[GnomeMeeting-list] Ideas for a new GUI

[Damien Sandras <dsandras seconix com>]

Hello to all,


The recent poll has showed that Jabber support is not really a popular
choice, at least for 2.00, and that we should concentrate first on what
we are doing best: as softphone. If Jabber support comes, it will be
through integration with 3rd party software like GAIM or GOSSIP and
Julien has been doing a great job on this.

However, most people want a more modern GUI.

I will separate the text chat part from the main GUI, because it will be
possible to send text messages even to people with who you are not in
audio/video calls, thanks to SIP. It will also permit to have a
resizable window for it, which is more convenient.

The rest of the GUI needs to contain at least:
- a part to display the video
- a dialpad
- a statistics window
- sliders to adjust the audio / video settings

I had the idea to do something like Skype : everything in tabs. But that
is not very convenient. For example, imagine that you have a video
answering machine, and want to consult your video&voicemails. You will
need access to the dialpad (to navigate through the menus and mails),
and to the video (to watch the messages). Skype-like UI's do not allow
that, and having to switch between tabs is ... boring.

On the other side, having the big GnomeMeeting logo displayed all the
time, even when there is no call, or when it is a voice-only call means
wasted space.

We have thus 3 possibilities :
1) display video when required, in a separate window. Keep the dialpad
in the main window.
2) display video when required, but keep it in the main window, next to
OR above the dialpad (very similar to what we have now, except that the
video part wouldn't always be shown).
3) always display the video window. Display the dialpad in a separate
window.

Any other ideas? What would you, dear GnomeMeeting user, prefer?

Thanks,
-- 
 _      Damien Sandras
(o-     GnomeMeeting: http://www.gnomemeeting.org/
//\     FOSDEM 2005 : http://www.fosdem.org
v_/_    H.323 phone : callto:ils.seconix.com/dsandras seconix com