Re: [Ayatana] Me Menu - Review

[James Putt <putt.james@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 20 June 2010 02:31, Frederik Nnaji <frederik.nnaji@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi James,
>
> On Sun, May 23, 2010 at 01:02, James Putt <putt.james@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> > * presence settings
>> >  available, away, busy, invisible, offline
>> >  now we could work on the wording here.. offline is ambiguous for
>> > example, perhaps call that one "sign out" or "disable chat" or
>> > something..
>> >  BRING THE COLORS BACK! we need some Traffic Light colors here! red is
>> > busy or DnD, green is online. This is very important IMO and keeps the
>> > user well informed, no need to go all monochrome on these, unless chat
>> > is disabled.
>>
>> Making the "offline" string more explicitly related to chat would be a
>> great tweak. Colour in the icons would be nice but I don't think this
>> would be reflected in the indicator heading, which means having an
>> extra layer of understanding to match symbolic to colour-dependent
>> icons?
>
> I think we have a clear semantic map for red, green and yellow concerning
> the user's presence status.
> Approaching the goal of designing a system wide DoNotDisturb mode, this only
> adds to it. Symbols are nice, shapes convey a lot, this is something we want
> to use color for!
> IM active or inactive is better represented with an on/off switch, i suggest
> redesign the Me Menu more confidently, instead of duplicating the design
> errors from Contact List.

Hi Fred,

I agree colour is significant. I was considering that the top menu by
convention is monochromatic with certain colours having a particular
meaning, and how having different icons in the drop down menu to the
icons representing the menu would play out.

Whether colours come or not, I'd like to suggest some refinements for
the existing (lucid) set.

Something that confuses me is the offline icon's similarity to the
"i'm visible" states' icons. Icons for available, away and busy are
all a variation of a filled speech bubble with a symbol (none, arrow
and dash), which I'd say is a good pattern until offline joins the
fray (filled bubble with a cross). I'd suggest the current icon used
for invisible (the dull speech bubble) would be better suited to
offline, and a bubble with a dashed outline and no fill to represent
invisible.

My other gripe is that the filled speech bubble is quite heavy
compared to the elegant power symbol and surrounding text. Maybe
basing the icons on the outline of a bubble may be worth a test?

Agree/disagree?