Modes, State Graphs, Plugins:
(18:24:43) dmcc: not just "is away", we should (literally) see stuff like "Just went away", "Just became idle" (18:24:59) dmcc: where just is applied if it happened with 3 minutes or so (18:26:24) drewp: there may be room for a proper time, even (18:26:31) dmcc: yes, that should be there as well (18:26:40) drewp: remember the cases where i'm out of the room for 45min and then i come back and look at the screen (18:26:43) dmcc: but most of the time the description will satisfy me (18:26:50) dmcc: yes, i call that an "idle bounce" (18:27:14) drewp: oh, i meant i='the user of the client', not one of your buddies (18:27:29) drewp: showing 'just' for 3min wont tell me anything if i'm not there (18:27:40) dmcc: right, in this case, the problem is on your end (18:27:54) dmcc: and you should have let it switch into afk mode (18:28:10) dmcc: which stays up until you explicitly tell it that you're back (18:28:19) dmcc: either by changing your mode or by talking to someone (18:28:35) dmcc: alternatively, (18:28:56) dmcc: s/alternatively/additionally/ (18:29:02) dmcc: we can try to detect idle bounces (18:29:17) dmcc: "Idle for 2 hours, bounces 27 and 15 minutes ago" (18:29:48) drewp: actually, a tiny graph might communicate if my idle pattern has been like __|~|_____|~|____|~|____ (18:30:00) drewp: which would tell you that i have been stopping by my desk periodically (18:30:10) drewp: which is more interesting than "idle for 25min" (18:30:13) dmcc: i think i like that (18:30:23) dmcc: i worry about too many complicated graphics making things slow (18:30:23) drewp: yet not worth trying to autodetect (18:30:34) dmcc: yes, it's better than autodetect (18:30:52) dmcc: also, these modes that i speak of are more than just light protocol away/idle/on phone/etc. modes (18:31:06) dmcc: they can have bundles of preferences associated with them (18:31:34) dmcc: and they can be triggered by a variety of methods: manual, plugin, idleness (which is actually plugin), RPC, etc. (18:32:30) dmcc: do you think that your state-graphs can be text? (18:32:37) dmcc: i think they need to be graphical, (18:33:08) dmcc: since you can get more detail, higher resolution, and graph multiple items (away, idle, online, etc.) (18:35:50) dmcc: more afk/reading now (18:36:05) dmcc: (which should prompt hiss to suggest "go into afk/reading mode?") (18:36:22) dmcc: (and don't worry - that won't be through a bloody dlg box) (18:36:24) drewp: or simply to make your last line be your away msg (18:36:50) dmcc: it's also crucial that this stuff be written as plugins (18:36:56) dmcc: since we have our own IM style (18:37:05) dmcc: and everyone else will want to use their own patterns, etc. (18:37:35) dmcc: thus, by using plugins, we force ourselves to make plugins powerful enough to handle our fns, and presumably, everyone else's (18:37:37) drewp: also note that people write plugins and stuff by copying the existing ones and tweaking them (18:37:58) drewp: so i've become of the mind (for cusine especially) that i should try to write as many diverse plugin examples as i can possibly think of (18:38:22) drewp: since they're supposed to be easy to write, and i know people will use them to write their own stuff (19:00:44) dmcc: agreed
Tabs show status:
(23:30:15) dmcc: another hiss feature: (23:30:17) dmcc: tabs show status (23:30:37) dmcc: thus, i wouldn't even have to look at convos with your or k to know that you're idle/away and k is logged out
The crappiness of current widget sets:
(11:58:52) dmcc: it occurs to me that scrollbars suck (11:59:16) dmcc: they could show so much more information (11:59:20) drewp: they're not wonderful (11:59:34) dmcc: frex, exmh could show me the portions of a message that i've already read (11:59:38) dmcc: by highlighting those (11:59:53) drewp: be more like birdseye, you mean? :) (11:59:58) dmcc: yes (12:00:10) dmcc: i was about to say that a combination birdsye/scrollbar is in order (12:02:50) dmcc: i'm sure many other widgets should be rethought (12:03:51) dmcc: cascading menus, frex (12:04:31) dmcc: don't wait for me to roll over the menu item to show me the submenu (12:04:39) dmcc: do that right away and lay out everything nicely