No buddy list entry in task bar

Personally I think the buddy list showing in my task bar is a waste of space. It works just great as a tray icon, so an option to turn this off would be great!

Thanks for Digsby, it's awesome.

This option already exists, look at the Accounts tab in the preferences, you can handle this with the options in the bottom right corner.

Last edited by elbaloo (2008-02-17 02:38:17)

I see no option listed there to hide the buddy list from the taskbar.

It says WHERE TO SHOW in bold... and three options listed as follows:

Show in contact list
Show icon in tray
Show both

I believe itsatrap and willjitsu are referring to the "Buddy List" in the Windows taskbar and not what actually displays within the buddy list itself.

For instance, when you open a program within Windows, that program displays in the taskbar.  Certain programs, like Winamp, allow you to hide the program from the taskbar, and just display it as a icon in the Windows tray.

shapsdigs wrote:

I believe itsatrap and willjitsu are referring to the "Buddy List" in the Windows taskbar and not what actually displays within the buddy list itself.

For instance, when you open a program within Windows, that program displays in the taskbar.  Certain programs, like Winamp, allow you to hide the program from the taskbar, and just display it as a icon in the Windows tray.

Yes, exactly. This feature would be awesome.

Ohh... d*mn it!

Last edited by elbaloo (2008-02-17 15:36:09)

Yeah, I second that vote. I'm all about saving space.

You can actually hide the buddy list from the task list by setting the buddy list to dock at screen edges.  It works very well when set on auto-hide.  I agree that adding that setting for an undocked buddy list window might be nice, though

Yeah I don't want to dock it. It takes up way too much of my desktop when docked and I'm way too anal to handle the white line left on the edge of the screen with auto-hide.

Just hit the big X to "close" it.  It won't actually close... it goes into the system tray.

gummyavenger wrote:

Just hit the big X to "close" it.  It won't actually close... it goes into the system tray.

That's not a solution. Is anyone even reading this thread?

OK - we got rid of it but put it back.  We hate making things into a preferences and usually prefer to take the time to figure out what the right behavior is.  However, with this one it will come down to adding an option.  While a lot of you have been vocal about getting rid of it, we are worried that some people may be lost without it and will not realize that double clicking the tray icon returns the buddy list... thoughts?

steve,
The way it works with MSN Messenger is that the first time the user clicks the X-button to close the window, there is a popup around the taskbar that explains that MSN Messenger is not closed and that you can open it by clicking the taskbar icon. It also states that if you click the popup, the message will never appear again. Think that is a good way to do it, even my mum understood how it worked on the first try.

While a good suggestion eia, you're completely missing the point.

The point is that some users want the task bar entry gone WITHOUT having to hide the list entirely.

Steve, how hard would it be to add an option and a simple note next to the box that says "Double clicking the tray icon brings the buddy list forward" or something?

In Pidgin this is enabled with a plugin that says "Show buddy list entry in taskbar" that you simply uncheck if you do not want it there. Is a plugin too hard at this point?

Again, let me emphasize the point is to NOT HIDE THE BUDDY LIST, but remove it's entry from the taskbar.

Last edited by itsatrap (2008-02-18 18:19:26)

itsatrap, I completely understand what you mean. I just tried to explain a way so that users will understand that the program is still there in the tray, as steve was concerned it might confuse users if there suddenly was nothing on the task bar. This is not directly related with hiding the task bar entry, just a solution to was steve was concerned about.

Btw, I now see that I wrote task bar when I meant the tray in the previous post.

Oh I see what you are saying. Yeah a popup near the tray icon would be good. Something in the options too probably.

The problem is that a lot of users don't understand the function of tray icons at all (my Mom for one lol). It's great that Digsby is trying to make the app user friendly unlike some (Pidgin), it just makes it harder to get all the options we want.

I hope they enable a plugin system some day.


Edit: I just noticed something. The menubar can be hidden and when you do that a popup comes up about how to get it back. The same thing could be done for the taskbar entry.

Last edited by itsatrap (2008-02-18 19:41:26)

itsatrap wrote:

That's not a solution. Is anyone even reading this thread?

Why not?  It does exactly what you said you wanted, doesn't it?  Maybe I'm missing something?

Yes, he wants the Buddy List to still display while not displaying its taskbar button.

Wow, was just thinking this and glad to see there is a large thread about it already.  I have the list docked on the right side of my screen, so it is usually always on top.  I hate having the buddy list on my task bar (and also my alt-tab list, since sometimes instead of going to my current chat window I go to my buddy list and it's frustrating!)

I agree that clicking the tray icon should bring the buddy list forward.