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List:       kopete-devel
Subject:    Re: [kopete-devel] At last:highly customizable contact list!
From:       "Joshua J. Berry" <des () condordes ! net>
Date:       2009-04-20 0:12:14
Message-ID: 200904191712.20600.des () condordes ! net
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On Sunday 19 April 2009 15:29:13 Roman Byshko wrote:
> On 19/04/2009, Joshua J. Berry <des@condordes.net> wrote:
> > On Sun, Apr 19, 2009 at 10:09:57AM -0400, Roman Byshko wrote:
...
> >>
> >> So, my proposals are:
> >>
> >> 1. Option not to draw contact icon if no contact picture/avatar
> >> available.
> >
> > I'm a little confused what you mean by this -- are you suggesting that if
> > there
> > is no buddy icon available for a metacontact, the icon is removed?  Would
> > you
> > then have some metacontacts with icons, and others with just a blank
> > space?
>
> See screenshot: http://reviewboard.kde.org/r/611/

Ah.  A screenshot is worth a thousand words. :D

> >> 2. If Status Title is empty we'll just substitute ordinary status
> >> (e.g. Away/Online etc.)
> >
> > I'm fine with doing this for "Away", but I think "Online" would be too
> > much clutter, personally.  By doing it for "Away" but not "Online", you
> > can more easily visually differentiate between the two states.
>
> Ok, but it wont be consistent..(i.e. to draw there Away/Not Available
> but not Online) The problem is to put something in that place. I do
> not see any other useful information that can't be there. Any
> suggestions?

It's already inconsistent -- in item #1, you're removing icons and changing the 
spacing on individual metacontacts so things don't line up anymore.  To me, 
that's more visually jarring than having a space where some text would go.

My point is you SHOULDN'T put anything in that space.  By having a space instead 
of text, you make it easier to distinguish between users in Online or Away 
state.  Having a list of online users that reads:

- Person A
  Online
- Person B
  Online
- Person C
  Online
- Person D
  Away

...just adds clutter and does not present any additional useful information.

If the space bugs you that much, have an option to get rid of it. ;)  So instead 
of having:

- Person A

- Person B

- Person C
  Away
- Person D
  Away

Have:

- Person A
- Person B
- Person C
  Away
- Person D
  Away

You can now fit more contacts into the buddy list, yet still present status 
information without wasting space.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure what the best way to do this is without messing up 
the icon alignments... maybe make the icon itself be a token that can 
(optionally) span multiple rows?

> >> 3. Customization of contact list token color. User can set different
> >> font colors for the token. This should help him visually recognize
> >> different token. Roman J. said that we already have color for idle
> >> contact. Then my suggestion would be to use this color to override
> >> token colors.
> >
> > What is a "token"?
>
> With the new contact list you can form item in the contact list in the
> Layout tab of Contact List settings. Each item is called token. I.e.
> Display Name, Status Title etc.

Hm.  I think it's a good idea -- I often wish I could lighten the color of the 
status message to make it more visually distinguishable.

But I also think this should be done in a way that respects the system-wide 
color scheme.  Or at the very least, make Kopete's default be "Use System 
Colors", and make it easy for a user to reset to that default.  Perhaps even let 
the user choose which system color role to use -- e.g. "Negative" for away, 
"Neutral" for idle, Bold/"Positive" for contact group names, etc.

> >> 4. Setting base and alternating colors for the contact list. Roman J.
> >> said that it's already globally configurable. But I cannot find it in
> >> systemsettings -> Appearance - colors. Where it is?
> >
> > Look in the "View" colors.  (You can pick which set of colors to edit by
> > opening
> > up the drop-down list above the list of colors.)
> >
> >> It would be nice
> >> if our settings could just override this settings. Defaults will be of
> >> course system wide settings.
> >
> > Why do you want to override the system-wide color settings?
>
> Well, because person like me want to have different settings in Kopete
> :) Maybe other user also want it.

But what is it about the system color settings that aren't working for you?

I'm coming at this from the opposite perspective -- I like having a desktop that 
looks consistent, where things blend together nicely and don't clash.  I also 
change my system color scheme about once a month. :D

When I change my color scheme, I don't want to have to go around to every 
individual application and change its colors to match.  It's tedious to do, and 
doesn't tie into the color scheme system (so I can't save/restore different 
schemes, or anything like that... I have to apply all the colors manually).  I 
don't want an application to deviate from the system color scheme without a very 
good reason.

I don't like having the group name/idle contact color options, as it is. :D  
Just a different perspective, I suppose.

-- Josh


-- 
Joshua J. Berry

"I haven't lost my mind -- it's backed up on tape somewhere."
    -- /usr/games/fortune


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