GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 658043
No easy way to bring back contact list when using the Shell
Last modified: 2018-05-22 15:03:02 UTC
How things work --------------- Empathy is split in different process: - empathy: the contact list - empathy-chat: the chat windows - empathy-av / empathy-call: audio/video calls - empathy-accoutns : the accounts dialog - empathy-debugger : the debug dialog - empathy-auth-client : small client used when connecting to IM accounts to provide the password, ask for certificate exceptions, etc. Atm, all these process do this when starting: gdk_set_program_class ("Empathy"); gtk_window_set_default_icon_name ("empathy"); The goal here is to appear as the same application in the Shell (same entry in Alt-Tab and in the menu bar in the overview): bug #642440 The problem ----------- When user closes the empathy contact list window he doesn't have an easy way to bring it back. It use to be able to by clicking on the status icon but it has been removed (bug #631944). Clicking on the Empathy icon in the menu brings back the chat windows (empathy-chat), it doesn't popup the contact list. We discussed this during our BoF at the DS and suggested to add a "Show contact list" item in the app menu but, afaik, we can't do that yet (bug #621203). Another option could be to stop grouping empathy-* process as the same Shell app but that bring some problem: - Each process should have its own icon to be quickly identifiable in the menus. Which icons would we use? We could maybe use the avatar of the currently active tab for empathy-chat but that doesn't solve the problem for the other processes. - Some risk of menu entries explosion
Nick, Allan: some thoughts would be welcome here as that's really up to the way we want to present things to users.
The problem seems to be the separation of empathy and empathy-chat. I would expect chat windows to be closed when the buddy list is. In the longer term, unifying the buddy list and chat into the same window would offer a better experience. :)
I'm not convinced tbh. Especially as you can have a chat windows without the contact list (if you click in a Shell chat bubble)
(In reply to comment #0) > Atm, all these process do this when starting: > gdk_set_program_class ("Empathy"); > gtk_window_set_default_icon_name ("empathy"); > > > The goal here is to appear as the same application in the Shell (same entry in > Alt-Tab and in the menu bar in the overview): bug #642440 fwiw this doesn't work here (shell 3.0.2, empathy from git master, Debian). empathy, empathy-chat, empathy-call etc appear separately in alt-tab and in the menubar in the overview.
(In reply to comment #3) > I'm not convinced tbh. Especially as you can have a chat windows without the > contact list (if you click in a Shell chat bubble) I think the buddy list should be raised along with chat windows. Users will be confused if Empathy deviates from the standard application behaviour.
We I open a chat from the Shell that's just to have a proper window to chat with; I don't care or need the contact list. I suspect most people use it that way too.
Yeah but the contact list is still more handy to start a conversation than the shell search + gnome-contact (at least for now, maybe there should be a way to directly start a conversation without having to launch gnome-contacts then)
*** Bug 661457 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
> We discussed this during our BoF at the DS and suggested to add a "Show contact > list" item in the app menu but, afaik, we can't do that yet (bug #621203). Actually this won't even be possible. GtkApplication will just allow us to add entries to the app menu (the one in the top bar when the app is focused), not in Shell's launcher. As a dirty hack empathy-chat could maybe re-invoke empathy when it's re-activated. That's pretty ugly but should at least solve this problem...
Honestly I think this swarm of small windows approach is not a good one. I'm hoping that we'll have new Chat mockups that show how a single window for the Chat app can be more effective. The chatting in the Shell makes the separate small windows for chat much less interesting. We really need an app that focuses on an overview and history.
(In reply to comment #10) > Honestly I think this swarm of small windows approach is not a good one. I'm > hoping that we'll have new Chat mockups that show how a single window for the > Chat app can be more effective. The chatting in the Shell makes the separate > small windows for chat much less interesting. We really need an app that > focuses on an overview and history. I opened bug #661713 to discuss bigger changes; let's keep this bug about this very specific issue.
*** Bug 661811 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 662523 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
(In reply to comment #9) > > We discussed this during our BoF at the DS and suggested to add a "Show contact > > list" item in the app menu but, afaik, we can't do that yet (bug #621203). > > Actually this won't even be possible. GtkApplication will just allow us to add > entries to the app menu (the one in the top bar when the app is focused), not > in Shell's launcher. > > As a dirty hack empathy-chat could maybe re-invoke empathy when it's > re-activated. That's pretty ugly but should at least solve this problem... Looks like what we want is "jump lists": bug #609114
I don't think jump lists are the answer. We want an integrated single window Chat app I think.
*** Bug 663464 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
I've personally not had any problem with right-clicking the empathy app in the launcher and clicking 'new window'. But, I think it might be an idea to start focussing towards integrating further with gnome-contacts. You can already start conversations from there and see contact's status. If gnome-contacts added a button to sort contacts by IM status (maybe even hiding those without IM details), then I think that would provide a good interface without duplication from maintaining 2 contact list interfaces (3 including Evolution...).
*** Bug 664259 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 659076 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
(In reply to comment #17) > I've personally not had any problem with right-clicking the empathy app in the > launcher and clicking 'new window'. You might not mind, but there is not doubt that: 1. it takes longer than just clicking the icon in the notification area 2. it's very nonintuitive. Believe me, normals users have no chance to find this solution unless someone tells them. > But, I think it might be an idea to start focussing towards integrating further > with gnome-contacts. You can already start conversations from there and see > contact's status. If gnome-contacts added a button to sort contacts by IM > status (maybe even hiding those without IM details), then I think that would > provide a good interface without duplication from maintaining 2 contact list > interfaces (3 including Evolution...). Unfortunaltey gnome-contacts will never cover all use cases. What if I want to create/join MUC, IRC channel? What about merging the roster and chat windows into one? It would certainly solve the problem.
Hi guys, Some news about this bug ? Thanks a lot Stephane
I just experienced a very similar issue with Evolution: - Start Evolution - Start typing a mail - Close the Evolution main window - Click on the Evolution icon in the Shell overview to get it back - The mail you were typing is focused. The only way to get the main window is to right click and pick 'New Window' which is exactly the same as with Empathy. This makes me think it's more of a Shell general issue than an Empathy specific one.
I would say this is a problem Evolution and Empathy share.
*** Bug 683120 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Expanding on what Jiri Eischmann replied, as a new user to Empathy it was very confusing trying to figure out how to re-open the Contact List window after closing it while still having chat windows open. I think most users would right click the Evolution icon in the Shell overview or in the Activities Bar and look for an option that says Contact List. Obviously the only way to bring the Contact List window back (while having chat windows open) is to right click the Evolution icon in the Shell overview and click New Window. Users will only discover this by experimenting. In addition, naming it New Window does not make much since because it implies multiple windows can be opened and the Contact List can only ever have one window of itself open. Simply replacing the text for New Window with Contact List would solve this confusion.
-- GitLab Migration Automatic Message -- This bug has been migrated to GNOME's GitLab instance and has been closed from further activity. You can subscribe and participate further through the new bug through this link to our GitLab instance: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/empathy/issues/426.