[OTR-users] New gaim-otr and otrproxy ready for beta testing

[Len Sassaman]

On Wed, 26 Oct 2005, Ian Goldberg wrote:

> As I mentioned, I'm hesitant to go with the "padlock" theme.

I second that. As you've said, the only truly intuitive "padlock" modes
are open or closed, and they imply security states rather than privacy
ones (Broken locks, question marks, etc., all require extra information as
to their meaning in this context.)

A good icon scheme will convey the status of the protocol state without
requiring the user to develop a context-specific understanding of
otherwise meaningless symbols.

Ideally, you should be able to present an OTR-enabled IM client to a user
who has no knowledge of OTR's functions beyond "privacy protection", and
they should be able to tell you what the OTR icons mean. I think anything
having to do with locks would fail that test.

[I'm not convinced icons are the best way to convey this information,
actually, but I believe we're somewhat limited in terms of UI changes we
can make (though Adium is possibly an exception.)]


--Len.