[Pidgin] #3801: Change status for various accounts

[Pidgin]

#3801: Change status for various accounts
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  Reporter:  neok          |       Owner:  lschiere
      Type:  enhancement   |      Status:  closed  
  Priority:  minor         |   Milestone:          
 Component:  unclassified  |     Version:  2.2.2   
Resolution:  invalid       |    Keywords:  status  
   Pending:  0             |  
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Comment (by deryni):

 Yes, I almost never change status without setting a message, and I never
 go invisible (which is about the only status for which a message doesn't
 make sense, even for offline it often does).

 I answered that in the best way pidgin has available, the Accounts menu
 entry icons show you the status (at least online/offline, I'm unsure at
 the moment about away/na/invisible/etc. and don't have pidgin running to
 check).

 The case of a connection error however is different, connection errors put
 error buttons into the buddy list, which are a much better indication of
 transient error statuses than an icon would be. Also, pidgin tries to
 reconnect for you automatically when an account is rudely disconnected so
 you really shouldn't need to know most of the time, nor should being
 offline be a long-lasting status.

 Being disconnected is not a status, the list of exceptions is for
 exceptions you have intentionally set up for your accounts not transient
 account errors.

 If you create a complex status of global "invisible", one account
 "available", and one accounts "offline". The status selector will show
 "invisible" that is true, we used to have it show "custom" but that was
 even less helpful. We expect that people will be able to remember the
 status they last set up, but and this is something you missed in your
 related comments, if you hit New... a second time with that complex status
 active the New... dialog will pop up filled in with *exactly* the current
 statuses *and* with the expander at the bottom already open. We really did
 try to make this as friendly as possible.

 Assuming I understand you correctly when you said 'set global status to
 invisible. set one account to available. when you click on global status
 list "available" is selected' I believe that is a bug that should be
 reported.

 Only allowing an exception to set a status and not a message is
 significantly less powerful than allowing both a status and a message,
 pidgin has no desire to hamper people's ability to set the status that
 they want, that is the whole goal here. To make the simple things as
 simple as possible and to make the harder things possible. The problem for
 you is that you consider the "set one accounts status to some other type
 on the fly" a simple base case, and we do not. Given the complaints about
 the status interface and the number of requests for things like the
 mystatusbox plugin I really believe our view is closer to the general
 belief. But as Sean and I have said, any specific concrete suggestions to
 make the more complicated stuff easier and more friendly in pidgin
 (without hurting the ease of the simple stuff or making the complicated
 stuff less powerful/useful) are always welcome.

 Yes, we can present the user with text we just can't let them reasonably
 edit it in the account list. Would you rather we didn't show it there and
 required you to open each dialog to see what you had previously set? I
 don't think so.

 I believe we could have a dropdown for the status type in the accounts
 list directly which would be fully functional but putting a small single
 line entry in the list to handle the status message would not be. Consider
 that the dialog includes a formatting toolbar, the single line entry never
 could.  Consider that many people like setting complicated multi-line
 status messages, dealing with that in the single line entry would be a
 nightmare.

 I agree with you that if we could get rid of the second dialog things
 would be better, I just can't see a really reasonable way of doing so. I
 have considered moving the status dropdown to the list and making the
 popup dialog just contain the text entry area but I'm not sure that would
 help much. I have also (just now) considered putting a small text area
 under the account list and have the currently selected accounts message go
 in that area (but I think that would likely just be confusing and
 annoying). Do you have any other thoughts on how to do this?

 I covered this already but just to be clear, the exceptions list in the
 new dialog is not intended to show you disconnection states caused by
 errors, but it should show you any status changes that you initiated
 (assuming you mean the New... dialog's autofilled display and not a saved
 statuses edit window.  That is, if you use the New... dialog to set up a
 complex status then use the mystatusbox plugin to change a specific
 account's status a subsequent opening of the New... dialog should then
 show you that modified status for that account (if that is not happening
 then that is a bug that should be fixed).

 And to stave off further comments like Sean's, I'm not defending our
 system across the board, it has never been the best. All I am doing is
 indicating that fixing it is not as simple as many people would believe
 and that most of the things that are suggested to fix it (both in this
 ticket and the couple of other times this has come up in the past)
 generally fail to capture some part of the power, freedom, control, etc.
 of the pidgin status system and are therefore not really options for us.

 One last thing, I have the feeling that I am failing to properly explain
 the pidgin status system, what it allows, how it differs from the other
 status systems I am aware of, etc. If you would like to contact me via IM
 at some point I be more than happy to attempt to do this in a more
 interactive medium which will hopefully mean we can get at least the basic
 issues sorted out and get back to handling the real complaints and real
 inadequacies of the current dialog(s).

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/3801#comment:25>
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