Random feature loss from pidgin

ConnorBehan · 2008-03-08 01:55:11

I just got pidgin 2.4.0 and as usual the new features I noticed right away were things I couldn't care less about. Slightly smaller green circles, different shade of blue for highlighting the name of someone who has messaged you, etc.

But why did they remove the ability to resize the text box where you type what you're going to say? It used to have a dragable border but now it has to be 2 lines of text no matter what. Why on Earth would they take that out?? Does anyone know how to put it back in?

freakcode · 2008-03-08 01:59:13

Yeah, I found it annoying too. Pidgin developers keep taking out again and again things that simply shouldn't be touched. And yet, lacks good features, like webcam support, high speed file transfers for MSN, and so on...

We can fill a bug/feature request on Pidgin Trac (really, we should fill as a BUG, not a feature request, the feature WAS there in first place).

Last edited by freakcode (2008-03-08 02:02:06)

grassmonk · 2008-03-08 08:01:44

A bug was filed against this, and the devs closed it as invalid, so an enhancement request was filed. There are many people adding their comments requesting that the resizing be reimplemented, but the devs don't seem to think that it should be. Please add your support to get this feature back. I have downgraded to 2.3.1 and will not be upgrading to any new version of Pidgin until this is fixed.

The bug tracking url is http://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/4986

ConnorBehan · 2008-03-08 19:04:04

I'm glad I'm not the only one who found this very stupid. There are enough complaints now, if they don't improve the situation in the next version, I'll go back to 2.3.1 as well.

stonecrest · 2008-03-08 20:04:22

ConnorBehan wrote:

but now it has to be 2 lines of text no matter what.

Just in case you're not aware, the size expands as you type text. So if you type 4 lines of text, it'll be 4 lines tall. That said, I rarely use pidgin and I find this feature to be a nice default.

ConnorBehan · 2008-03-08 21:16:46

Oh right. I realized that about an hour after I made that post. I still think it should be optional. Resizing the input field was something I must have done alot because it really feels weird every time I'm in a chat now.

ConnorBehan · 2008-03-12 13:23:05

Success! I have made a fork of Pidgin to address this very issue and it should be appearing on Sourceforge in a very short time.

This was after I tried to reason with the developers of course. They assured me that they are working to solve the problem but they said they would NOT allow manual resizing even as a runtime option or compile time option. I began to tell them why I found that response completely unacceptable but the argument heated up because the developers have a very short fuse. I am now blocked from the IRC channel (they are just impossible to deal with anyway.) So IF YOU WANT SOMETHING DONE RIGHT... YOU HAVE TO DO IT YOURSELF!

I am very new to C (and you might say programming in general) but I plan to maintain this for as long as it is needed. Look for a package called funpidgin on Sourceforge and the AUR soon.

blu3ness · 2008-03-12 16:34:47

I hardly open up my pidgin nowdays anyway, there are plenty replacement for it that are contain more features. But yeah, I do hope they get on their feet and start pushing some real improvements. aka, better protocol support

finferflu · 2008-03-12 16:38:01

blu3ness wrote:

there are plenty replacement for it that are contain more features.

Really? So far I can only list one: Kopete.

Paul-S · 2008-03-12 17:19:44

Yep its annoying feature, but I don't like kopete. Anyone recommend any others to try?

carlocci · 2008-03-12 18:59:43

ConnorBehan wrote:

I began to tell them why I found that response completely unacceptable but the argument heated up because the developers have a very short fuse. I am now blocked from the IRC channel (they are just impossible to deal with anyway.)

Maybe if you tell them you are confused by their behaviour they will remove themselves from pidgin

On a serious note, amsn is a very good msn protocol client, you might like it.

ConnorBehan · 2008-03-14 00:59:11

Alright, funpidgin is on sourceforge and a PKGBUILD for funpidgin is in the AUR. It is identical to pidgin except for two features:

1. The textbox resizing is done manually.
2. The user can check or uncheck "place conversation windows where the last one was" (pidgin always does this which angers some people who would rather let their window manager decide)

I will keep this up to date as best I can and possibly add new minor *non-controversial* features if many people request them. This is my first open source project so any help is definitely welcome. However this may fall under the "doomed to fail" category.

So if you liked pidgin before and are switching to another chat client or using 2.3.1 because of the issues with the newest version... try out funpidgin and tell me what you think!

Jerry · 2008-03-14 05:52:08

Anyone recommend any others to try?

I use centerIM, it's a console based IM that was forked from centerICQ. It's not as matured as pidgin but it's a lightweight application and is modestly developed.

Maybe there's an emacs extension for an IM somewhere. M - X...

lol

@finferflu: I remember you from a thread that you we're trying to ditch pidgin for a lightweight application did you try centerIM or maybe finch? If you don't mind me asking what was missing with this apps that made you stick with pidgin?

SiD · 2008-03-14 08:39:28

another thing i am missing are the "dancing keys", I mean the "used Kesyboard icon" in top right corner that indicated that a buddy is writing something. In the new version it's just some text in the chat window. I liked the "keys". One could easy see if any buddy was typing. Also if more than one tab was open.

Last edited by SiD (2008-03-14 08:40:24)

ConnorBehan · 2008-03-17 02:23:51

SiD wrote:

another thing i am missing are the "dancing keys", I mean the "used Kesyboard icon" in top right corner that indicated that a buddy is writing something. In the new version it's just some text in the chat window. I liked the "keys". One could easy see if any buddy was typing. Also if more than one tab was open.

I will try to make that an option in Funpidgin, thanks!

ConnorBehan · 2008-04-05 18:00:42

SiD wrote:

another thing i am missing are the "dancing keys", I mean the "used Kesyboard icon" in top right corner that indicated that a buddy is writing something. In the new version it's just some text in the chat window. I liked the "keys". One could easy see if any buddy was typing. Also if more than one tab was open.

Ok Funpidgin 2.4.1 which I am currently working on supports this. I'll test it for maybe a day or two then release it.

Misbah · 2008-04-05 18:12:16

deleted

Last edited by Misbah (2012-02-14 05:31:22)

aRcHaTe · 2008-04-05 21:14:55

ConnorBehan wrote:

I just got pidgin 2.4.0 and as usual the new features I noticed right away were things I couldn't care less about. Slightly smaller green circles, different shade of blue for highlighting the name of someone who has messaged you, etc.
But why did they remove the ability to resize the text box where you type what you're going to say? It used to have a dragable border but now it has to be 2 lines of text no matter what. Why on Earth would they take that out?? Does anyone know how to put it back in?

for many time i was big fan of gaim aka pidgin...with time it begain to work poorly...and now i only use emesene...to bad ...but for now pidgin really sucking big time...

moljac024 · 2008-04-06 13:32:49

Yes, i too was annoyed by not being able to resize the text field but I just got used to it, and if it really resizes automatically that really is a nice default, however I agree that the option to manually resize should be added.

I also miss the "dancing keys"

sash · 2008-04-06 13:41:00

For me , the chat window text box comes out with no lines for me to write... It only expands if I place the text cursor in the box.

xaw · 2008-04-06 15:01:27

Gaim/pidgin was reasonably good until it passed the 1.5.x series when it started losing it.

IIRC, Slackware was going to ditch distribution of pidgin/gaim on -current/-release CDs a while back before the devs (from both sides) settled their scores ... so it comes as no surprise. @ConnorBehan, keep us updated; I think some of us would be quite interested here :-)

ConnorBehan · 2008-04-07 04:28:25

Yes I will keep updating Funpidgin. I just finished version 2.4.1 yesterday and got 50 downloads on that day alone... so thanks everyone for your interest! Nodashi's plugin is now included to handle manual resizing, and I made it so the horribly small buddy icons in the corner can be resized too. Other things you can bring back are the dancing keys requested here, and the send button requested by a few people (tablet PC users I suspect). These are rather simple things, but my philosophy is the more options the better which differs sharply from the philosophy of pidgin.

If you want a feature, I will try my hardest to include it. If it gets to the point where I've done all the simple things I can do and every request is beyond my ability and I'm still the only programmer... then I'm sorry but I WILL make sure the changes I've made already are consistently compiled against the latest version of pidgin.

wooptoo · 2008-04-22 00:04:38

ConnorBehan: thanks for making this fork. I hope more people will help you develop it. The Pidgin developers are too stubborn to listen to any complaints from the users.
Maybe you could take a look at this too: http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=47045 (i couldn't build the package myself... )

tonyisnt · 2008-04-23 04:47:15

Hell, I'm still using Gaim 1.5 because I didn't like some of the changes for 2.0. Of course I'm missing out on a handful of things, but it serves its purpose.

kingjorge · 2008-04-23 19:29:25

Looks like you are making waves with this fork:

http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2008/ … se-to.html

Arch Linux

#1 2008-03-08 01:55:11

Random feature loss from pidgin

#2 2008-03-08 01:59:13

Re: Random feature loss from pidgin

#3 2008-03-08 08:01:44

Re: Random feature loss from pidgin

#4 2008-03-08 19:04:04

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#5 2008-03-08 20:04:22

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#6 2008-03-08 21:16:46

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#7 2008-03-12 13:23:05

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#8 2008-03-12 16:34:47

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#9 2008-03-12 16:38:01

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#10 2008-03-12 17:19:44

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#11 2008-03-12 18:59:43

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#12 2008-03-14 00:59:11

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#13 2008-03-14 05:52:08

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#14 2008-03-14 08:39:28

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#15 2008-03-17 02:23:51

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#16 2008-04-05 18:00:42

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#19 2008-04-06 13:32:49

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#24 2008-04-23 04:47:15

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#25 2008-04-23 19:29:25

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