954673 - "Add contact" button in contact list

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Instantbird Graveyard :: Contacts window, enhancement)

Description

[Benedikt Pfeifer]

*** Original post on bio 1241 at 2012-01-23 11:06:00 UTC ***

*** Due to BzAPI limitations, the initial description is in comment 1 ***

Comment 1

[Benedikt Pfeifer]

Attachment: Mockup ("Add new contact to list", at bottom of the contact list)

*** Original post on bio 1241 as attmnt 1127 at 2012-01-23 11:06:00 UTC ***

We could have an "Add contact" button at the end of the contact list, to make absolutely obvious how to add a new contact.

I'm not sure if the task is done often enough to justify reserving screen space for it.

I created a mockup, see the attachment.

Comment 2

[Florian Quèze [:florian]]

*** Original post on bio 1241 at 2012-01-23 11:09:18 UTC ***

When the existing contact list is long, would you need to scroll down to see the add contact button, or would you keep it visible?

Comment 3

[Benedikt Pfeifer]

Attachment: Mockup 2, long list with scrollbars, "Add new contact" is always visible

*** Original post on bio 1241 as attmnt 1128 at 2012-01-23 11:16:00 UTC ***

I had it inside the scrolling box at the beginning and decided it would be useless if you had to scroll to the bottom before you'd be able to click it. It wouldn't be any more discoverable than the "Add Buddy..." item in the File menu then.

So: I think it should be always visible (like the new tab button in Firefox), see the new attachment with the longer list.

Comment 4

[Florian Quèze [:florian]]

*** Original post on bio 1241 at 2012-01-23 11:21:11 UTC ***

(In reply to comment #2)

> it would be useless if you had to scroll to the bottom before you'd be able to click it.

Except if we are targeting people with an empty list (people who have just started using IM and may be confused). I would expect experienced users to be able to find the menu item by themselves, as they know the "Add contact" feature definitely exists somewhere.

Comment 5

[aleth [:aleth]]

*** Original post on bio 1241 at 2012-01-23 20:02:48 UTC ***

To save space, couldn't it appear on hovering over the blank space under the last contact? 

When the list is completely empty, it would then appear on hovering anywhere over the contact area, making it very discoverable, and the clickable area larger.

For some reason, intuitively I think double-click would be better than single-click for this. Not sure why.

Comment 6

[Sylvestre Ledru [:Sylvestre]]

On the behalf of Florian:
Closing bugs related to the Instantbird UI as WONTFIX, as the development of the standalone chat client Instantbird has stopped. Instantbird users are encouraged to migrate to Thunderbird. The user interface of instant messaging in Thunderbird will feel familiar, as the Thunderbird IM support started as a fork of Instantbird.