Chat interface modifications

[Placid]

Can you name channel 2 just Help instead of Gen Help? I think we can shorten that.

 

Also, what does @@ do? (maybe i missed it)

You use @@ to speak to a specific channel if your connected to more than one channel.

For example, say im connected to channels 1,2,3.

My active channel is 1 (i.e., i can talk to channel 1 by just using '@').

I want to advertise my leather boots on channel 3, so I use: @@3 Selling leather boots. - this will post to channel 3 while still keeping newbie channel as the active channel.

[ttlanhil]

Can you name channel 2 just Help instead of Gen Help? I think we can shorten that.

done (I was kinda expecting more changes than that )

[Roja]

Ok checked again, this bot <channel number="12345" name="UobeyUok">UobeyUok will be happy to inform you of the rules</channel>

 

I really don't think this is necessary, if people want to listen to the rules they can look at the rules window. I mean who is going to go on that channel? It doesn't need to be listed officially.

[Aislinn]

Ok checked again, this bot <channel number="12345" name="UobeyUok">UobeyUok will be happy to inform you of the rules</channel>

 

I really don't think this is necessary, if people want to listen to the rules they can look at the rules window. I mean who is going to go on that channel? It doesn't need to be listed officially.

Erm that is used by the mods...it's our own personal little behavior tutorial, most used when a player gets #kicked from 1 or 3. It wasn't supposed to be listed as an official channel.

[ttlanhil]

Erm that is used by the mods...it's our own personal little behavior tutorial, most used when a player gets #kicked from 1 or 3.

which means that it's not uncommon for someone to be there having to listen to the rules

It wasn't supposed to be listed as an official channel.

easy enough to remove it

[ttlanhil]

notes:

there are 2 known bugs.

@@name doesn't work in console, and I can't find why

well, I figured this one out... silly mistake.

[16:55:50] Found an unexpected node type while parsing ./languages/en/strings/channels.xml.
Last message repeated 39 times

I checked, and the node type it thinks it sees is 'text'. and there's exactly 40 lines of XML

okay, after talking to lachesis, this one is fixed as well. new version will be up shortly

Edited January 8, 2006 by ttlanhil

[ttlanhil]

okay, new version is up with those bugs both fixed. if there are no other bugs found, this is about finished (*)

the list of channel names, of course, might be changed more before this goes in (or after), but that's easy enough for anyone to do

 

footnote: apart from possible enhancements like a gui way to add/remove/rename channels.

currently it'll add channels you join that don't have a name, in the order you joined them, but there's no saving of names (and until you can give them real names, there's no point in saving)

[Roja]

Just checking up on this...i didn't see it in the latest client so I assume it's not completely finished or something? Can someone give a status report?

[ttlanhil]

Just checking up on this...i didn't see it in the latest client so I assume it's not completely finished or something? Can someone give a status report?

mostly the same as before (post above), except that the list of channel names is now definantly out of date. but that should be easy enough for anyone in admin to edit to make it match the 'current' list of channels (for the next version, etc)

since the patch is nearly a month old, it may not apply cleanly. if this is the case, adjusting or a manual patch should be simple.

you just need an active dev to give it a final check over, update to latest CVS if need be, and commit it

 

the short version: it works. it just wasn't added

[Placid]

I assume this is in CVS now as I get the 'Options' tab when using tabbed chat.

 

Either way, its buggy. The scrollbar goes made when I drag/wheel mouse it on first open. After that, it sticks to the bottom of the bar and wont scroll anywhere.

[ttlanhil]

I assume this is in CVS now as I get the 'Options' tab when using tabbed chat.

yeah, it went in recently

Either way, its buggy. The scrollbar goes made when I drag/wheel mouse it on first open. After that, it sticks to the bottom of the bar and wont scroll anywhere.

err... ahh, I think I know the problem.

do you compile in your CVS dir, and run from there? if not, you'll need to copy EL/languages/en/strings/channels.xml from the CVS dir to your data_dir

ed:wait, there's a generic list of channels hardcoded... it's probably just too short for the scrollbar to be useful.

when the list of channel names is empty the drop-down won't be much use, and the scrollbar will have a length of 0 (hence being locked to the bottom)

 

note that when you #jc an unknown channel (not in the list) it will be added to the drop-down... for that session only (not saved to disk)

for permenant changes, you can edit the file itself. this has great possibilities for people to put in a channel with some large random number called 'g', get all guildies to do the same, then `#jc g`, and `@@g hi!`

Edited March 5, 2006 by ttlanhil

[dns_server]

Would it be possible for the options and history buttons to be swapped?

From a useability perspective the most commonly used functions should be placed in the corners as this is the easyest for the user to move thair mouse to. Moveing your mouse to the corners of the window does not take any visual feedback but moveing it to the next one in involves you moveing the mouse and checking it's location visually.

 

As access to the chat history is most likely going to be the more commonly used function i think it should be given the higher priority location in the corner.

[ttlanhil]

As access to the chat history is most likely going to be the more commonly used function i think it should be given the higher priority location in the corner.

it'd be easy enough to do, but I'm not sure how good it'd be

I prefer having the 'options' menu as the first one, having only one drop-down and not having it in the corner looks a little more odd

but then I don't use the 'history' button except for testing, I use keyboard shortcuts wherever possible. and i'm hardly an UI expert ... if people think it would be better then we can swap them... should only take swaping the order of the add_tab_button() calls around chat.c:1725

 

ed:actually, I'll try it out and see how it looks, and get back to you when I can get on EL (currently at uni. have web access, but port 2k is blocked )

 

ed2: http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b62/ttla...elscreen010.jpg <-- with the drop-down as the 2nd tab

I prefer it in the corner, but I don't mind too much if it gets moved

Edited March 6, 2006 by ttlanhil

[Vegar]

I cleaned up chat.c a bit, moved some code around, made some cosmetic code changes, made the scrollbar show up only when needed, made the scroll wheel work in the whole window.

http://dev.sunscream.net/el-patches/chat.c.diff

 

I'll commit the patch later today.

Edited March 7, 2006 by Vegar

[Roja]

I was wondering if someone could add some more text onto the bottom of the new Channels tab:

 

Type @ before your message to talk in a channel.

[Torg]

I was wondering if someone could add some more text onto the bottom of the new Channels tab:

Done.

 

However... those bits of text are hardcoded strings. I'll add them as translatables soon.

[Roja]

great thanks!

[Roja]

There's something else too that's bothering me, that I'd like to get your opinions on.

 

The background of the Channels tab is semi transparent, however it's nearly impossible to read the list of channels with other text behind this semi transparent window. What about making it fully opaque-black? Since the channels list is kinda like a pop up thing it's not that big of a deal to need to see underneath it.

[ttlanhil]

What about making it fully opaque-black?

dunno... so I'll try that and see how it looks

I agree with it being hard to read, but I'm not sure if it needs to be solid... perhaps just darker will do. I'll find out soon

ed: reducing transparency from 40% to 25% makes it a lot more readable, without the 'blank'ish look of 0%

 

 

if it's not quite dark enough, then it could probably go to 20% without looking completely black

Edited May 4, 2006 by ttlanhil

[Roja]

That looks pretty good ttlanhil. Please commit it, i'll test it out later on tonight. Thanks

[ttlanhil]

Please commit it, i'll test it out later on tonight.

done. enjoy!

[Roja]

Alright tried it out.

2 things:

 

1. It CAN be a little bit darker..maybe 10% more?

2. The tool tips, they actually go underneath the scroll bar in the channels drop down window. Small bug, but thought i'd mention it

 

3. Torg made the addition of "type @ before your message to talk" upon my request, however it's a bit confusing for newbies. Can it be edited there to look EXACTLY like this:

 

 

Click a Channel to join. You can be in up to 3 channels at a time.

 

To talk in a channel, type @ before your message. You do not have to type @ to talk in Local.

 

Also, is it possible to put a "link" to the help window, to show ppl there are more commands & info on the chat system there?

So in the channels section it'd say something like this:

 

More about Chatting

 

And that line would be a link to the chat page in the help window...is that possible?

[Torg]

3. Torg made the addition of "type @ before your message to talk" upon my request, however it's a bit confusing for newbies. Can it be edited there to look EXACTLY like this:

Ok... added those lines, but CVS is down atm so I can't update just yet. :-S

 

And that line would be a link to the chat page in the help window...is that possible?

This will be possible with Anti's patch.