[Pidgin] #2295: Add Account >> MSN >> "Screen name" should be "E-mail Address"

[Pidgin]

#2295: Add Account >> MSN >> "Screen name" should be "E-mail Address"
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  Reporter:  brettalton    |       Owner:  seanegan                                                                                    
      Type:  defect        |      Status:  assigned                                                                                    
  Priority:  minor         |   Milestone:  2.2.0                                                                                       
 Component:  pidgin (gtk)  |     Version:  2.0.2                                                                                       
Resolution:                |    Keywords:  msn messenger, "screen name", "e-mail address", "windows live messenger", passport, msimprpl
   Pending:  0             |  
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Comment (by brettalton):

 Replying to [comment:12 deryni]:
 > Your local alias is used everywhere you see the account in the pidgin
 interface. I'm not sure what you tried that you didn't see it but if you
 filled it in with your email address that would explain the difficutly,
 and yes we know 'local alias' is confusing but have been unable to really
 come up with a better term for it.

 For example, if you have yourself added to your MSN account, you see your
 'friendly name', not the alias. This makes sense because I've entered in a
 'local' alias. But my question is, why have a local alias in the first
 place? Is the indicator of MSN - brett.jr.alton at gmail.com not enough? If
 you customized your 'local alias' and then your 'friendly name' but also
 have an e-mail address dictating your account in the "Accounts" dialogue,
 does that not seem like to many variables for one to keep track of?


 > Screen name has been acknowledged as being too AIM centric, but I have
 *never* seen anyone come in to #pidgin, or file a bug, or send an email,
 or post to the sf forum saying they couldn't figure out what to put in the
 'screen name' field for MSN, at worst they have wondered whether they
 needed just the 'user' part or the whole 'user at server' bit in there which
 is a somewhat reasonable (though also somewhat perplexing) confusion. A
 better, generic, term for screen name is being discussed.


 Right, but #pidgin, bug filing, e-mails and posts on forums are all for
 people dedicated, or at the very willing, to help the cause of a
 particular piece of software. All 14 of my clients would not even know
 where to begin with filing bugs or asking questions on forums. I know how
 to do this because I'm a power-user. 95% of the people out there are not
 though. They are not interested in the inner workings of computers or how
 to speak with developers -- to a lot, computers and software are foreign
 to them, but they at least know how to log on to MSN.

 So yes, Pidgin itself does a great job for Linux users, but since 2004,
 there has been a large boom in the open source community, and you'll see
 this complaint time and time again, especially as more "e-mail and word
 process" users switch over.


 > When you first looked at the Add Account dialog, where did you assume
 your account login id (email address) would go? Did you assume there
 wasn't a place for that? I'm trying to understand how you could have
 assumed 'screen name' was anything not required since nowhere else is
 there even as remotely a clear entry area.


 I knew where to put my username, or at least I did after a second try --
 it's not hard for *ME* to figure out, but that's not what or who is in
 question here.


 > The pidgin interface is not trying to be the MSN interface, it can't be,
 and it most certainly shouldn't be the MSN interface for MSN accounts, the
 Yahoo interface for Yahoo accounts, etc.


 I agree...


 >People are by-and-large capable of reading and understanding things that
 are put in front of them and I find it hard to imagine that a normal MSN
 user when placed in front of the pidgin Add Account dialog would be unable
 to get it working virtually 100% of the time (and given the vanishingly
 small number of people I have seem comment on the confusion it caused them
 I think I'm not too far off from reality in this).


 Well, I beg to differ because the number two technical support question I
 am asked is "how do I add an account to Pidgin?"... that of course if
 follows "Where's MSN Messenger?" I'm sorry that I wrote my post in
 brevity, not fully explaining that it was not I who was having the
 problems but of other, not so technical users. They are who I am trying to
 'help'.


 > The buddy icon selection in the Accounts dialog is *exactly* and
 *intentionally* not the same buddy icon selection as in the status
 selector, which is why above the icon in the accounts dialog is the
 helpful checkbox that says 'Use this buddy icon for this account' which is
 supposed to clue you in to the fact that if you select that you are
 picking an icon for that one account, whereas the status selector icon is
 the icon for *all* your accounts that don't have specific ones set. This
 duplication was *demanded* by virtually everyone when the global status
 icon was added.


 Fair enough, but 98% of MSN users are not used to a multi-protocol instant
 messenger. I personally only use MSN as well. Since Pidgin supports
 multiple protocols, it has to support multiple accounts -- darn open
 source for people so fair eh!? The only thing is, I think your program
 needs to be friendlier to single account users / single protocol users.


 > Set Friendly Name is a run-time account action, run-time actions belong
 inthe Accounts menu, one-time setup items do not belong there and belong
 in the Add Account window. Do you see the distinction?


 Yes, but why make one? Why can't all the information be stored in one
 dialogue and not scattered across multiple dialogues?


 > The location of Set Friendly Name is far from a good one, but we have
 been unable to come up with any better location despite years of trying,
 we have asked numerous people who had troubles finding it where they
 looked before giving up and/or where it would have seemed more natural and
 almost none of them had any useful suggestions (notably virtually none of
 them said the Add Accounts dialog).


 Why not in a text bar that you can double click on to edit? This way it
 would preview your name, but also be easily tangible. You can make this
 aesthetically pleasing by making the preview bar transparent when not
 editing, and have the box pop up when double-clicked (aka: in edit mode).

 From what I see in 2.1.0, it seems that you guys are avid for putting
 everything in dialogues and menus. Yes, that makes the interface cleaner,
 but you have to have SOME sort of one-click editing options. The example I
 am speaking of is in regards to the new text formatting menu: "Font",
 "Reset Font" & "Insert". Why did you hide the one-click interface for
 bolding, underlining, inserting emoticons, etc. with a two or three-click
 interface?


 > Conversely, moving the local alias to the Accounts menu would indicate
 that it is an action taken on the account as opposed to a purely local bit
 of meta-data associated with the account data in pidgin.


 I agree, but I still think there is no need for a local alias...


 > Not to sound insulting but I think the fact that you figured it all out
 means it isn't nearly as confusing as you are claiming it is, further the
 fact that we haven't been flooded by hordes of people who are unable to
 figure it out indicates to me that perhaps your level of confusion is more
 unique to you than you think and/or that you are more susceptible to
 feelings of confusion than most.


 As I stated above, the people that need/want to complain are more than
 likely non-techical users, so they complain to me. Think of it more as 'I
 am the messenger'.


 > I am not trying to dismiss your statements just explain that with any
 more complicated and powerful system comes an increase in the available
 data and that a short acclimitization period is not an indication that
 things are too confusing but rather that they are correctly implemented
 because you were able to acclimitize to them, if in fact you had come here
 asking us to explain to you how the Add Account dialog worked or how the
 multiple buddy icons worked your points would have been much the stronger
 for that.

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Ticket URL: <http://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/2295#comment:14>
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