Avatar size in conversation window

[alexef]

I'm using the 2.1.0 version of Pidgin, and I've observed the GUI changes to the conversation window. It looks great, but I think there should be an option for setting the size of the interlocutor avatar (like in Y! Messenger, a small and a big). That's because the actual size is too small, and I must mouse hover the top toolbar to see the normal size.

[Chymera]

yep, its really annoying, i want big avatars back... at least as an option...

[brettalton]

My ticket has already been closed, but I'd like to point you to the mockup I created that apparently appeases this ticket: http://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/3135

[Glandos]

Hi everyone !

I agree with this bug report, but with some arguments.

In fact, I always use a very large conversation window, but I lack more often of height than width. I like to have a lot of history displayed at a time, but for the input panel, the space is 3 to 5 bigger than my needs. This is not a general use, but I think that this is more and more the case with all these 16/10 screens that provide a lot of width and a few height.

I don't think the infopane is a bad idea, and it should be maintain (well, it seems a bit empty for now, but I understand this is the place needed for features waiting to be implemented ;) ). However, if a buddy sets an avatar, I'd like to see it , but the infopane is to small for it (in width), and it's impossible to make it larger, because it would reduce dramatically the height of the chat panel.

In fact, I was very happy with the old feature, displaying buddy icons next to the input panel. In the past, the main issue with that placement was the buggy behavior of the formatting panel. Since this panel has shrunk to 2 buttons, it could be nice to propose an option to place the huge avatar next to the input panel, without changing the general behavior even for small windows.

This is only a suggestion to make visible buddy icons back in the chat windows, without having to mouse over the infopane. Any idea is good, I hope I convince you to think about putting this feature back :)

[brettalton]

Is this what you're talking about: http://developer.pidgin.im/attachment/ticket/3135/pidgin-interface_proposal-20070916.png ???

I've also (quickly) made another proposal related to your post here: http://developer.pidgin.im/attachment/ticket/3135/pidgin-interface_proposal-20070918.png

[Glandos]

Fast choice : the first.

In my general use of Pidgin I like to have the maximum space for the conversation part. And in fact, having my own avatar is not really useful in this window (Well, in fact, it could avoid me to hold myself in my buddy list to see if my buddy icon changes really happens :D).

The first one seems a good start, especially with the dropdown menu that allows to change the icon size. By the way, it could be merged with the current context menu with the "Hide" and "Save as" entries.

Thanks a lot for those mock-ups !

[seanegan]

Brett, I actually think your mockup is pretty neat, although I question how it would work for smaller avatars.

The simplest, perhaps most elegant solution I've heard so far is just to have clicking the avatar toggle it between full size and scaled down. Would that be reasonable for all you guys?

[brettalton]

Replying to seanegan:

Brett, I actually think your mockup is pretty neat, although I question how it would work for smaller avatars. The simplest, perhaps most elegant solution I've heard so far is just to have clicking the avatar toggle it between full size and scaled down. Would that be reasonable for all you guys?

Yes it would, completely and entirely. I do prefer the interface you have created: it is lean and slick. Yet there is a push for Yahoo and MSN users to see each others avatars.

I'll create more mockups (using different sizes) and post them on my other ticket.

[brettalton]

Sorry, I never asked: Do you like the vertical(20070916) or horizontal(20070918) design better?

[alexef]

Replying to seanegan:

Brett, I actually think your mockup is pretty neat, although I question how it would work for smaller avatars. The simplest, perhaps most elegant solution I've heard so far is just to have clicking the avatar toggle it between full size and scaled down. Would that be reasonable for all you guys?

Yes, it will be just great, but, if I'm not asking too much, can there also be a 'default view' option (scaled down/full size) so the user doesn't have to click each time he opens a conversation window?

Thank you guys.

[brettalton]

http://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/3135#comment:6 http://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/3135#comment:7

[textureglitch]

The way it was in Gaim was perfect. Why did it change?

The mockups aren't very good, they leave all that empty unused space above and below if you put the avatar next to the IM window instead of inside it. Having the avatar down on the bottom left next to the input window is perfect, especially if you're using the OTR privacy plugin because the button for that always appears down there too. So you have them both in one corner where they don't interfere with your writing, and the avatar is big enough to be a good visual reminder of who you are talking to. I never even notice the little picture in the corner anymore, I have to always read the tab name now. It's just bad UI design.

At the very least give people an option to put the avatar in the bottom left corner like it was in Gaim.

[liviopl]

I dislike those mockups...

[Glandos]

The good news is that someone is reading this ticket. But it could be more detailed, because I like, I don't like isn't really useful for a ticket to be resolved :)

[liviopl]

But it makes developers see users' opinion.

[varchar255]

cc

[muchtall]

Replying to seanegan:

The simplest, perhaps most elegant solution I've heard so far is just to have clicking the avatar toggle it between full size and scaled down. Would that be reasonable for all you guys?

I also think this would be great. I've been wanting my big avatar display back ever since I upgraded to the new design. Most importantly, as has probably been said before, I want to be able to see the full-size, animated avatar.

[liviopl]

I want such option to enable globally.

[Glandos]

Hmm.

I don't want to be annoying, but closing bugs without any comment doesn't make me really happy.

To make it clear, the current way to display avatar makes it a little bit useless since it's really hard to see any detail. Moreover I have far enough space in the writing panel to display anything large such as the real size avatar.

For the moment, there is no way to display it in full size comfortably.

I'm not saying to revert all changes, but removing features is a non-sense for a good open source software :(

[muchtall]

Amen.

This feature change is quite annoying. I don't understand why this is suddenly now considered "won't fix". Someone went through the effort of screwing up the interface. You'd think they could spend a few more minutes on the problem and fix it. This is what I don't understand about so many Gnome/GTK applications: Why is it that some useful feature like this is shrunk to make more room on the UI, but then we have huge whitespace all over the UI with no apparent purpose.

That said, I love Pidgin. Thanks to the developers for making it great.

[deryni]

If one of you wants to create a patch which allows for clicking on the buddy icon to toggle between 'normal' and 'large' sizes feel free to do so, I believe such a patch would be accepted. I have filed ticket #5275 to track the patch request for this feature.