8. Notifications and Mentions

This chapter explains how to mention members in messages, the notification bell panel, the notification sounds you can adjust, and how unread counts are calculated and what triggers read markers.

8.1 Mentions (@username)

After you type @ in the message box, HakoSpace pops up as many as 8 member suggestions based on what you type (the beginning of a nickname). The keyboard controls are:

• ↓ / ↑: Move through the suggestion list.
• Enter or Tab: Insert the currently selected member.
• Esc: Close the suggestion list.

When you confirm, HakoSpace automatically replaces the search text after @ with “@{nickname} ” (followed by a space). When you send the message, the member you mentioned receives a notification.

If you don’t pick from the suggestion menu and instead type @username straight into the message yourself, the mentioned nickname is still displayed in a highlighted style in the message, but no notification is sent. Notifications are sent only when you confirm the member from the suggestion menu.

8.2 Notification Bell

The notification bell is on the right of the tab bar above the message area, next to the gear icon (tooltip: User Settings) and the logout icon (tooltip: Logout). When you have unread notifications, the bell alerts you with a “ringing” animation and a red unread badge. Click the bell to open the notifications panel.

The top of the panel contains:

• The title Notifications.
• A Mark all read button (shown only when there are unread notifications).
• A button for turning notification sounds on and off (see §8.3).

Below that are two tabs: Unread (with a count) and All. Each notification shows its category, title, content, and relative time, with two small buttons on the right: Mark as read and Delete. When there are no matching notifications, the panel shows “No notifications” or “No unread notifications”.

Common notification categories include:

• You were mentioned (shown as “{sender} mentioned you in #{channel}”).
• System Update (the server’s version changed).
• Your personal stickers or sounds were removed by an admin.

Click any notification to jump to the matching channel and message. That message briefly lights up in the message list to help you find it.

8.3 Notification Sounds

HakoSpace plays a sound cue at these times:

• When the notification bell receives a new notification (for the kinds of notifications, see §8.2).
• When you receive a new direct message (see the rules below).
• When you join or leave a voice channel, and when someone joins or leaves the voice channel you’re in.
• When you start or stop screen sharing.
• When you mute or unmute your microphone (Mute Microphone / Unmute Microphone), or deafen or undeafen yourself (Deafen / Undeafen).

Direct message sounds: When someone sends you a direct message and that conversation isn’t the direct message you have selected, a sound cue plays once. Messages you send yourself don’t make a sound, and neither do messages you send from another of your devices. If you receive several direct messages in quick succession, the sound plays only once. On mobile, switching to another tab at the bottom doesn’t change which direct message is selected.

Turning sound cues on and off: Click the notification bell on the right of the tab bar above the message area to open the panel. To the right of the Notifications title at the top of the panel is a speaker icon button. Click it to turn the sound cues off or back on. Hover over the button to see its current state: Notification sound on or Notification sound off. While the sound cues are off, the button changes to a speaker icon with an X, and the bell changes to a bell with a slash through it.

This button controls only the sound cues for the first two items (new notifications in the notification bell, and direct messages); the other sound cues play as usual. While it’s off, unread items still build up, but without a sound.

Sound cue volume: Adjust System Volume on the App Settings → Volume tab of the settings panel (see §7.7).

8.4 Unread Counts and Read Markers

Each new message adds 1 to that channel’s unread count (whether or not the message mentions you). If the message mentions you, it also adds 1 to the channel’s “mention count”.

In the channel list, you may see two small badges on the right of a channel: an orange @N (how many times you were mentioned) and a red N (the number of unread messages). When a number goes over 99, the badge shows 99+.

What triggers read markers: In a channel, once messages scroll into view and you stay for a moment, HakoSpace automatically marks the newest message that has appeared on screen (along with the messages before it) as read. When you switch to another channel or close the window, HakoSpace also sends your read progress.

Unread direct messages: When someone sends you a direct message and that conversation isn’t the direct message you have selected, the conversation’s unread count goes up by 1 (for where the unread badge appears, see §4.1). On mobile, the Chat tab icon at the bottom shows the total unread count of all your direct message conversations. When a direct message unread count goes over 99, it also shows 99+.

Opening a direct message conversation clears its unread count, and the conversation opens right at the newest message. Direct messages you’ve read on one device also count as read on the other devices you’re logged in on.