As promised, here are fullscreen shots of my Reminders for Messages on iOS concept. Check out the original Dribbble post for full details.
I recently added my AIM account back to Messages for Mac for the first time in a while. After signing in and everything was squared away, I realized two things:
1) The buddies list and other controls are still its own window (a “problem” I noticed since beta)
2) At the bottom of the main window in Messages for Mac, your AIM status is shown
As mentioned in number one, I noticed that the window was separated in beta and was puzzled because I felt that there could be a great way to integrate it into one view without having two open windows. At the time, I didn’t really think of a solution but it’s been jostling in my head. After reviewing this again and getting my thoughts together, I came up with a solution: a Show/Hide view.
A Show/Hide button would be added to the current view along with your AIM online status. Clicking the icon would expand the view showing all the same info that the regular list has but in that view. It’s scrollable just like normal, and even the buttons at the bottom are visible. To hide it, simply click the Show/Hide button again. The amount of content in your list will determine the height of the view (unless otherwise specified — read further). Even when this view is open, you can still scroll through your iMessages just fine. You can even change the height of the view at anytime when it’s open by simply dragging the border (just like any other similar view).
Since I don’t have any other social networks to add, I can’t test this, but, if there were multiple status cells at the bottom of the window, each and everyone one of them would have a Show/Hide button.
In light of this implementation, I don’t see any reason to still have the option show a separate window. If you wish to have it in a separate window, you could click and drag the view off the window.
Feel free to comment! Look forward to hearing from you.
© 2012 Joshua Tucker
This project is in progress.
iOS (and I believe OS X - can’t confirm at the moment) places each iMessage address conversation, even from the same contact, into its own thread. This can be confusing and de-segmenting especially when having to switch to a different iMessage address during a conversation with someone. As a result, current handling splits up conversation views into their own threads based on the address you’re sending to. I propose that all messages (text messages and iMessages) from one user be merged into one thread. With that, within the conversation view, it will show the starting point of whichever address you’re now sending to, similarly to how iOS currently displays when a conversation switches from text message to iMessage (or vice versa).
As noted in the photo, it shows that I switched to sending an iMessage to myself (in this case) using my Home address as set in my contact. It displays just like when you can see that a conversation switches from text message to iMessage (or vice versa), you can scroll through and see where it sections off different iMessage addresses, if applicable.
© 2012 Joshua Tucker
Added the ability to blacklist contacts from iMessage. If the particular handle is added (email, phone number), you will not receive any messages from them.
You can also check out my whitelist concept for iMessage.
© 2011 Joshua Tucker
A few options you can change when in a conversation in Messages (available all the time — not just when starting a message as shown in this picture).
© 2011 Joshua Tucker
