When I get Skype messages I tend not to notice the launcher animation. The highlighted icon is then not enough to catch my attention once the animation is done.
Although I agree with the default here, is there a way I can make the animation continuous until I click it?
Unfortunately you cannot make the animation constant in the current version of Unity.
Maybe if you change the animation "Pulse" it may be more obvious. You can also set it to "None" if you want to totally turn off the animation. To do this:
(see also: What are some of the issues with CCSM and why would I want to avoid it? )about:config
