Hacking Around New Typing Notifications?

[Trip]

I'm currently using the deb provided by the Kubuntu Hardy Beta 
repository, but am not opposed to attempting to compile it.  That is, 
assuming I can figure out how to do it and make myself a .deb package 
with which to install it (I'd rather not have the files randomly 
scattered all over the place).

Of course if this could be resolved in the next version in some way, I'm 
willing to wait it out with the older version.

- Trip


Shreevatsa R wrote:
> * Quoting Trip who at 2008-03-29 11:22:12-0400 (Sat) wrote
>   
>> I'm very much not a programmer, but am a Kubuntu Linux user who has 
>> chosen to use Pidgin IM over Kopete for some of Pidgin's excellent 
>> plugins and features.  For example, the scrolling of messages rather 
>> than just "appearing" is an excellent usability feature that I don't 
>> think I can do without anymore.  Psychic mode alerts me in advance when 
>> messages are coming.
>>     
>
> Cool, someone else likes the smooth scrolling :)
>   
>> But I cannot stand the new typing notification.  It completely breaks 
>> how I use IM and makes my life more difficult.  I tend to "stick" IM 
>> windows above whatever else I'm doing, and then watch for any new 
>> messages to scroll up.  (Please also note that I have tabs disabled; 
>> each conversation has its own window)  The scrolling behavior allows 
>> enough movement for my eye to catch when a new message comes in, and is 
>> probably the largest reason I chose Pidgin IM over any alternative.  
>> Since now messages scroll up when a message is being typed, it distracts 
>> me from my other tasks when no message has been sent.  Further, when 
>> someone does type a message, if it is short, no movement occurs and I 
>> often miss the message.
>>     
>
> Several users have raised this point, but I do not recall the developers
> replying to this.  This I think is a valid objection and would be quite
> simply solved by reserving a line at the bottom of the window, where
> typing notifications can come and go without causing anything to scroll.
> I do not know why this change has not been made.
>
> If you are building Pidgin from source yourself, you can make it work
> this way by inserting "#define RESERVE_LINE" in pidgin/gtkconv.c before
> compiling.
>
> Regards,
>