Typing icon

[Ethan Blanton]

Sean Egan spake unto us the following wisdom:
> On 7/25/07, Ethan Blanton <elb at pidgin.im> wrote:
> > This is also what iChat has done for a very long time.  I think it's
> > not a bad idea.  I dislike the dancing-text effect when people start
> > and stop typing in some applications (I think iChat used to do this,
> > but no longer does), so we want to avoid that.
> 
> What is "dacing text"? I'm guessing you just mean that when someone
> stops typing, we should keep an empty line at the bottom until a
> message is sent or received there?

Correct.  In some program I have used (I think it was older versions
of iChat), the conversation text would bounce up and down as the
remote user typed something, deleted it, typed again, etc.  I am
simply saying that I think that we should reserve that space when the
user starts typing, and leave it there even if they stop; perhaps some
sort of hysteresis which removes it after some period of stability
would be OK, as well, but we probably don't need to get that
complicated.

That said, I think the basic idea is decent, and a reasonable way to
express this information.  We can even put the typing icon in this
space.  ;-) I also like the current typing notification, I think it's
clever, subtle, and effective; I'm not opposed to basically anything
suggested in this thread.  I do agree that a keyboard with keypresses
is a better metaphor than a thought bubble, but I don't think the
thought bubble is terrible.

Ethan

-- 
The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws [that have no remedy
for evils].  They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor
determined to commit crimes.
		-- Cesare Beccaria, "On Crimes and Punishments", 1764
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