few words. Keep titles short and descriptive and use simple language whenever possible. Do not place periods at the end of the titles.

Descriptions

Descriptions add context and next steps.
Keep them short enough that users can skim them. Include only what users need: reason + next step (and consequence only if it changes what they should do). Prefer one sentence for toast notifications. Use plain language and focus on what users can observe or do.

Notification Type Messages

System Notification

System notifications communicate system-generated updates such as connection changes, maintenance, or session expiry.
Keep the text relevant and informative, and include only the context needed to understand impact.
Write a concise title in sentence case. Add a description only when extra meaning is needed (timing, impact, or where to find something).
When shown as a toast, keep title and description especially brief.

Success Notification

Success notifications confirm that an action has been completed.
Keep the text short and scannable, and use consistent patterns like “[object] [action taken]” (“Sales order created”) or “[count] [objects] [action taken]” (“2 sales orders were deleted.”).
Include names/IDs only when they are needed.
Place the main message in the title and add a brief description only when it clarifies what happens next.

Warning Notification

Warning notifications give advance notice when data loss or an error state could occur.
Use factual, actionable wording and structure the message as risk + consequence + preventive action (for example, “Unsaved changes” + “Save before leaving this page.”).
Include only the context needed to act.

Error Notification

Error notifications are used when a problem has occurred and progress may be blocked.
Explain what went wrong in plain language and make recovery clear (for example, “Couldn’t save changes” + “Check required fields and try again.”).
Avoid technical codes unless a user-facing explanation is also provided.