[Adium-devl] User Interface Idea's Chat Window and other thoughs

[Andre-John Mas]

On 20-Feb-07, at 02:47 , Andrew Harvey wrote:

>
> On 20/02/2007, at 12:55 AM, Bart van de Biezen wrote:
>
>> I have some remarks about the user interface from the chat window:
>> - Emoticon icon is on the top: mouse movements are long. Because
>> people start to point to the input field before they type (mental-
>> image). Therefor I would suggest to move the emoticon icon to
>> bottom of the window.
>>  - People use a few icons most of the time. Adium could count and
>> store which emoticons are used most often. These few "favorite
>> emoticons" could be displayed in a more convenient way to the user.
>
> Personally, I don't ever want to see emoticons as part of my message
> view. I only use a few, and have them memorised. The advantage of
> having them in the menu bar is that I don't have to see them, as I
> can simply remove that button from the bar, or hide it.

This is where we start seeing the different types of users around.

If you ever have the chance to go to Asia, be sure to stop in an
internet cafe and see how people use instant messaging. You'd
be surprised how different the style of chat is.

Basically what I have found from looking around are people who like
to keep the conversation toned down and mainly text oriented. The
are also other people that love there conversations being loud,
colourful and even obnoxious. You also end up realising why some IM
clients like MSN and Yahoo! on MS-Windows look the way they do.

I almost wonder whether a preference setting offering the choice
between 'discreet' and 'loud' presentation could have its space,
though I am not sure about how to get it right.

Maybe we need to do a cultural tour with Adium, seeing how different
people react to the presentation?

Andre