UI overhaul

[Sam Hewitt]

Hey,

On Sun, Oct 7, 2012 at 1:15 PM, Martin Klapetek
<martin.klapetek at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hey,
>
> thanks for getting in touch!
>
> On Sun, Oct 7, 2012 at 6:50 PM, Sam Hewitt <hewittsamuel at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Sun, Oct 7, 2012 at 12:07 PM, Sam Hewitt <hewittsamuel at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> I would agree (with less vehement) with George that single windowed chat
>>> applications are the way to go -see: Skype, most iOS, Android applications,
>>> and the direction GNOME wants to go with Empathy/Chat.
>>
>>
> iOS and Android apps have completely different form-factors and as such
> cannot really be compared with desktop chat applications (moreover, you
> still have two different intents (or however is that thing called) - one
> with the list and one with the chat). As for Empathy/Gnome - uhm...are we
> going to remove our shutdown button next? ;)
>

Nice jab at Gnome ;) Having said that brought back the shutdown button.

Also isn't the Plasma Active experience for those form factors in which iOS
and Android exist? :)

>
> I can also give you handful of other (maintained) apps that will not go
> into that direction, most prominent being Pidgin and PSI.
>
> I would suggest it upon Pidgin and PSI as well. ;) Since the paradigm
trend amongst desktop UX (it seems) is to simplify unify applications,
whether that is tabulation or modal windows, what have you; there are fewer
items (being windows) in one's workspace -the GIMP single-window-mode being
one example, file managers going non-spatial, etc.


>
>
>> Hence this design:
>>>
>>> https://dl.dropbox.com/u/7027392/kde-telepathy-single-window.png
>>>
>>> Preferably to myself, having the single-window mode as an option for
>>> users would be nice, if not fully one or the other.
>>>
>>> *A case for single window mode:*
>>>
>>> 1. The single window mode would simplify the interface dissolving the
>>> need for tabulation or windows upon windows; the integration with the
>>> contact list would allow it to not only organize contacts buy provide a way
>>> of organizing chats.
>>>
>>
> That's not entirely true; the tabulation would still be there, just moved
> to a different place. What contacts organization you have in mind? What
> chats organization you have in mind?
>


True, but it's not quite tabulation in the traditional sense. In terms of
organization it would still organize as previous -alphabetization, by
status, etc.- but the contacts with whom conversation have new messages
would dominate the top of list and adhere to the 'global' organization.


>
>
>>  2. The addition of a new message count into the contact list would help
>>> with chat organization; prioritization of the contacts by unread message
>>> count (in addition to the user's choice of organization) would serve in
>>> place of the old method -clicking the contact in the list view opens the
>>> chat view for that contact.
>>>
>>>
> Yup, we have been slowly working towards exactly this. However you still
> need the "old method" for those that haven't sent you any message ;)
>
>

Well of course, if you're not chatting then it's simply a contact list.


>  3. In terms of behaviour of the window, when no chats are active it
>>> would appear as just the contact view, opening a chat extends the window
>>> and toolbar and the chat view appears -simplification of the toolbar would
>>> make this work -the addition of a "collapse" option in the chat view
>>> toolbar would effectively close an open chat.
>>>
>>>
> As I stated under the picture - this breaks fundamental design and goal of
> KDE Telepathy. Not that it cannot be changed/reviewed...however given our
> modular design, this can be put together quite easily. Maybe we can have
> both interfaces?
>

My idea to have both; the interface whether combined into single window
mode or not would be the same, the chat window would simply be the "chat
view" of the single window mode but "broken-off" (as it were) -having the
single window mode as an option is ideal.

Just so I'm more in the know, what are fundamental goals of KDE Telepathy?


>
> Also I wonder if users really want this "new awesome trend". In the three
> years we haven't received a single report/wish/message to consider this.
>

Well, now you're starting to receive them, ;)


>
>> 4. Notifications and panel entry (or whatever) urgency would notify the
>>> user of incoming messages.
>>>
>>> P.S. My vote for a new name is Konverse ;)
>>>
>>>
> What vote for a new name? We didn't start any vote nor we are going to
> (also it's a bit rude to come to a project and start suggesting new names
> :P)
>


It was simply a suggestion, no rudeness intended, I was under an impression
that a new name was being considered. Considering that KDE-Telepathy isn't
the most user-friendly and the average user (for example) we would expect
would neither know what KDE or telepathy is, given KDE is the desktop
experience and telepathy is the framework, just as Windows users don't know
that Windows Messenger uses MSNP over TCP.


> _______________________________________________
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> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-telepathy
>
>
Cheers,

Sam
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