Messaging menu icon should indicate when someone is typing a message to me (but didn't send it yet))

[Rafał Cieślak]

Most of modern instant messengers can tell me, that someone is writing a message to me before it's send. Usually it's shown when the person I'm talking with types in the message field on his/her IM. As this feature is very useful, for it alerts me that someone's saying something to me an I will get a message in a moment, this feature has recently become available in many instant messaging protocols.
This information is usually displayed in the conversation window. However, as I am a proud Unity user, I always minimize the conversation window, because I know that the messaging indicator will notify me about any new messages. Unluckily, it will not inform me when a contact is typing a message to me.
As this feature is very useful and helpful in conversations, the messaging indicator should somehow notify me. Of course it must be seen as well as an information about new message - changing the icon or it's color would be okay. This way, when I see the envelope icon turned, for example, green, I know that in a moment I will get a new message (and then the icon becomes usually blue).

[Bilal Akhtar (bilalakhtar)]

Design feedback needed :)

[Olli Ries (ories)]

waiting for design input

[John Lea (johnlea)]

Hi MPT, could you talk a look at this bug, thx!

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

Rafał, a belated thanks for your suggestion.

It's not the job of the sound menu to do everything that a music player does; it just provides quick access to the most common/urgent functions.

It's not the job of the network menu to do everything that the "Network" screen in System Settings does; it just provides quick access to the most common/urgent functions.

Similarly, it's not the job of the messaging menu to do everything that messaging clients do; it just provides quick access to the most common/urgent messaging functions. And seeing that someone is typing something to you is not one of those. That is relevant mainly when you are deciding whether to type something more to the other person, in which case you have the chat window open anyway.

Even if we tried to implement it, that the information is provided for some protocols and not others would leave many people wondering why it worked only some of the time.

For those reasons, we won't be adding this function to the messaging menu.

[Rafał Cieślak (rafalcieslak256)]

Hey mpt,
thanks for this explanation. I really appreciate the fact that you got to review my old idea, even though 4 years have passed since I reported it! And I honestly mean it.
Keep up the good work! :-)