[Pidgin] #5034: Please bring back the 2.3.1 typing indicator!

[Pidgin]

#5034: Please bring back the 2.3.1 typing indicator!
---------------------------+------------------------------------------------
  Reporter:  Arvedui       |       Owner:                           
      Type:  enhancement   |      Status:  new                      
  Priority:  minor         |   Milestone:  Plugin Suggested         
 Component:  pidgin (gtk)  |     Version:  2.4.0                    
Resolution:                |    Keywords:  animated typing indicator
   Pending:  0             |  
---------------------------+------------------------------------------------
Comment (by deryni):

 Replying to [comment:20 Apewall]:
 > Why are we emulating other messenger's mistakes like MSN?
 We aren't, we are however trying to emulate the successes of other clients
 (especially the ones that we hear people praising frequently and
 requesting that we support).

 > I'm really getting bored of the "Someone should make it a plugin"
 attitude.  The point is to have the default behavior be optimal, where as
 currently it is far from.  Making such changes because other current
 messengers have them is a poor excuse to base a decision on for what
 Pidgin's default behavior should be.

 I'm sorry you are tired of a perfectly reasonable and incredibly useful
 attitude, but that isn't going to change the fact that it is still an
 attitude we like and want to support.

 You believe that having an option for the typing icon (or having it on
 without an option) is optimal, we don't. It really is that simple. We
 removed it because we didn't see the need to have three typing
 notifications when we felt two would do. It is intentionally still
 possible to have the typing icon added by a plugin and we have encouraged
 people who want it back to do so (most of the code can likely be pulled
 straight out of pidgin 2.3.1 and stuffed into a plugin with the right
 signals).

 We do not make changes just because other clients are doing things, if we
 did pidgin would be a hell of a lot more bloated and contain a hell of a
 lot less useful features. It would also likely not be written in C or
 core/ui split or any of those other nice things that make pidgin work so
 well.

 > I'm getting tired of explaining to people who have used Pidgin before or
 are moving to Pidgin to turn on multiple plugins to get what I(and they)
 feel should be default behavior.
 Ah but therein lies the rub, it is, in general, more difficult to write a
 plugin to *disable* a given default behaviour than it is to *enable* a
 behaviour; and it often works less well. For example in the case at hand,
 a plugin to add the icon needs to listen on a couple of signals, add the
 icon, and keep it updated. Were the icon to be in pidgin (without an
 option) the plugin would need to listen to some of the same signals and
 hide the icon (an icon that pidgin would be continuously updating for no
 reason as no one will ever see it). So adding features with plugins really
 tends to be more reasonable then going the other way.

 Which plugins (other than this one) do you and those people you refer to
 do you feel should be default behaviour? And why?

 > I consider the current typing notification still a fault in design.

 Why? What about it is a fault in your eye/mind?

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/5034#comment:22>
Pidgin <http://pidgin.im>
Pidgin