Re: Word-a-Day: instant message

[Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org>]

On Thu, 2008-04-10 at 21:23 +0200, Luca Ferretti wrote:
> 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"?

Added to the list.  Is "contact" a good word?

> > 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 can allow simply "message" when the context
is established.  So instant messaging application would
rarely need to use the verbose phrase "instant message".

> > > 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

So I think I'll elaborate on this in the recommendation
to give an example of here space is really constrained
(as opposed to just wanting short labels), and also to
point out that there will be translation difficulties,
and that the column name might not be so short in other
languages.

If we can find a clear alternative, that would be great.

> > 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]).

The term "screen name" is very AOL-centric.  The problem
with address, though, is that most services just use a
username, which sure doesn't look like an address.  But
Jabber IDs don't really look like usernames.

> 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 :-|

For an "Add Account" dialog, I think it's reasonable for
the application to dynamically change what fields it asks
for when you select the network, Our "Connect to Server"
dialog does this.

But your instant messaging address could be listed in
all sorts of places, like in address books and web pages.
I suppose that, in these places, the network really has
to be identified, so maybe they should use labels that
are descriptive of the network.

Also, I'm not sure I'm fond of using the word "protocol".
Perhaps "network", "service", or "service type".

It looks like this recommendation is going to have to
go through some revisions.

--
Shaun