[Adium-devl] Privacy user interface

[Christopher Forsythe]

I think we should leave it how Augie designs it for 1.0, and based on  
feedback from users change things.

Chris

On Jun 2, 2006, at 7:34 AM, Kiel Gillard wrote:

> Hi guys!
>
> I have given some thought to an easier to use implementation to the  
> Block List Editor (BLE) recently and am emailing you to get some  
> feedback from my ideas and possibly finish the UI for privacy in  
> Adium, as it seems the interface between the protocols and the UI  
> has been implemented by Augie.
>
> Currently, all the privacy settings are located in the BLE window.  
> However, I feel that the purpose of the BLE is to add or remove  
> denied contacts. The privacy settings for the account (for example,  
> "allow anyone") seems to belong in the respective account's  
> preferences, as this setting is not likely to change with  
> frequency. Also, I find the account privacy states in the pop up  
> button difficult to understand by just glancing at them.
>
> I have determined how to overcome these problems that I have  
> identified. I felt the only real account privacy states, as far as  
> the user is concerned, is: "Allow anyone to chat with me" and  
> "Allow contacts to chat with me". Because a user would not change  
> this preference frequently, I felt it was more appropriate for this  
> to go in Adium's Preferences. I would like to suggest that a user  
> be presented with each option in the form of radio buttons. This  
> preference would be available in the Preferences > Accounts >  
> {{account}} > Privacy tab.
>
> The advantage of this approach is that for protocols such as MSN,  
> who do not provide users this flexibility with account privacy, we  
> can simplify the privacy settings by not having privacy options  
> visible. If we stay with the current implementation, a user would  
> attempt to change the privacy state of an MSN account which is not  
> available in the MSN protocol and confuse users.
>
> Remembering that the purpose of the BLE is to add or remove denied  
> contacts, I figured the window could be split into two tables: the  
> leftmost table could list accounts and the second list contacts  
> blocked in the selected account. Augie's sheet can still remain.
>
> The foreseeable problem with this interface is that Adium will have  
> to be careful passing around account privacy states back to the  
> protocol API. Because the UI is simplifying the privacy for the  
> user, Adium's going to need to check if an account has any blocked  
> contacts and inform the API of the correct state, otherwise privacy  
> settings will not be respected by the protocol. For example, if I  
> chose "Allow contacts to chat with me" in the preferences, but had  
> denied a few contacts, then I will need to provide the protocol API  
> the account privacy state PRIVACY_ALLOW_USERS instead of  
> PRIVACY_ALLOW_CONTACTLIST.
>
> Any thoughts/suggestions/criticisms? Be blunt and/or harsh ;-)
>
> I would be more than happy to implement the rant that I gave above  
> if Augie or anyone else doesn't have a claim on it already. I felt  
> that I should discuss my ideas before I sit down, plan and  
> implement them (especially if it's already being done by someone  
> else). Can I have a go? I guess I'm more asking Augie than anyone  
> else. I'd love to work on this feature.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Kiel :-)
> "Love does not consist in gazing at each other but looking together  
> in the same direction."
> Antoine de Saint-Exupery
>
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