The Contact List Applet

[Thomas Pfeiffer]

Hi everyone,
since I've already expressed my interest in the Contact List Applet at this 
year's Akademy and filed some wishes on Bugzilla concerning it, David pointed 
me to this thread on the mailing list. Although there are already many 
excellent ideas contained in the thread, I'd like to add my opinion as well.

I'm sorry that this mail is quite long, but if there is one thing I've learned 
working with KDE, it is that providing detailed arguments and context for my 
suggestions helps a lot in making them clear.

At first, I'd like to provide some context for my following points:

> Who here currently uses it? I don't really. My preferred method of
> starting chats is homerun via krunner.

I do use it, although, as already mentioned in this thread, its usefulness is 
currently limited because it doesn't really work inside a panel and only shows 
a flat list of all contacts. Still it works better for me than the full contact 
list application for a simple reason: 
Chatting is hardly ever my main task. 99% of the time I chat while doing 
something else, exchanging messages in-between sequences of working on 
something or reading a longer text. For that reason, an IM client has to be as 
unobtrusive as possible for me, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who uses it 
like that. And in this regard, even the current applet does better than the 
full contact list application because
- It has less "chrome"
- It blends in visually with the background better
- It doesn't appear when I cycle through windows

I do not use krunner to start chats because
- krunner is still not discoverable enough for the visually oriented user 
(that's a problem of krunner, not KTp, but it affects my use of it for that 
purpose)
- Seeing that someone is online often is the cue which reminds me that I 
wanted to tell that person something, it's often rather opportunistic. Using 
krunner to start a chat, on the other hand, requires a much stronger intention 
since I have to actively type in the name

Now to the actual questions:
 
>  - Should it be a popup-plasmoid so it can be docked in a panel. What
> would the icon be?

It definitely has to turn into a popup when placed in a horizontal panel (as 
_all_ Plasmoids which are too tall to fit into a horizontal panel as a whole 
should do, btw ;) ). 
Merging it with the presence applet, as Aleix suggested, absolutely makes 
sense to me. If someone wants to use KTp from the panel, they are very likely 
to want only the contact list to pop out of the presence icon on left click, 
instead of the full application window to open. Having two separate Plasmoids 
on the panel (one for changing the presence and opening the full application 
on left click, another other one to open the contact list) does not make any 
sense at all. And if someone places the contact list on the desktop, being 
able to change the presence there makes sense as well (I currently have both 
applets on my desktop stacked vertically, which looks rather silly).
It makes sense to still offer the current presence-only applet for those who 
want to change presence from the panel, but use the full application for 
everything else, but the contact list Plasmoid should definitely use the 
presence icons (and allow to change the presence on right-click)
And at least if placed in the panel, it absolutely has to use Plasma icons, 
with the same height as the systray. I currently have my presence applet 
placed on the desktop instead of in the panel simply because it looks horribly 
out of place in the panel.
See also my comment on https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=301323
 
>  - If it's in a vertical panel that's wide enough should it show the
> list properly?

Of course! :) Would it be possible to resize it vertically and automatically 
turn it into an icon if the height is below a certain number?

>  - Should it use Plasma icons for presence?

Yes! I disagree with Martin on this: I think consistency with Plasma is more 
important here than consistency with the full application, because
- I don't think there are many users who use both applet and full application 
often, most users probably prefer either the one or the other
- As stated above, we'll certainly want to use Plasma icons for the icon in 
the panel, so if we then use Oxygen icons in the popout, the whole thing would 
be inconsistent internally
I've already argued for this in the review request for the icon to be used for 
the presence applet (see https://git.reviewboard.kde.org/r/107545/ )

>  - Do we want to have a search bar? Always shown? or with a button to
> toggle it? Or just instantly if you start typing.

Yes, we do want a search bar. See my wish on Bugzilla for details: 
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=303701

Ideally when the list pops out of the panel, the search field would 
automatically gain focus.

>  - Do we want to show groups? What's a good way to use a TreeView in QML.

> - Should we have it so that in the config you specify what groups you
> want to show? I think I might use it if I had a list of just people in
> my "friends" group and that's it.

Yes to both. The arguments for the option to show only a single group have 
already been given in this thread, but grouping would definitely be useful for 
people who want to use the applet as a full replacement for the full 
application. See my wish on Bugzilla for more details:
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=303734

>  - Should it have all the different sort/group-by options the real
> contact list has? In a "toolbar"? or in the plasma config?

I don't think they're necessary. If I can't find a contact in the list, I just 
use the filter. If you want to provide the options, use the plasma config (we 
certainly don't want a toolbar in a Plasmoid)
 
>  - Do we want call/video/send file buttons?

Yes, at least I do ;). I've already described my idea on how to do this at 
length here:
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=303729


And finally: In line with my description of my usecase for KTp, I'd go even 
further: Ideally, I'd be able to do at least 95% of what I want to do with KTp 
from within Plasma, without ever having to open a single application window.
Don't get me wrong, the contact list and chat window applications are not bad 
at all, but full integration with Plasma would be ideal for people like me who 
constantly switch between chatting and something else that goes on in a 
window.

The quick chat Plasmoid is a good starting point for this, but it can't 
replace the chat window yet (I know it's not supposed to, anyway). I'd prefer 
it to be expanded to the point where it can be used as a full replacement for 
the chat window.
Especially for Plasma Active (and I really hope that it will be available 
there soon, we _need_ a good IM client there!) users need to be able to chat 
from the top bar, as there isn't really any windowing there), but it makes 
sense for the Desktop as well.

I hope at least some of you have stayed with me for the whole mail, I'm 
excited to read your reactions :)

Cheers,
Thomas