From: Jochen B. <Joc...@st...> - 2005-05-30 23:58:41
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hi, i use gaim for years now (if i remember correctly ;) and with other apps between). and since my first use, i wanted to write some improvents in usability to you. (Note: this is only my point of view as a user, maybe i see things wrong...but all points are really really annoying ! and all points are only icq related) *first start: there should be only one window, (or if two, one should be modal to the main window) for example only the "Accounts" window. if the user added the accounts the normal main window will appear, the "Login" window will never ever appear (usless) "Add account" window: If "Aim/Icq" is selected the "screen name" label should be renamed to: "Icq Number #:". "Alias" should be removed or better explained. the window should by modal. If the user is ready with the "Accounts" window, the window should disappear. *general start: if a sytem tray/notification area is available gaim should directly dock. (the main window should not be visiable, first if the user clicked on the tray icon) *system tray: tray icon should be enabled by default, tray icon should have a tooltip set ("no new message" as default or what ever) *away message popup: (with the "i am back button") this popup should never every appear, this is really annoying. i think this could be easy to change. so i hope the improvements will be go into gaim. thanks a lot and regards jochen |
From: Sean E. <sea...@gm...> - 2005-05-31 00:16:40
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On 5/30/05, Jochen Baier <Joc...@st...> wrote: I'm responding to this with what we have planned (and in some cases implemented) for 2.0.0. > *first start: >=20 > there should be only one window, (or if two, one should be modal to the > main window) > for example only the "Accounts" window. if the user added the accounts > the normal main window will appear, the "Login" window will never ever > appear (usless) If the user has active accounts, the buddy list (and only that) will appear. If the user has inactive accounts, the account manager (and only that) will appear. If the user has no accounts, the accoutn manager and the "new account" window will appear. =20 > "Add account" window: > If "Aim/Icq" is selected the "screen name" label should be renamed to: > "Icq Number #:". "Alias" should be removed or better explained. the > window should by modal. "Screenname" is just the Gaim term; we don't attempt to follow the terminology used by each client, and generally we use the AIM terms because of our roots as an AIM client. Thus we have "Budddy Icon" instead of "display picture" or "avatar" or anything. =20 > If the user is ready with the "Accounts" window, the window should > disappear. The only way the user can say if he's finished with the "Accounts" window is by closing it. > if a sytem tray/notification area is available gaim should directly > dock. (the main window should not be visiable, first if the user clicked > on the tray icon) In 2.0.0, the buddy list remembers its state from the last time it was run. If Gaim exited with the buddy list in the notification area, it will start with the buddy list in the notification area. > tray icon should be enabled by default, tray icon should have a tooltip > set ("no new message" as default or what ever) I disagree with this one. People use the notification area to compensate for crappy window management. The notification area both on Windows and in the Freedesktop spec is intended to display transient messages. Nothing is supposed to be permanently in the notification area and it's not supposed to serve as a "dock." We're already doing a disservice by allowing the incorrect behavior; I wouldn't make it enabled by default (although I've noticed Ubuntu, at least does so). =20 > *away message popup: (with the "i am back button") >=20 > this popup should never every appear, this is really annoying. This is removed for 2.0.0. Thanks for your comments! They're very well thought out and I'm reassured we're definitely heading in the right direction. -s. |
From: Jochen B. <Joc...@st...> - 2005-05-31 13:06:33
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Sean Egan wrote: >On 5/30/05, Jochen Baier <Joc...@st...> wrote: > >I'm responding to this with what we have planned (and in some cases >implemented) for 2.0.0. > > > >"Screenname" is just the Gaim term; we don't attempt to follow the >terminology used by each client, and generally we use the AIM terms >because of our roots as an AIM client. Thus we have "Budddy Icon" >instead of "display picture" or "avatar" or anything. > > at least a tooltip window with a short explanation ? ;) > > >>tray icon should be enabled by default, tray icon should have a tooltip >>set ("no new message" as default or what ever) >> >> > >I disagree with this one. People use the notification area to >compensate for crappy window management. The notification area both on >Windows and in the Freedesktop spec is intended to display transient >messages. Nothing is supposed to be permanently in the notification >area and it's not supposed to serve as a "dock." > >We're already doing a disservice by allowing the incorrect behavior; I >wouldn't make it enabled by default (although I've noticed Ubuntu, at >least does so). > > i called it "notifcation area" but i mean of course "tray area" or what ever. it is not yet invented but maybe some smart guy will program something like that in the future :) (it will probably look 100 percent identically to the notification area but...pssst !) >This is removed for 2.0.0. > >Thanks for your comments! They're very well thought out and I'm >reassured we're definitely heading in the right direction. > > > > this is good news ! thanx a lot regards jochen |
From: Sean E. <sea...@gm...> - 2005-05-31 15:11:15
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On 5/31/05, Jochen Baier <Joc...@st...> wrote: > at least a tooltip window with a short explanation ? ;) Gaim serves to provide a consistent interface to all the various IM protocols so we're not going to call the same thing by different names depending on what protocol it is. In most cases, we do use the AIM terms. I happen to like them because they're friendlier and less sterile-sounding than what other clients tend to use "contact list," "avatar," don't sound like they should come from something written by "penguin pimps." I could understand that people might get confused over "buddy icon" if they're not from an AIM background; the term isn't obvious. Maybe a tooltip would be appropriate, but we should concentrate on a more obvious way to set it before changing the name (many people have trouble finding it). > i called it "notifcation area" but i mean of course "tray area" or what > ever. it is not yet invented but maybe some smart guy will program > something like that in the future :) (it will probably look 100 percent > identically to the notification area but...pssst !) Still, even that would be a bad idea. The buddy list window should ideally be open as long as Gaim is running. Anything that makes this inconvinient is a window management problem---most likely one yet to be solved. |
From: Robert M. <rob...@de...> - 2005-05-31 15:25:38
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Sean Egan wrote: > Still, even that would be a bad idea. The buddy list window should > ideally be open as long as Gaim is running. Anything that makes this > inconvinient is a window management problem---most likely one yet to > be solved. On a scale from one to ten, how much would our users cry if we either made the tray icon not appear at all except when you had unread messages waiting (whether or not a conversation window has already been created), or only appear in place of the buddy list being minimised? I've realised that I keep the buddy list open more often than not too. Regards, Rob |
From: Luke S. <lsc...@us...> - 2005-05-31 15:40:40
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On Tue, May 31, 2005 at 04:25:04PM +0100, Robert McQueen wrote: > Sean Egan wrote: > > Still, even that would be a bad idea. The buddy list window should > > ideally be open as long as Gaim is running. Anything that makes this > > inconvinient is a window management problem---most likely one yet to > > be solved. One thing I've noted now that I'm in daily contact with some relatively new linux users, and something I noted before when I introduced my brothers to linux, is that the concept of using more than the first desktop is not intuitive to someone coming from a windows background. having only a single desktop forces an entirely different workflow from the one that those of us who have poped up in this thread and in related threads use. Personally, I think this is one place where gnome and kde are doing their users an incredible disservice. Rather than encouraging their users to learn about the advantages of multiple desktops, they are creating an environment that closely mimics window's window management, though they are attempting to work around some of its more self-evident flaws. I think the frequent requests along the lines of "the buddy list is too wide" or "I want to save screen realestate" all boil down to win32 users and unix users who either choose to use a single desktop or have not adequately been exposed to the use of multiple desktops. I see the push to make the system tray more than just a "notification area" and instead make it a duplicate of the win32 system tray (which IS used primarily to reduce the desktop clutter, its notification functionality is secondary) are symptomatic of the same ideas. > > On a scale from one to ten, how much would our users cry if we either > made the tray icon not appear at all except when you had unread messages > waiting (whether or not a conversation window has already been created), > or only appear in place of the buddy list being minimised? I've realised > that I keep the buddy list open more often than not too. > > Regards, > Rob I cannot rate this, I do not use the system tray. Still, I suspect that it would rate fairly high *at first* because it is different from win32's conception of the system tray. I think however that it would be liked in the long run. This is based simply on a gut instinct of users, not on any empirical evidence, so feel free to disreguard. It would be an interesting way to advocate the reading of the spec we are taking, and may alleviate some of the sillier requests we see for all sorts of functionality in the tray icon's right click menu. luke |
From: Paul K. <pau...@gm...> - 2005-05-31 19:00:13
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On 5/31/05, Robert McQueen <rob...@de...> wrote: >=20 > On a scale from one to ten, how much would our users cry if we either > made the tray icon not appear at all except when you had unread messages > waiting (whether or not a conversation window has already been created), > or only appear in place of the buddy list being minimised? I've realised > that I keep the buddy list open more often than not too. >=20 I would cry, scale 9/10. This is, IMHO, a really bad idea. The last thing= =20 *I* need is for my tray icons to be moving around all the time; this totall= y=20 wipes out nailing an icon really quickly because now I will have to pause= =20 and see where things are. One of the basic principles of efficient (from th= e=20 users perspective) UI's is the ability to find and select things without=20 stopping to have conscious thought.=20 On other topics; I realize the "I'm Back" pop-up bugs the crap out of a=20 lotta ppl, but I -- for one -- actually use it as it is a lot fast to hit= =20 return when you sit down then to [find] select icon, select, select, click= =20 ...bah, why does it have to be so hard just to say "I am here" and "I am=20 not". Wish the OSes had presence hooks built-in.... PK |
From: Colin B. <ti...@la...> - 2005-06-01 05:46:26
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On May 31, 2005, at 9:00 AM, Paul Kierstead wrote: > Wish the OSes had presence hooks built-in.... Slightly off topic, but you may want to check out Galago, http:// www.galago.info -Colin |