unity-design team mailing list archive

["frederik.nnaji@xxxxxxxxx" <frederik.nnaji@xxxxxxxxx>]

So..

On Mon, Oct 4, 2010 at 11:40, Matthew Paul Thomas <mpt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

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> Apoorva Sharma wrote on 01/10/10 23:55:
> >
> > Right now, the Messaging Menu and MeMenu are kind of connected, in that
> > the functionality of the MeMenu changes by clicks in the Messaging Menu.
> > For example, to get a text box for a broadcast account in the MeMenu,
> > the user has to go to the Messaging Menu to start Gwibber. Furthermore,
> > to actually use the inactive status buttons in the MeMenu, the user has
> > to start chat from the messaging menu,
>
> As Conscious user said, the IM status problem has always been a bug. The
> Gwibber problem, on the other hand, is a design flaw.
>
> >...
> > One solution could be merging the two menus, but that could create too
> > large a menu.
>

Yes, we've tried, it's quite full and it becomes hard to handle..
I still wouldn't give up on it yet, there are unsolved questions which might
lead to fruit.

Also, are we completely counting out merging the Session Menu into the Me
Menu?
sorry, i had to ask :)


> A better solution could be to have the textbox and
> > buttons appear when the user sets up the two accounts for the first
> > time, and to keep them active.
>
> I think both of those would make a lot of sense. Perhaps someone could
> sketch what a combined menu might look like?
>

1.) Does such a combined menu have to have the "Chat", "Mail" and
"Broadcast" category titles, or would it suffice to just show the messages?
 - i think launchers for the services (Chat, Mail, Social Streams) belongs
outside the menu. Clicking a conversation indicator should take you to the
conversation, that's what we really want: to conversate.

2.) How will the textbox work? Do you agree that it would make sense to make
it an IM status field with the option to "share" that IM status via Activity
Stream e.g. facebook, twitter or the like?

*Status Text*
Status text has 2 applications we are trying to address, a problem not
solved by the spec as up to now.
1) IM status text aka "motto" aka "custom status"
2) Social Stream status message aka "tweet" aka "blog" aka "status update"

why make one field for both of these purposes?
* seperating custom IM Presence status from IM Presence controls feels
awkward
* having 2 seperate fields within one menu would be totally strange and
uncool
* splitting IM status text input and "tweet" into submenus would not be
useful, because the point is to make status entry as easy and as fast as
e.g. changing from "availalble" to "busy"
* we're trying to cut back on complexity on the surface

>...
> > I would like to know what the rationale for the current functionality
> > is.
> >...
>
> There is none.


There are two things that need to happen:
a) we need a rationale for the me menu, in which above questions are
addressed
b) we need mockups or wireframes, as suggested, based on such a rationale