Re: Word-a-Day: instant message



Il giorno mar, 08/04/2008 alle 11.15 -0500, Shaun McCance ha scritto:
> Luca, you sent this off-list.  I don't see anything personal
> or whatever in here, so I assume it was an accident.

Sorry, my fault, clicked the wrong button..

> > I mean, in applications, the menu entry I've choose in order to contact
> > my best friend, should be "send a new instant message" or "open/start a
> > new conversation"? 
> 
> Good question.  I think when the context of instant
> messaging has been established, words like "message"
> and "conversation" can be used alone.  Gaim 2.0 uses
> "New Instant Message" in the Buddies menu, but "IM"

OT: could we kill "buddy"? 

:-)

> I don't have any problems with "conversation" per se,
> but I think "New Message" is the best phrase in this
> case.  Are there other cases we should consider?

Maybe just avoid to use "instant message" and "email message" (but I
haven't followed previous thread on email) in the same phrase, section,
or menu.
 
> > I think we should discourage the "IM" abbreviation and suggest to use
> > only "message" if you really have no space in the UI (well, if so, you
> > should change your UI).
> 
> When I wrote that paragraph, the thing I had in mind
> was column headers.
> 
> Name             Email Address       IM Address
> Shaun McCance    shaunm gnome org    shaunm gnome org
> Luca Ferretti    elle uca libero it

I've to admit here IM is the best choice

> That, of course, begs the question of whether we should
> recommend a generic word for "instant messaging address".
> If the particular network is established, you can use
> the term common on that network (screen name, Jabber ID,
> etc.)  But should there be a generic term?

"instant messaging address" is not so bad, from a translator point of
view, so we don't have to check the official translation used in
official clients (BTW: Pidgin is using screen name for all protocols,
but it should be an AOL only service[1]).

Moreover IM addresses look like email addresses and some protocols
(gmail, MSN) provides both services, so it reasonable use "address".

Some days ago I was trying to design a mochup for a "Add Contact"
dialog (attached), something better than the current pidgin one. The
usage of "messaging address" seems good to me, especially providing a
Protocol combobox to select the service used by the contact you are
going to add.

I just have some doubts about the usage of "messaging address" when you
are creating a new account for your own:

        |      Add Account      |
        |-----------------------|
        | Protocol:   (_______) |
        | IM address: [_______] |
        | Password:   [_______] |
        
vs

        |      Add Account      |
        |-----------------------|
        | Protocol:   (_______) |
        | Username:   [_______] |
        | Password:   [_______] |

'cause here your IM address is your username too :-|

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_name

Attachment: Schermata-im-add-new-contact.glade.png
Description: PNG image

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: Questa =?ISO-8859-1?Q?=E8?= una parte del messaggio firmata digitalmente



[Date Prev][Date Next]   [Thread Prev][Thread Next]   [Thread Index] [Date Index] [Author Index]