restore original Chat History and IM window layout

I finally decided to try installing version 1.18.1(2) today after I crashed three times in a row with the 1.18.0(6) client.

Spent a few minutes trying to figure out how to reorganize the new "Communicate" interface to resemble my old layout...

Discovered that I couldn't restore the original IM window layout I had, and every new IM conversation became a seperate window when I seperated them from the main Communicate window, instead of making a tabbed IM interface like before that I could flatten to only a few lines of text.

I promptly reinstalled 1.18.0(6)

Please at least put an option on Preferences to "use old Chat/IM layout" that would re-enable the tabbed IM interface seperate from Friends/Group lists and Chat History, and remove the Chat textbox from the Chat History window itself.

I wish I could go back to the old viewer, but nobody I know of has archives of the old Linux client... :/

Nicholaz's viewers have the old layout with the new voice functionality. He also, of course, has the classic non-voice version. Voice versions have an "x" in the filename. Be sure to follow the install instructions ... easy but a lttle different than SL.

And they have fewer bugs than SL's! (windows only I'm afraid, tho)

http://nicholaz-beresford.blogspot.com/

I refuse to update to the voice client until they give me the option to choose the non voice layout. I will NOT use that stupid fricking pain in the arse all in one mess.

Change is hard. I was bitching about the new layout for several days. Now I love it. I think it is much easier to work with and I never use voice.

Nicholaz view does just that. Voice with the non-voice layout.

Also, though some people have "gotten used to it" I just can't the new layout is an enourmous space hog even on my 1960x1200 monitor at 0.9 UI scaling.

I ended up initially hacking my own fixes but thank ghod for the Nicholaz viewer, sanity is returned to the UI with all the current features a dna lot of bug fixes and features that LL has not or will not implement.

I used it in beta I used it in first look, I don't like it and I refuse to use it. The much simpler layout of seperate im's and chat history made far more sense and you had to do much less just for simple communicating.. hit two buttons to open or close.

Nothing changes if you don't make your voice heard so I will bitch if I don't like something. It would not be that difficult to give both options one voice one not.

just got forced to upgrade to 1.18.2(1) and it's making me angry

I figured out how to seperate the Chat History back into its own window, but I deal with a lot of IM conversations and I need to keep those in the Communicate window. However, I can't shrink the window height smaller than 9 lines, which means the Communicate window takes up a large portion of my screen.

I will be very reluctant to use IMs until I find a way to shrink the Communicate window further

Any ideas? Debug Settings variables? Feature proposals?


*edit*
Found the UI Size slider... lowering it all the way helps a little, but still can't get things back to the way they were

where do I get this Nicholaz thingie you've all been on about? I despise the new UI layout from the very core of my being.

try here

http://nicholaz-beresford.blogspot.com/

there was a hack for allowing resize of the communicate window.. but I've lost it.. and it makes me super pissed too. (was on a thread at Second Citizen, now of course SC is gone)

The Nicholaz viewer uses that hack.

I prefer being able to get to groups separately from friends. I dislike having to toggle back and forth between them on the contacts page. Chat history tearoff was no problem (thank goodness that setting is persistent) but overall, I prefer the older layout because I got what I needed faster and more directly.

And teleport offers weren't classified as communication!