'Re: [Kopete-devel] Article about kopete'

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List: kopete-devel
Subject: Re: [Kopete-devel] Article about kopete
From: Jason Keirstead <jason () keirstead ! org>
Date: 2003-08-15 16:09:25
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On August 14, 2003 08:27 am, Alejandro Exojo wrote:
> Hi.
>
> After using kopete for a while, I decided to write an article about it. I
> wrote it in spanish, and also tried an english translation. The translation
> is not as good as I wanted to be, but maybe someone wants to review it, and
> correct some mistakes.
>
> The article in english:
> http://www.badopi.org/node.php?id=181
> And in spanish:
> http://es.kde.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=129
>
> If you want the HTML source (for feedback, etc.) you can get it from here:
> http://lacurva.net/articulos/kopete07.en.html
> http://lacurva.net/articulos/kopete07.html

Hello.

I attached a cleaned-up English translation I did quickly. All I did was
make it a bit more coherent,  I did not fix the mistake sin what you said.
But a few comments on these:

- You make a pont that Instant Messaging is different from IRC. In reality it is not, IRC
is just another instant messaging protocol. This is especially apparant in Kopete, where
there is no visbile difference between an IRC chat and any other group chat, and no difference
between an IRC query and any other instant message.

- You say that you can only connect to one IRC server at a time, which is not true. Kopete
0.7 lets you add as many IRC accounts as you want. I am connected to three servers
right now!

- The Return key does not send the message by default for several reasons:
	- CTRL+Enter is the KDE default for sending a message, as shown in KMail and KNode
	- Many people like to compose multi line messages, which is much easier with Enter as newline
	- There are just as many protocols whose native clients use Enter as newline ( ICQ, Yahoo, some
	Jabber clients ) as use it to send (IRC, MSN ), so there is no reason Enter should be favoured.

- The XSL stylesheets aren't really meant for the user to edit, except for advanced users. Most users
should use the Import button, which lets you import a .xsl file directly. Plans are in place to place some
styles on the Kopete site for import.

-- 
Jason Keirstead, BCS
http://www.keirstead.org

["kopete07.en.html" (text/html)]

<title>Kopete: instant messaging for KDE</title>

Through <a href="http://es.kde.org/">KDE hispano</a>, and thanks to Pedro Jurado, I was made \
aware of <a href="http://es.kde.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=126">Kopete's 0.7 \
release</a>. After playing with it for a few days, I decided to write a few lines about \
this software. This is a translation of an article in Spanish. I hope you can forgive me for my \
poor English ;-).

<p>Hay una <a href="">versión en castellano del artículo</a> en <a \
href="http://es.kde.org/">KDE Hispano</a>, i una altra <a href="">versió en català</a> a <a \
href="http://bulmalug.net/">Bulma</a>

<h4>Instant Messaging</h4>
<p>When we hear these words, we think of a protocol that allows a client (a user) to receive \
chat-like messages (not longer messages as in emails), nearly instantaneusly.</p>

The difference, when compared to IRC, is that you will not receive messages from "anyone" \
(e.g., someone connected to the same IRC channel as you), rather, you normally communicate only \
(at first) with those people that you have in your contact list. There are a lot of IM \
(Instant Messaging) protocols. A very popular one, mainly because it was the first, is <a \
href="http://icq.com/">ICQ</a> (`I Seek You`). Recently others have started to appear that are \
actually much more popular, like America Online's one, <a href="http://www.aim.com/">AIM</a>, \
which is not very known here (writer lives in <a \
href="http://www.bcn.es/english/ihome.htm">Barcelona</a>), but seems very popular in the \
US. As far as I know, here and in latin-america, the most popular is <a \
href="http://messenger.msn.com/">MSN</a>, which unfortunately, is the <a \
href="http://www.euronet.nl/users/frankvw/IhateMS.html">not very loved company</a>'s \
protocol.

As <a href="http://www.badopi.org/node.php?id=58">Carles has written</a> (article in \
catalan), <a href="http://jabber.org/">Jabber</a>, is a standard protocol for \
Instant Messaging. This means that the protocol is a common protocol such as <acronym \
title="Hyper Text Transfer Protocol">HTTP</acronym>, <acronym title="File Transfer \
Protocol">FTP</acronym>, or <acronym title="Internet Message Access Protocol">IMAP</acronym>. \
The most visible advantadge with Jabber is the ability of using whatever program we prefer to \
use the protocol (the same as we can choose the browser that we prefer, or the email client \
that we most like).

In free software, we also have freedom of choice. For example, even when only using MSN, we \
could use <a href="http://amsn.sourceforge.net/">Alvaro's Messenger</a>, <a \
href="http://kmess.sourceforge.net/">kmess</a>, kmerlin, msn4lin, and others. Along that note, \
some projects started to include in their features support for more than one protocol. So, we \
now have <a href="http://gaim.sourceforge.net/">GAIM</a>, a very popular client for \
communicating with everyone, in a <a \
href="http://bulmalug.net/body.phtml?nIdNoticia=740">Universal Messanging System</a> (article \
in spanish), or <a href="http://kopete.kde.org/">Kopete</a>, which I will describe.

<h4>Features of kopete 0.7</h4>
<ul>
<li>Support of many protocols using plugins:<br />
<img src="http://lacurva.net/capturas/kopete07-plugins.png"></li>
	<ul>
	<li>Jabber</li>
	<li>ICQ</li>
	<li>AIM</li>
	<li>MSN</li>
	<li>Yahoo</li>
	<li>IRC</li>
	<li>Windows LANs</li>
	<li>GaduGadu</li>
	<li>IRC</li>
	<li>SMS</li>
	</ul>
<li>Features can be enabled or disabled at your convenience, also using plugins:</li>
	<ul>
	<li>Autoaway (changes your state when idle)</li>
	<li>Autoreplace (allows you change abreviated words for its complete form; totally \
customizable)</li>  <li>Cryptography (use of <a href="http://www.gnupg.org/">GnuPG</a> for \
making your messages more private)</li>  <li>Text effect (allow customize colors, l4m3r \
writing, cAse cHAngEs)</li>  <li>"Now listening..." (tells your buddies what music are you \
listening to)</li>  <li>Highlight (plays sounds, changes text format, etc. when someone \
mentions your name, or some words you can choose)</li>  <li>History (keeps a list of messages \
sent and received)</li>  <li>Spell checker (correkts som misteiks ;-) )</li>
	<li>Translation (translates incoming and outcoming messages)</li>
	<li>Web presence (creates a web page with a list of your connected members)</li>
	</ul>
<li>Kopete can be docked into Kicker's system tray (like Klipper).</li>
<li>You can allow pop-ups to appear when someone logs in: <br /><img \
src="http://lacurva.net/capturas/kopete07-popup.png" alt="pop up image"></li> <li>Every \
protocol is managed individually through the icons below. This allows you be invisible (or \
away, or offline) to your msn contacts, and visible for the jabber ones.</li> <li>Supports a \
lot of smiley sets, you can choose ;-), and colors are very customizable (it supports also \
transluency), allowing you to choose one color to distinguish each protocol.</li> <li>A wizard \
helps you to create and manage each account easily.</li> <li>Offline login (everyone believes \
you are offline, but you aren't).</li> <li>File transfer.</li>
</ul>

Unfortunately, Kopete is not perfect, but <a \
href="http://kopete.kde.org/index.php?page=developers">many people</a> are working on it :-). \
The IRC plugin needs to be improved, because it only allows you to connect to one server, and \
fankly, it needs to correct its behaviour a bit. Some details are a bit odd, for example, when \
pressing <kbd>return</kbd>, you start a new line, instead of sending the written message. It \
can be changed in your shortcuts very easily, but this is something a newbie is not going to \
find. There are also a lot of <a \
href="http://bugs.kde.org/buglist.cgi?product=kopete">bugs</a>. The appearance of \
message windows is very customizable, but it is done in <a \
href="http://www.w3.org/Style/XSL/">XSL</a> (eXtensible Stylesheet Language), a very powerful \
and standard language, but it is not very popular, and it is not specially easy. \
Definitively, Kopete is starting to be a mature application that, once released with KDE, \
will be its default instant messaging application. If you still have some doubts, look at <a \
href="http://kopete.kde.org/index.php?page=screenshots">the screenshots</a>.

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