Hi all,
I just sent the below to hw support (this many emails to support
has to be a record for me!) Has anyone noticed any other bugs or
missing features?
After using Keychat for about a day, I have run across some bugs,
as well as features that are missing that I feel should be added
to make Keychat a more standard IM client. I realize that some
of the following are just my opinion, especially the proposed UI
changes. Note that numbers 13 and 15 were reported to Humanware
tech support earlier today by myself. Number 15 was partially
duplicated (the1 or 0 was spoken) but the tech support rep did
not switch to UEB. I do not have his name, sorry.
1. When logging in: the item that lets you log in is placed in
the status menu, which does not make sense. Pressing i from the
availability menu does nothing; you must navigate to the item and
press enter. Similarly, the instant messenger settings in the
options menu are not opened by pressing i, only moved to, unlike
every other menu in Keysoft which opens an option or submenu when
its first letter is pressed.
2. There is no way to check your login status (quickly see if
you are online). In fact, there is no way at all, quickly or
otherwise; to log off, you must turn off your internet
connection, turn off the machine, or reset.
3. You cannot set your status to be invisible, offline, or any
other setting that would let you see who is online but not get
messaged.
4. There is no file transfer possible.
5. Even when not signed in, you are still allowed to try to
start a conversation. Since contacts are not locally stored, why
is this possible? You should either be prompted to connect to a
network first, or the "start conversation" option should be
removed when no internet connection is detected.
6. The options item should be renamed to "settings" or "setup",
since all other programs with any settings option do this
(keyword, keymail, keyplan, media center).
7. Some options in the keychat menu and its submenus are
capitalized while the rest are not.
8. No personal messages are supported. If XMPP will allow this,
it is a big part of messaging.
9. I think that space-5-6 and space-2-3 should move forward and
back through a conversation by message. Currently only movement
by line is supported, which is fine unless someone writes more
than one sentence.
10. When writing a message while reviewing messages, the first
character typed is translated oddly. When the braille code is
set to UEB and the computer braille table is set to Spanish, a
capital sign shows up as dots 4-5-6, a period shows up as dots
1-6, and so on. After the first character translation is okay.
11. Sometimes, in a conversation, the "msg?" prompt is there,
and sometimes it is not; pick one, either display it all the time
or get rid of it.
12. No timestamp option is available for messages. This should
be a toggle so that you do not always have to see them, but if
you return to an open conversation you can turn them on to see
when the last message was.
13. Messaging contacts whose status is offline (what the bn
calls "unavailable) should be allowed. First, this lets you send
a message at that moment if you know you will not have time later
and the contact can see the message whenever they log in.
Second, this lets you message sms contacts, something Google Talk
supports but the bn does not.
14. Instead of just the contact name in the contact list, a
customizable view should be given. Then a contact could be, for
example:
name (status): personal message
or simply:
name: status
Note that the punctuation changed; I would think this would be
part of the customization.
15. In UEB, pressing y or n does not change the "automatically
connect" prompt in the instant messaging settings. Switching to
grade 2 will fix this. Also, when setting this option, the bn
says "1" or "0" (for yes or no respectively) in grade 2, but "dot
2" and "3 5 6" inUEB; translation from UEB to computer braille is
probably being mixed up, so no valid number is given to the
prompt, plus these numbers should not be spoken at all.
16. I think that the chat hotkey, backspace-enter-c, should open
your list of contacts, not just the keychat menu. At least have
this hotkey configurable; it seems sensible that a chat hotkey
would place me in a position to immediately start chatting, but
others may like it the way it is.
17. Incoming messages are not always spoken automatically when
in a conversation.
18. Not really a problem, but strange: when reviewing saved
conversation files, the .kwt extension is spoken and displayed,
even though this extension is usually hidden, like .kwb is.
I recommend a menu something like this:
new conversation: works as "start new conversation" does now,
except that if you are not connected to the internet, you are
prompted to do so before continuing.
review past conversations: same as current item
availability: offers a list of options, including some sort of
"invisible" option. Could users make their own settings for
this?
personal message: if XMPP supports this, it is a great way to
convey your status or what you are doing; contacts in the contact
list should also have their messages shown
log in/out: if logged in, pressing l from the keychat menu will
log you out (and the option will just be "log out"), and vice
versa if you are not logged in.
setup options
account settings: username, password, server, server port,
setting to log on either at internet connection start, at keychat
start, or only upon explicit login command
general settings: same as current
Phrase Management: same as current, but notice the rename; this
is because when I think "phrase", I press p, not m for "manage".
The concept of intuitive keypresses working is what keysoft is
built on, and keychat does not do a good job of keeping up this
vital tradition. This is also why I propose the "my
availability" menu be changed to just "availability".
Have a great day,
Alex
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