Firstly, thank you all involved for creating an absolutely brilliant little app that enables me to do all of the things I've been grumbling that Messenger hasn't been able to do for years! And more!
I wish I had stumbled upon it sooner.
Its installation was smooth, I particularly liked the option to opt out of the sponsor because ultimately, I would have found a way to kill it off... and I would like to give a special mention to the simple fact that 'Msg+' is not intrusive to the aesthetic of the main Messenger program. It doesn't hijack the interface or litter it with crap, and compliments the feature set very simply... and seemingly, very efficiently.
Now, I've been using/configuring/checking out some of the features to this most current version (3.54.132 - May 23rd 2005) for a good week now, and I believe I have stumbled across some features that can be improved upon to make this fantastic little thingamy even more intuitive.
They are as follows:
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RSS feeds. Msg+ can already tell me about email in a selection of different acounts, it would be extremely useful to have Msg+ compatible with the news feeds that are increasing in popularity on the net in a very similar vein. Keeping me up to date on my favourite news through the one app.
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Comeback Messages. Is it possible to program an icon change with this feature? For example, I choose an offline user, type in my message, and then upon setting any time restrictions I might desire, the little red character changes colour (to say, blue) to signify a message 'in waiting'. It reassures and reminds me that such a message is awaiting distribution to the contact. If the message is set to expire it simply changes back to red.
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Msg+ Identity. Another simple icon change to detect a contacts capacity to accept Msg+ only features. Something as simple as the little green online character having a red (+) where the round circle of the head was situated on regular users would do the job rather well.
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Personalised Status List Tickbox A simple tick graphic next to a personalised status that I choose to use would be greatly appreciated in that list under 'More Statuses'. At the moment, I don't create an external identifier so the header bar does not change. It remains '(Away)' etc... A tick next to the Personalised Status that I am using would help me to identify that such customization has been applied. I've also noticed that I can't seem to simply utilize the basic MSN Messenger labelling and just apply 'auto-response' messages for the different reasons I might be away.
For example, I'm (Away), but I am away because I have had to go to the shops. So I set the appropriate programmed Personalised Status describing this but maintain the standard (Away) identifier.
And on another occasion I might use the same (Away) identifier as a visual aid to me cooking in the kitchen... so I would use the same basic MSN Messenger identifier to illustrate the point, aside from a different Personalised Status response list that would dictate the point. I can't seem to do that. (Does that make sense?!
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I sincerely hope that these suggestions can be considered, as this Msg+ extension has so far improved my instant messaging through MSN Messenger 100% thus far, with no detrimental effect, and I would like that to continue.
Thanks for your time.
SketcH
