cocoaforge

Posted: **Thu Feb 17, 2005 11:11 pm**

Hey,

I am a long time user of Trillian in the Windows Environment and came to like that interface alot. I also really like what Adium has accomplished with its interface, but I would hope that Adium could integrate some of the useful features that Trillian has.

Those features include:

1. Click Edit Alias Names in the Buddy List

2. Meta Contacts that combine different IM names and services for the same Person into one common Alias Name

3. Full Video and Audio Capabilities on all three major services

4. Docking the Buddy list to the side for easier access (though I do like the option that iChat also offers of a drop down menu with online buddies on it.)

5. Chatroom access, especially on the Yahoo Network.

6. Grouping of various Accounts under a Meta Identity so that a user can have more than one Meta Identity open and know when they chat on say AIM, which Meta Identity they are chatting on.

7. User Accounts ... perhaps this is a mute point if people basically Use the User Account associated with the system account they are on, but it is nice to be able to sign in as a different user and have a different setup.

8. Inline Photo or file sharing. Love this feature ... is this currently available?

Other features I would like to see:

1. Fuller integration into both Address Book and other common email and address programs for the exchange of information and sharing of basic contact info.

2. Linking to the Pictures Folder and the creation of Photo Albums organized by Contact Person. Directly accessible from the contact name.

Thanks for the great design so far!

John

Posted: **Thu Feb 17, 2005 11:43 pm**

1, 2, 4, 5 (AIM protocol), 7 from the first set are already there..

3 depends entirely upon the gaim-vv project (http://gaim-vv.sourceforge.net)

I'm not sure what you mean by 6.

the last two requests seem like bloat

Posted: **Fri Feb 18, 2005 12:18 am**

amayesd wrote:
1. Click Edit Alias Names in the Buddy List

No.

amayesd wrote: 2. Meta Contacts that combine different IM names and services for the same Person into one common Alias Name

Already implemented. option+drag or use address book integration.

amayesd wrote: 3. Full Video and Audio Capabilities on all three major services

Search the forums, there are a lot of threads on this one.

amayesd wrote: 4. Docking the Buddy list to the side for easier access (though I do like the option that iChat also offers of a drop down menu with online buddies on it.)

Probably not.

amayesd wrote: 5. Chatroom access, especially on the Yahoo Network.

File/Join Group Chat

amayesd wrote: 6. Grouping of various Accounts under a Meta Identity so that a user can have more than one Meta Identity open and know when they chat on say AIM, which Meta Identity they are chatting on.

Do what? This confuses me.

amayesd wrote: 7. User Accounts ... perhaps this is a mute point if people basically Use the User Account associated with the system account they are on, but it is nice to be able to sign in as a different user and have a different setup.

No.

amayesd wrote: 8. Inline Photo or file sharing. Love this feature ... is this currently available?

So basically direct connect/im/whatever other name people use. We'd like this too.

amayesd wrote: 1. Fuller integration into both Address Book and other common email and address programs for the exchange of information and sharing of basic contact info.

I'd like this too, but it has the potential to be damaging so we've held off until a good solution can be found.

amayesd wrote: 2. Linking to the Pictures Folder and the creation of Photo Albums organized by Contact Person. Directly accessible from the contact name.

You mean iphoto integration?

Posted: **Fri Feb 18, 2005 12:21 am**

Actually, The_Tick, we already support 4 (Drag your list against a screen edge and it will try its best to stick to that edge) and 7 (Hold down option on launch to access this one). 7 is no longer needed now that OS X has fast user switching, which is why we have it pretty hidden from view at the moment (and will remove it in the future).

Is there anything we could do differently to make the features on your list which Adium does support easier to locate?

Posted: **Fri Feb 18, 2005 12:23 am**

Excuse the sick

Posted: **Fri Feb 18, 2005 12:35 am**

Adam Iser wrote:7 is no longer needed now that OS X has fast user switching, which is why we have it pretty hidden from view at the moment (and will remove it in the future).

Is there anything we could do differently to make the features on your list which Adium does support easier to locate?

Yes it is. I didn't know this feature was available, but it's useful if someone want to sign on that is not a user of that computer. Say someone who has come over to your house and want's to sign on to their own account. Currently I keep AIM installed just of this reason.

And I know you aren't asking me, but meta contacts are way too hard to find. Everyone loves this feature and it should be easer to get to. You should be able to drag contacts into each other without a modifier key. And here is an idea; a menu item and button in the toolbar to make a new empty meta contact, adium can than ask you to name it and than it will be added to the buddy list, than you can drag buddies into it or add them from the info window. Or maybe when you hit the menu item/toolbar button it asks you to name it and type in or select contacts for it right than.

Posted: **Fri Feb 18, 2005 1:48 am**

I'd like to see the chat implemented as well. Not aim chat, but true irc.

Posted: **Fri Feb 18, 2005 4:27 am**

Just add another account ... you can have as many AIM accounts as you want, and have multiples online at the same time.

Posted: **Fri Feb 18, 2005 5:39 am**

morwen wrote:I'd like to see the chat implemented as well. Not aim chat, but true irc.

We've talked about this before, and IRC is significantly different from our current messaging services. It would require a lot of work under the hood, cause lots of interface troubles, and we could never be a full-featured IRC client anyhow.

So the consensus is, we'd rather be a great IM client than a crappy IRC client. Colloquy is good if you'd like to give them a try.

Posted: **Fri Feb 18, 2005 6:17 am**

Metacontacts without a modifier key breaks manual sorting, which I for one use. Also makes moving between groups trickier.

Posted: **Fri Feb 18, 2005 8:17 am**

I agree that dragging creating metacontacts is problematic, but I think we should add at least a menu option under "Contacts." Option dragging just isn't intuitive enough.

Posted: **Fri Feb 18, 2005 11:48 am**

bgannin wrote:Metacontacts without a modifier key breaks manual sorting, which I for one use. Also makes moving between groups trickier.

Why is that? It's like moving layers around in Illustrator, you put it in-between and it goes in-between, you put it over and it goes inside and make a meta.

Posted: **Fri Feb 18, 2005 2:06 pm**

You just summed it up... there will be only a few pixels of precision required to not accidently be creating metacontacts when you meant Bob to be above Sally.

Posted: **Fri Feb 18, 2005 5:48 pm**

bgannin wrote:You just summed it up... there will be only a few pixels of precision required to not accidently be creating metacontacts when you meant Bob to be above Sally.

With clear enough visual (and audio?) cues it shouldn't be an issue... a large green addition cursor for making a metacontact, the insertion bar thingie for rearranging, and maybe the choice of a sound when a metacontact is made (I believe that was mentioned before some time ago). Possibly a confirmation dialogue the first time / every time it's done?

I realise Adium already does the former two; to be honest, that's rather my point. It behaves as expected in every respect other than being able to drop one item into another item. Pretty much all apps work this way that I can think of, even for bookmark sorting etc in Safari, and for a lot of users there's far more accuracy required for that than for dragging around contacts with huge user icons

PS. This isn't a selfish request, personally I don't like metacontacts in the slightest!

Posted: **Fri Feb 18, 2005 6:16 pm**

What if metacontacts behave like spring-loaded folders - if you drag one contact over another, and hold it there for a second, something happens to let you know it'll become meta (plus sign appears, probably).

Another idea (instead of or in addition to) is that you could put 'make meta' in the contextual menu - I, at least, ctl-click on everything in sight when I'm exploring / looking for something.

Posted: **Mon Feb 21, 2005 9:25 pm**

wunderwood wrote:Yes it is. I didn't know this feature was available, but it's useful if someone want to sign on that is not a user of that computer. Say someone who has come over to your house and want's to sign on to their own account. Currently I keep AIM installed just of this reason.

So set up a guest account on your computer and have them use that. No one but you should be running around in your administrator shell.

Posted: **Mon Feb 21, 2005 11:34 pm**

Personally I think option-drag fine; the only problem is the lack of documentation... we get people asking about meta contacts because we don't have any sort of wiki anymore or a readme or anything. And I'm sure when that's all set up, people will stop asking. :-P

I also really like the multiple user thing in Adium.

It's much easier than setting up an entire other OS profile for just one app.

Posted: **Tue Feb 22, 2005 1:03 am**

Cheesechick wrote:Personally I think option-drag fine; the only problem is the lack of documentation... we get people asking about meta contacts because we don't have any sort of wiki anymore or a readme or anything. And I'm sure when that's all set up, people will stop asking. :-P

I also really like the multiple user thing in Adium. It's much easier than setting up an entire other OS profile for just one app.

But how many people actuily read readme files? Don't you think Adium should be intuitive. Ask yourself, if you had never used Adium before and you wanted to make meta (or any feature for that matter), what would you try first in trying to use this feature. If you wanted to make it rely first-timer-friendly you could even have a dialogue box pop up the first time someone makes a meta contact that says, "You have just created a meta contact, this feature lets you group all the screen names from a single person together. Just an Idea.

Here is another idea you guys might like: what if when you add a new contact to your buddy list that already exists a dialogue box pops up that says:

Code: Select all

 ______________________________________________________________________
|                                                                      |
|         A screen name with the alias "George" Already Exists.        |
|                Would you like to make a meta contact?                |
|   __________     ___________________       ______________________    |
|   |_Cancel_|    |_Make_Meta_Contact_|     |_Add_Separate_Contact_|   |
|______________________________________________________________________|

Or something like that. Just ideas, take them or leave them.

Posted: **Tue Feb 22, 2005 1:11 am**

Seconded.

Posted: **Tue Feb 22, 2005 1:17 am**

wunderwood wrote:
Cheesechick wrote:Personally I think option-drag fine; the only problem is the lack of documentation... we get people asking about meta contacts because we don't have any sort of wiki anymore or a readme or anything. And I'm sure when that's all set up, people will stop asking. :-P

I also really like the multiple user thing in Adium. It's much easier than setting up an entire other OS profile for just one app.
But how many people actuily read readme files? Don't you think Adium should be intuitive. Ask yourself, if you had never used Adium before and you wanted to make meta (or any feature for that matter), what would you try first in trying to use this feature. If you wanted to make it rely first-timer-friendly you could even have a dialogue box pop up the first time someone makes a meta contact that says, "You have just created a meta contact, this feature lets you group all the screen names from a single person together. Just an Idea.

Here is another idea you guys might like: what if when you add a new contact to your buddy list that already exists a dialogue box pops up that says:
Code: Select all
 ______________________________________________________________________
|                                                                      |
|         A screen name with the alias "George" Already Exists.        |
|                Would you like to make a meta contact?                |
|   __________     ___________________       ______________________    |
|   |_Cancel_|    |_Make_Meta_Contact_|     |_Add_Separate_Contact_|   |
|______________________________________________________________________|
Or something like that. Just ideas, take them or leave them.

That would be a good idea, and then leaving option-drag in to bypass the dialogue box and just make a meta contact -- something for power users? Sorta like holding option while logging out.

cocoaforge

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