Version: (using KDE KDE 3.5.8) Installed from: Ubuntu Packages When users go offline/online or you change your thread view of groups and users in anyway (show offline users, expand a group etc.), the main window (contact list) should auto-resize to remove the white-space below the thread and optionally re-position the window back to the x,y coords of the bottom left or right of the window. If this feature is implemented it will give good useability for the application. This feature is also something that would not be hard to develop but will give an advantage over other multi-im clients that do not have this convenient feature.
I don't think that this is a good idea: 1) The window would move while the user was trying to use it 2) It would resize so frequently it would cause headaches 3) It could become too big or too small very easily
I had a think Charles, here is my responses: 1) I think perhaps only the vertical hight is resized, not the width (the width can be fixed by the user as a lot of people on MSN abuse the character length of nickname and status fields). And this should be done graceful, just like when a user logs off and the tree reduces. A slow reduction in height is ok particularly when the window is pinned by the bottom right hand corner. 2) Not if its just vertical and done slow and gracefully 3) A lot of users would prefer a small window of their current online contacts only than a window that is very large/high with whitespace because 90% of their users just went offline for example. The aim is to avoid manual resize of the window frequently which most users do, well at least thats why i have observed. Fixed dimensions provide a scrollbar and a large window provides whitespace when users are offline. Something like above could work, imo (and may not be a default option, but is switchable).
One other thought is that this method that resizes the window based upon variables, could be called by timer on a regular basis. I know i would be happy with a 30 second resize for example to save me doing it manual because i'm picky with the aesthetics of windows.
formerly i was a windows user and i used miranda as my IM-multiclient. i have to say that i was very happy about that feature and i would be pleased to see the feature of autoresizing in kopete the same way miranda does.
I would be okay with doing a resize every 30 seconds (or some other time value), rather than at every event. I'll take this bug and fit it into my work schedule. PS. I do not think that X or any window manager would be very happy with Kopete 'gracefully' resizing windows, since that is really just many frequent tiny resizes. I will make it do immediate resizing.
Fix written at http://mattr.info/r/171/. Within a week it should either be committed or be rejected.
SVN commit 781052 by cconnell: Automatically resize main window based on size of contact list Allow user to switch this on/off and change resize anchor position FEATURE:154955 M +3 -0 kopete/config/appearance/appearanceconfig.cpp M +44 -52 kopete/config/appearance/appearanceconfig_advanced.ui M +523 -451 kopete/kopetewindow.cpp M +9 -1 kopete/kopetewindow.h M +14 -0 libkopete/kopeteappearancesettings.kcfg M +7 -4 libkopete/ui/kopetelistview.h M +17 -10 libkopete/ui/kopetelistviewitem.cpp M +5 -1 libkopete/ui/kopetelistviewitem.h WebSVN link: http://websvn.kde.org/?view=rev&revision=781052