More features for Opera Chat (IRC)

More features for Opera Chat (IRC)

Hello,

I want to say that Opera is my favourite web browser \o/ We can write/check mails, use bittorent, chat in IRC rooms, RSS feed....
but I think the opera chat (IRC) needs some features for being more userfriendly like mIRC or XChat, for exemple :
- ability to set the timestamp format %h %m %S
- ability to write colored text / topic
- log conversation
- ability to order users by name, hierarchic type (voice +, halfop %, op @ &, owner ~)

Thank for considering my request.

Best regards.

- ability to set the timestamp format %h %m %S + 1

- ability to write colored text / topic - http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/operaStuff/chatFontFormatting.html if they add this they need to add an easy swtich to strip those styles for those of us who hate it

- log conversation - File > Save

- ability to order users by name, hierarchic type - +1 although I thought it did this by default.

- XDCC resume - +1

Ability to /ignore a user. For those of you who don't know it, /ignore is a command in some clients, rather like /silence on some servers, that stops messages from a certain user from showing. Because /silence is server-dependant, and Opera has no /ignore, I have no way to ignore people in servers without /silence (eg efnet). I would be happy if this was implemented.

Still ask for timestamp setting ^^'
--
Another feature: User nickname should be define in the HL (Highlight). It means if someone is talking to me by typing my nickname, the opera icon should blink. Otherwise, I miss all message that were for me. (If I don't check the channel tab)

Originally posted by Muzer:

Ability to /ignore a user. For those of you who don't know it, /ignore is a command in some clients, rather like /silence on some servers, that stops messages from a certain user from showing. Because /silence is server-dependant, and Opera has no /ignore, I have no way to ignore people in servers without /silence (eg efnet). I would be happy if this was implemented.

They have developed Unite, Turbo and so on, but can't add a simple feature like this for us. I've been using the IRC client since June 2004, and I always hoped "maybe in the next build I'll be able to ignore messages from certain users in the rooms...". Five years later, nothing.

^I've noticed in my subscriptions that I've posted this in at least four different threads created by different people in different languages. It makes me even sadder, because I never got an official reply and it's something that could be done extremely quickly.

Developers, you only need to add a "black list" for us to add the nicks of our foes, and make the chat add a css class with display:none to their messages. It's a very simple thing to do.

It could be even a plain text file like the urlfilter.ini. We'd be glad to edit it manually.

^ You don't even need to create that list. The IRC ignore system could rely on this option:

operaircignore.png

Then, as I said before, you just need to make it add an extra class (in red) to messages that match those nicks:

<tr class="ignored"><td class="time"></td><td class="sender">baduser</td><td class="sender-message"><span>you're stupid! you use a bad client! you can't ignore my messages in the room! silly Opera user!</span></td></tr>

In im.css, this class would be simply:

.ignored{display:none}

+1

+1

Agreed.
+1

+1 .

+1
+ Monospace fonts, at least option in Preferences-Advanced-Fonts.

Micky: you can customize the fonts by editing the file im.css in the "styles" directory.

Of the features mentioned here, I have personally missed automatic chat logging and /ignore command. I know you can do File -> Save yourself to save the current state but that's not really useful and it doesn't even always work (in Opera 10 snapshots for example). But there's nothing like /ignore in the current client.

One thing that I suggested in another topic that is not mentioned here is to execute auto-perform commands before joining channels.

Little things that make a big impact in user experience.

+1 !!

+1

+1

needs monospace fonts in preferences. it's not user-friendly to edit the css file.

+1 to these features as well, especially the logging option. I'm part of a roleplay in IRC, so an automatic logging option is the one basic IRC feature Opera doesn't have that I miss the most. Even though you can save a log manually, it's more awkward than having it be automatic, especially on the occasions when Opera or my computer decide they're going to crash or freeze on me before I get to do said saving and I end up losing everything.

I'd also like to suggest that, while the autoconnect is much appreciated, I wish there was someway to specify alternate nicknames to automatically use if the current one still is being used. That would make it more convenient and easier, especially if you happen to be away from the computer at the moment your connection gets dropped. Even more awesome would be the ability to attach autocommands to alternate nicknames, so then one could do the ghosting/renaming process automatically.

+1

Send nickname in input box by click, please))

+1000

+1

+1

Please, add at least /ignore and possibly logging to IRC features.

The absence of especially /ignore makes a lot of Opera users make use other IRC-clients!

We are waiting already years for this simple feature.

+1
XDCC resume +1

+10000000

канешна +1
все равно разраб сделает это в лучшем случае через лет 50

First of all, there is nasty bug that should be fixed in Opera Chat (9.x and 10b). Reported as DSK-250498:

Status sign like (Online) is shown next to IRC server even when user goes offline. User needs to mouse click server name again and then status sign disappears, otherwise wrong Status stays shown.

I get this in WinXP. Can someone confirm?

Originally posted by Micky:

Status sign like (Online) is shown next to IRC server even when user goes offline.

It happens to me when Opera fails to connect to a server. However, I think that's not important right now. If they are finally going to work on the IRC client, we hope that they will start by our important, simple feature requests, and major issues, like the autoconnect thing. After it becomes a reality, we may create threads in the Opera mail, chat and news to talk about minor issues like this.

+1

Originally posted by lince:

It happens to me when Opera fails to connect.
...
After it becomes a reality, we may create threads in the Opera mail, chat and news to talk about minor issues like this.

It is not minor for me, it happens every time i disconnect. It gives me wrong information whether i am still connected to server or not.

Originally posted by Micky:

It is not minor for me

So create a thread there. Even though they haven't added any new features, they have fixed some reported bugs.

Simple IRC notification sounds. Sometimes I have to read something on another tab and I miss if someone wrote or join the chat on that moment.

Originally posted by d4rkn1ght:

Sometimes I have to read something on another tab and I miss if someone wrote or join the chat on that moment.

The tab blinks when someone says something, but I agree that sometimes it's bad not to notice that someone joins the room, especially when it's a small room of yours. The newcomers feel ignored and then leave it (as we know, most newbies don't know that they should say "hi" ). A "blink tab when people join" optional, per-channel setting would be enough.

As for the conversations, a useful feature that lets you know what others said is the special line markers found in some clients. See (quoted article, screenshot):

It is a simple line that is drawn after a line in a chat, and simply serves as a placeholder. xChat resets marker lines whenever it looses focus for a channel, so if you go to a different channel, and then come back, you can see what was said while you were elsewhere. You can also force the marker line to reset, by pressing CTRL+M. The marker line is tremendously useful for heated debates, or rapid chat sessions, as you dont have to play catchup as long.

+1 (+стопятьсот

+1

+1 (esp. notification sounds)

Also, support protocols other than IRC (in particular, MSN).

Originally posted by astrobe:

Also, support protocols other than IRC (in particular, MSN).

You can use other protocols already. See how to use MSN, ICQ, AIM, Yahoo Messenger etc. with the Opera IRC client and bitlbee. I've been using it for a long time.

this feature request has been pasted from: http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic.dml?id=284931

Get the IRC text line while going up and down
If a person is writing a text in Opera's chat and accidentally presses the Up arrow key, he/she will not get the message that was been writing. So what is desired is that the last time a person presses the Down arrow key, he/she goes to the message that was being written.

+1 ( +пиццот )

Originally posted by sergiol:

this feature request has been pasted from: http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic.dml?id=284931

Get the IRC text line while going up and down
If a person is writing a text in Opera's chat and accidentally presses the Up arrow key, he/she will not get the message that was been writing. So what is desired is that the last time a person presses the Down arrow key, he/she goes to the message that was being written.

As I told you in the original post, your "request" is actually the normal behaviour of the Opera IRC client. I've been using it for years and this works just liked you would like it to be like. It must be a problem with your own installation.

+1, I'm aware the client is intended to be light-weight so it's understandable that they don't want to add too many features to the client, but some features are really missing. Such as support for half-operators, the client doesn't seem to recognise them at all. Once when I was an h-op in a channel with mode +m, I had to give myself voice just to talk in the channel because opera didn't recognise I was a half-op and wouldn't let me talk. Half-ops also don't have access to the moderation tools given by the client's interface (although text commands still work, of course).

Features such as ignore or auto-reconnect would also be a good idea in my opinion (I recall there being a bug in 9.5 which had the side effect of making auto-reconnects possible, but that bug was of course fixed), and perhaps allowing text formatting. I understand why opera didn't include formatting to begin with but I don't really see much of a point, as if anyone really wanted to spam they could do so with another client (and would be dealt with by the operators), and there are channel modes that disable coloured messages anyway. I'm also aware there is a very good modification that allows colours with the IRC client but using context menus isn't as good as toolbar tools and whatnot. Though in the meantime I'm sure I could add buttons and whatnot

Originally posted by EJ902:

I'm aware the client is intended to be light-weight so it's understandable that they don't want to add too many features to the client

Take a look at the timeline. Long-term Opera users are aware that all those features only use more system resources when actived (see threads like Opera Lite). I'm using the lastest build right now on a PC that runs Windows XP SP3 with 128MB RAM, and Opera's speedy as usual.

The essence of IRC itself is light-weight too, and that's why I use it as a gateway to access even other IM networks. If someone thinks that auto-logging the conversations would make Opera slower or annoying, for example, they could simply not turn it on. BleedingHeart, the second user to comment on this thread, said the same thing about official formatting buttons.

Originally posted by EJ902:

I understand why opera didn't include formatting to begin with

The context menu you talked about - so did BleedingHeart - is something so simple that it was created in the same year that the IRC client was added to Opera: Formating fonts in Opera Chat. The apologies of the menu author and the rumous that "many people would use rainbox texts in OperaNet" were used back in 2004. OperaNet now uses another system, which includes Nickserv. As you mentioned, this service allows channel owners to block formattings codes in their rooms. Even if the administrators of this very specific network were still concerned about this "issue", they could easily make this Nickserv setting the standard for the entire network, which is very small in comparison with the large ones that people use everyday.

I'm not personally a fan of colourful chats and I make Opera show messages from other people in black by adding this code to my im.css:

.sender-message span[style]{color:#000 !important}

This line should be in the default im.css and be removed only if the user checked an option to show colours. Nobody thought about that in 2004. It could have prevented the whole discussion about rainbow newbies and the mystical context menu on OperaNet. They had thought about the "colourful problem" only on their own network (which could be accessed through formatting-ready clients anyway) and based the Opera client on it. People who use Opera to access other networks and don't know .css are still forced to see styled messages sent by others while unabled to send such messages on their own.

Originally posted by EJ902:

Though in the meantime I'm sure I could add buttons and whatnot

It seems that you are new to the Opera IRC client. We have been "in the meantime" for five years. Of course, formatting options may be seem as "superfluous" compared to other non-IRC Opera features that have been added in these years. I don't deny any of the improvements on the browser. However, /ignore and logging are not superfluous to anybody who uses IRC to access larger channels. These features prevent headaches and help us to solve problems. I've suggested something basic that would help us a lot, a first step. As zoquete said, the lack of this command makes people use alternative software.

Yeah, Opera definitely needs to upgrade the IRC client for the first or second time in 5 years. All useful and popular features that other clients have must be added plus the standard IRC system used mostly should be implemented. I'm willing into using Opera's IRC client but first I'll have to understand how the IRC system itself works and can be used to communicate as well as having other essential features of an IRC client. And according to André Felipe, if the system chosen back in 2004 is not the standard used by many others, than the standard must be settled as default. (I'm saying my conclusions from what I understand).

pikachu97, when I said "system", I was talking about the OperaNet services. You can learn more about these services at The OperaNet chat network blog. IRC networks are independent from each other and each has its own rules. I suggest you to simply chat for some time to quickly understand how it works. This directory lists hundreds of channels: Search IRC. Just click on a "irc://" link there to open a channel with Opera.

That said, the IRC client itself respects the "standards" for displaying the conversations and most commands, but lacks options that other clients usually have.

+1

+1 for any new features for IRC in Opera =)

+1

+1