Status indicators in tabs

[Mark Doliner]

On Mon, 25 Jun 2007 19:08:52 +0200, Hylke Bons wrote
> Mark Doliner wrote:
> > On Sun, 24 Jun 2007 00:25:49 +0200, Hylke Bons wrote
> >   
> >> If the discussion is about 16 pixels more or less, Pidgin should have
> >> the tabs on the left side by default.
> >> This saves significantly more space without cutting in the UI.
> >>     
> >
> > I think I'm going to have to disagree with you there... see attachment.
>
> Large attachtment didn't came through.
> Here is is: http://www.bomahy.nl/hylke/mockup.png
> 
> Explaination:
> Tabs are replaced with gtkbuttons and are categorized by
> conversation/chatroom.
> This leaves room for the status icons to be shown and the space below
> isn't wasted like it is when wasting tabs.

What about people that only have one conversation open?  I don't think voice,
video and file transfers happen very often, and I don't think they would take
up quite as much space if we were to put them on the left side as in your
screen shot.  I've never had a voice or video conversation, and I transfer a
file maybe once out of every 100 conversations I have.

I don't like using buttons in place of tabs--it doesn't feel natural.  X-Chat
switched to using buttons and I think it feels really gross (I don't use
X-Chat anymore).

This also seems more cluttered than the current interface.

-Mark