*** Original post on bio 632 by Paul [sabret00the] <sabret00the AT yahoo.co.uk> at 2010-12-16 11:12:00 UTC *** Ok, this is a two tier bug. It handles the proposal for a menu revamp and also an application button layout. Application Button: New Conversation -> -- New aonversation with... -- Join a chat... === Set Status -> -- [Various Statuses] -- Create new custom status... === Accounts... === Tools -> -- Add-ons... -- Error Console... -- Options... === Help -> -- Frequently Asked Questions... -- Help... -- About... -- Check for upgrades... And for use on systems that wouldn't support Application Buttons: Conversation -> -- New conversation with... -- Join a chat... === Status -- [Various Statuses] -- Create new custom status... === Tools -> -- Accounts... -- Add-ons... -- Error Console... -- Options... === Help -> -- Frequently Asked Questions... -- Help... -- About... -- Check for upgrades... As you can see, the biggest change between the two is that Accounts goes under tools, rather than being top level. In short, I've renamed the file menu to conversation, added a status menu, the tools menu has pretty much stayed the same. And I've added some items to the help menu. I'll add a mockup here later.

*** Original post on bio 632 by iLobster <ib.toster AT gmail.com> at 2010-12-17 16:28:12 UTC *** IMO for use on systems that wouldn't support Application Buttons - menu string (and whole window) will be too wide: | Conversation | Status | Tools | Help | And for example in Russian localization it will be more wider (i'm not sure how to translate "Conversation" to look and sound better on Russian, so may be it will be even more wider): | Разговор | Статус | Инструменты | Справка | But i like to see mockups.

*** Original post on bio 632 as attmnt 463 by sabret00the AT yahoo.co.uk at 2011-01-03 18:18:00 UTC was without comment, so any subsequent comment numbers will be shifted ***

*** Original post on bio 632 at 2011-01-03 19:47:21 UTC *** I like the application button menus. They seem quite intuitive and do what they should. The problem is with the other version. The buddy window is usually not that wide so with menus with such long names it's going to be awful. You have to find something to get this right if we are even to consider this.

*** Original post on bio 632 by Paul [sabret00the] <sabret00the AT yahoo.co.uk> at 2011-01-03 21:30:04 UTC *** (In reply to comment #3) > I like the application button menus. They seem quite intuitive and do what they > should. The problem is with the other version. The buddy window is usually not > that wide so with menus with such long names it's going to be awful. You have > to find something to get this right if we are even to consider this. I'm honestly not sure what width people generally keep their windows at. However I tend to keep mine about that width. That said, the space between menus could be flexible and thus thinner.

*** Original post on bio 632 at 2011-01-04 08:48:26 UTC *** Mine is about 200px width.

*** Original post on bio 632 at 2011-01-04 10:49:33 UTC *** Interesting! A few random comments: * Instantbird, not InstantBird. * Menu items in the en-US locale tend to use caps only for important words, so you would write "New Conversation with..." and "Join a Chat...". * I don't see the "Check for updates" menu item in your mockup. Do you mean it should be moved to the about window like it's been done for Firefox 4, or have you just forgotten to include it? * This is out of the scope of this bug, but I think in the (not so near) future we will merge "New Conversation with" and "Join a Chat" into a single UI that would probably be a conversation tab with a special content helping the user to start a new conversation. * In the case of the Instantbird button, I think you can put a separator before "Accounts", and put "Add-ons", "Error Console..." and "Options..." directly in the Instantbird menu after "Accounts...". * I'm not completely sure of what "Create Custom Status..." is supposed to be, but if my guess about it is right, it's something we don't want by default and would rather have in an add-on.

*** Original post on bio 632 at 2011-01-17 14:46:45 UTC *** I like the mockup but on the classic view the width problem would even be worse for me. I think my buddy list is usually not much wider than 150px. The quit/exit menu item is missing also by the way. Since there seems to be general interest in this topic I'm confirming this bug, changing it to an enhancement request.

*** Original post on bio 632 by Paul [sabret00the] <sabret00the AT yahoo.co.uk> at 2011-01-17 22:29:16 UTC *** (In reply to comment #5) > Mine is about 200px width. Just out of curiosity, what platform are you running? (In reply to comment #6) > * Instantbird, not InstantBird. > * Menu items in the en-US locale tend to use caps only for important words, so > you would write "New Conversation with..." and "Join a Chat...". > * In the case of the Instantbird button, I think you can put a separator before > "Accounts", and put "Add-ons", "Error Console..." and "Options..." directly in > the Instantbird menu after "Accounts...". I'll address these in a new mockup. > * I don't see the "Check for updates" menu item in your mockup. Do you mean it > should be moved to the about window like it's been done for Firefox 4, or have > you just forgotten to include it? I thought it should be moved to the About Window like Firefox 4, we're currently able to update users pretty smoothly and seamlessly, thus it shouldn't be a priority for users to check for updates. > * This is out of the scope of this bug, but I think in the (not so near) future > we will merge "New Conversation with" and "Join a Chat" into a single UI that > would probably be a conversation tab with a special content helping the user to > start a new conversation. > * I'm not completely sure of what "Create Custom Status..." is supposed to be, > but if my guess about it is right, it's something we don't want by default and > would rather have in an add-on. I'll drop that from the next mockup. (In reply to comment #7) > I like the mockup but on the classic view the width problem would even be worse > for me. I think my buddy list is usually not much wider than 150px. That is an issue. But ultimately we want to be designing for less technical minded individuals and in those cases, we can best assist them and ease their transition into using Instantbird by using logical grouping in the menus. For power users, the possibilities are endless. Whether it's a matter of simply using the Instantbird button or using an extension to wrap the menus rather than hide them. The ability to create an extension to even regroup the menus is a simple enough task. > The quit/exit menu item is missing also by the way. Oops, that definitely needs to be fixed in the next mockup > Since there seems to be general interest in this topic I'm confirming this bug, > changing it to an enhancement request. Thank you.

*** Original post on bio 632 as attmnt 529 by sabret00the AT yahoo.co.uk at 2011-02-21 12:54:00 UTC was without comment, so any subsequent comment numbers will be shifted ***

Comment on attachment 8352206 [details] Menu Review Proposal Mockup *** Original change on bio 632 attmnt 463 by sabret00the AT yahoo.co.uk at 2011-02-21 12:54:37 UTC was without comment, so any subsequent comment numbers will be shifted ***

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.