The message pane is too little

[Dedalus]

In the last versione 2.4.0, the message pane not is resizable and it is too little. see this: http://img406.imageshack.us/my.php?image=98274794kl6.jpg

[lithium]

This was done intentionally, it will resize if your messages get longer. It's actually a nice thing once you get used to it I think.

[khaytsus]

So far I personally have not seen it grow, and I have been using 2.4.0 about an hour now here at work. This is on Windows XP.

[khaytsus]

Replying to khaytsus:

So far I personally have not seen it grow, and I have been using 2.4.0 about an hour now here at work. This is on Windows XP.

Doh. Yes, it does work. I'm not sure why I didn't notice it before, perhaps that's the intent; it's subtle! Works nicely now that I see what it's doing. Thanks!

[bmherold]

I think this needs to be reopened...

The only problem with it being small is the target is smaller to click into. If I'm doing other things, then I want to respond to a message, I sometimes miss the box. Now, maybe I'm deficient in motor skills, but it just feels more cramped.

The problem with the auto resize is that it only resizes to a point; then you get a scrollbar. If you want to paste a bit of code into the window, you have to scroll to see it all before you send it off (if you want to edit it a bit beforehand).

Just my thoughts :)

[bmherold]

Text input with scrollbar - limited resize makes area cramped.

[seanegan]

You know you don't have to click in the entry box to respond to a message?

[Iyeru]

I have to agree, this should be re-opened. I'm switching back to trillian because of this and other issues -_-

[Hannes Rannes]

I like this new behaviour...

[bmherold]

That's fine, but at least give us the option. I don't think it makes sense to remove functionality rather than add it.

[jjaomni]

i agree it should be a option. it makes the window to cramped for large pastes. when your writing a book you dont start out with a postit pad.

[chckens]

What I don't see is why the auto-resizing thing and ability to manually resize the box can't happily co-exist. The absolute maximum size for the text entry widget at present is 4 lines(?), which in some situations is apparently smaller than people would like.

Why not allow people to resize it as big as they want? (up to a sensible threshold I guess, so some of the conversation widget is still visible)

This of course leaves the question of what should happen once the message is sent. I don't think automatically resizing back to one-and-a-bit lines would be very friendly if the user has manually adjusted the input widget size. Auto-resizing should probably also still happen if the user-adjusted size is less than the maximum auto size (e.g. the user adjusted to two lines, then types three lines: the widget expands to three) So I think after sending a message the input widget should snap back to whatever the last size the user chose was.

If all that makes no sense I could probably be persuaded to pseudo-code it :)

[swbrown]

I've opened this in terms of an enhancement request (although I consider it a clear usability regression) in Ticket #4986.

[tmetro]

Adding keywords: conversation, split

[Gookey]

Replying to chckens:

Why not allow people to resize it as big as they want? (up to a sensible threshold I guess, so some of the conversation widget is still visible) This of course leaves the question of what should happen once the message is sent. I don't think automatically resizing back to one-and-a-bit lines would be very friendly if the user has manually adjusted the input widget size. Auto-resizing should probably also still happen if the user-adjusted size is less than the maximum auto size (e.g. the user adjusted to two lines, then types three lines: the widget expands to three) So I think after sending a message the input widget should snap back to whatever the last size the user chose was.

I think an even happier solution would be to allow the users to expand the input area as much as they want. If they wish to cover the entire conversation area, I consider that their prerogative.

Also, if they manually resized the area at all, the program probably shouldn't resize the input area, regardless of how much the user resized it.

We could easily handle this by some checkbox-type functionality, to turn on the automatic resizing. Checkbox on, automagically resize the text area, and disallow manual sizing. Basically, how it is now.

Checkbox off, let the user manually do it, and don't have the program touch it at all.

Just my $0.02

[varchar255]

cc

[shs_bulldog]

Replying to Gookey:

Replying to chckens:

Why not allow people to resize it as big as they want? (up to a sensible threshold I guess, so some of the conversation widget is still visible) This of course leaves the question of what should happen once the message is sent. I don't think automatically resizing back to one-and-a-bit lines would be very friendly if the user has manually adjusted the input widget size. Auto-resizing should probably also still happen if the user-adjusted size is less than the maximum auto size (e.g. the user adjusted to two lines, then types three lines: the widget expands to three) So I think after sending a message the input widget should snap back to whatever the last size the user chose was.

I think an even happier solution would be to allow the users to expand the input area as much as they want. If they wish to cover the entire conversation area, I consider that their prerogative. Also, if they manually resized the area at all, the program probably shouldn't resize the input area, regardless of how much the user resized it. We could easily handle this by some checkbox-type functionality, to turn on the automatic resizing. Checkbox on, automagically resize the text area, and disallow manual sizing. Basically, how it is now. Checkbox off, let the user manually do it, and don't have the program touch it at all. Just my $0.02

+1 Agreed, please make this an option.

[Dedalus]

I think that pidgin should to remember its conversation area dimension. No checkBox or other option. Ciao

[Gookey]

Replying to Dedalus:

I think that pidgin should to remember its conversation area dimension. No checkBox or other option. Ciao

From a personal taste standpoint, I agree with you, however someone somewhere must have found this a useful enough feature to sit down and code it. I see no reason why we should throw away the work that someone did, when the options could coexist with near trivial amounts of work.

[Iyeru]

Replying to Dedalus:

I think that pidgin should to remember its conversation area dimension. No checkBox or other option. Ciao

It did that before when we had the ability to resize the input box.

[fz105]

Replying to Gookey:

Replying to Dedalus:

I think that pidgin should to remember its conversation area dimension. No checkBox or other option. Ciao

From a personal taste standpoint, I agree with you, however someone somewhere must have found this a useful enough feature to sit down and code it. I see no reason why we should throw away the work that someone did, when the options could coexist with near trivial amounts of work.

I agree! Even though I'm not a fan of it I'm in no way not dissing the effort or work. It'd be a nice feature to have, but why remove the resize feature??

The resizing of the input box was my favorite feature, and i was a bit annoyed that i was just discarded. I actually went back to version 2.3.1. I mean really, was there that much of an issue with allowing users to resize their input box??

I could've understood modifying input box where you could still resize manually but if the text became too big it'd auto resize the box...a middle ground!

Please make this a feature that can be turned on from preferences, not a requirement.

[Gookey]

Replying to fz105:

I agree! Even though I'm not a fan of it I'm in no way not dissing the effort or work. It'd be a nice feature to have, but why remove the resize feature??

Check out support ticket 4986. That is an open ticket for this same problem.

[fz105]

Replying to Gookey:

Replying to fz105:

I agree! Even though I'm not a fan of it I'm in no way not dissing the effort or work. It'd be a nice feature to have, but why remove the resize feature??

Check out support ticket 4986. That is an open ticket for this same problem.

Thank you Gookey

[zekeman]

I'm also not thrilled with the new chatbox functionality, so much so that I'm going back to 2.3 if I can. It's really disconcerting. I presonally like being able to resize the chatbox as I wish, but can understand why some people may not like it and want the new way. The best option all around is to allow people to choose the way they want it to act. Please, please, please allow us to resize the box.

[chrisccoulson]

Very cramped input

[chrisccoulson]

If someone sends me a message whilst my status is set to away and I don't have a chat window already open - when I click on the flashing Pidgin icon to open the chat window, I get a non-existant text entry box! http://developer.pidgin.im/attachment/ticket/4962/Screenshot.png

[Sim-on]

chrisccoulson: #4979

[debiandev]

I just downloaded the latest pidgin client and am seriously troubled by the limitation of the text input area. Please bring it back or make it OPTIONAL. That is the very least you can do. I just registered to report on this and found a lot of bugs open on this already.

[mickrussom]

I made an account to complain that not allowing control over the interface F-ing sucks. I hate Office 2007 for forcing Ribbon up people's butts, and I hate pidgin forcing UI crap up butts as well.

Please consider how bad this behavior is, and who is being emulated here (microsoft).

This is a foul sickening turn things are taking for pidgen, and if pidgin had done this CRAP before roping in millions, it would have never gotten this far.

Hitler complex by the leadership, plain and simple. HITLER. But he was a more effective leader. Miranda, meebo, Kopete or back to trillian. Tah tah, fascists.