Trillian Astra

[Copernic Reporter]

Trillian Astra Sneak Preview

http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/ap/main.html

Changes from 3.11 -> 4.0

* FOOTPRINT: Free certain objects from the skinning language that weren't needed beyond initial loadup time.

* FOOTPRINT: Optimize the way XML is read in and used to require less memory during execution.

* FOOTPRINT: Cleanup of antiquated XML structures.

* FOOTPRINT: The usual batch of memory leaks plugged whenever found.

* PERFORMANCE: Reading and parsing of SkinXML optimized across the board; will improve startup time.

* PERFORMANCE: Window opening speedups.

* PERFORMANCE: Maximize speed when redrawing individual controls that make up the contact list and message window.

* PERFORMANCE: Speed of all network connections optimizes; more efficient reads and writes; improved FT performance and improved general performance.

* IMCORE: IMCore set of classes written to handle a generic IM plugin across the board; used by all current network DLLs.

* IMCORE: General operations, API integration and socket management faster.

* IMCORE: Threaded system for handling connections; no more freezing of UI during DNS lookups, etc

* IMCORE: Better error reporting whenever possible; more focused errors when messages are not delivered.

* IMCORE: Group chat enhancements; windows will morph into chats instead of opening new windows whenever it makes sense to do so.

* IMCORE: Connection preferences integrated into main Trillian Preferences window; no more native OS UI code in the network DLLs.

* IMCORE: All IMCore code, including all service-specific code, compile natively on Win32/Linux/OSX. :-9

* FILE TRANSFERS: Cleanup of all file transfer code; now compatible with newest versions of all clients, including server-proxying when possible.

* FILE TRANSFERS: Newly-designed FT window with 'more' button to explain process/errors when they occur.

* FILE TRANSFERS: Resume support enhanced on AIM; Trillian won't resume on top of the wrong file any more.

* FILE TRANSFERS: AutoZIP; select multiple files on your desktop and drag them to a contact as a bunch. They will be zipped before transfer.

* FILE TRANSFERS: Preview for file transfers; show file extension icon or actual image data when sending pictures.

* FILE TRANSFERS: Context menu for a file within the file transfer (so you can access the explorer menu without 'finding' the file on your drive).

* FILE TRANSFERS: Pause support for outgoing file transfers.

* FILE TRANSFERS: Total time taken displayed at the end of a transfer.

* MSN: Custom status messages.

* MSN: Support for gateway.messenger.hotmail.com; when a connection to MSN fails, attempt tunneling the connection through the server.

* MSN: Rewritten message handling code for improved reliability. Catch as many cases as possible of a message failing to be delivered and print clear errors.

* MYSPACE: Plugin created for MySpaceIM interoperability.

* YAHOO: Custom status messages.

* ICQ: icq.dll created; no longer mashed into aim.dll

* AIM/ICQ: Better interoperability support for talking to an AIM contact from an ICQ account and vice-versa; parse HTML/RTF/etc when necessary.

* ASTRA: Network for communicating with other Trillian contacts; powers many aspects of Trillian Astra.

* ASTRA: 512-bit encryption with public key identity verification.

* ASTRA: Encrypted file transfers at users option; slower to send but every packet encrypted.

* ASTRA: Reliable, built-in image transfers. No 'activation' required; just drag images and they will appear to the remote end.

* ASTRA: Astra Contacts; a server-supported Meta Contact that can be exposed to your contacts as a single point of tracking all your IM account information.

* ASTRA: Buddies.xml stored server-side; use Trillian wherever you go without redoing your contact list.

* ASTRA: Offline Messaging capability.

* ASTRA: Privacy-protected, dynamically created user information. Create and maintain as many named entities in your profile as required; each individual profile entity has its own privacy controls. For example, your first and last name might be public information but your mobile phone number might be for friends only, or for a list of names.

* WEB: Astra Info page automatically created for all Trillian users.

* WEB: Widgets shown on the web.

* WEB: Astra Info page supports easy two-way chatting.

* WEB: Status notification on the web for all your Trillian-managed connections; single point of entry to see your status on any network.

* WIDGETS: Dynamic objects to be embedded in your Trillian chat windows, web profile and more. Widgets are Flash objects used to visually represent certain aspects of your user info. For example, a Weather widget exists to showcase the weather in your zipcode. A mood widget exists to showcase your mood.

* WIDGETS: Open Widget API, ActionScript 3.0 compatible. Open source classes for public use during widget creation.

* CONTACT LIST: New tiled icon view.

* CONTACT LIST: Contact spotlight search.

* CONTACT LIST: Contact adding integrated to contact list for easier access.

* CONTACT LIST: Hiding empty group behavior improved; don't hide 0/0 groups that are newly created.

* CONTACT LIST: Buddy icon; can drag image into avatar area.

* CONTACT LIST: Change display name from contact list.

* CONTACT LIST: Change status message from contact list by typing.

* CONTACT LIST: Proper logoff support to quickly change Astra Profiles (no longer closing, reloading)

* CONTACT LIST: Contact Cloning. Can now have multiple instances of the same contact in different groups.

* CONTACT LIST: Bouncing list; allows you to see panels that are out of the visible range as a collapsed panel.

* CONTACT LIST: Better buddy icon resizing for clearer images.

* CONTACT LIST: Speed improvements; adding, removing, sorting, and scrolling through the contact list has been sped up.

* CONTACT LIST: Autohiding of the scrollbar when not needed.

* CONTACT LIST: MetaContacts now show the away message of their highest-ranked child.

* CONTACT LIST: Option to set contact list height dynamically based on list contents.

* CONTACT LIST: Gray out buddy icon when offline.

* MESSAGE WINDOW: Dynamic toolbar buttons; don't show 'send file' when it's not possible on a network.

* MESSAGE WINDOW: Font styles menu. Create and store combinations of font settings for easy access.

* MESSAGE WINDOW: Insert menu.

* MESSAGE WINDOW: DirectIM improvements; paste/copy images, drag images in, image preview mode, better image view within chat window (maintains aspect ratio, has border)

* MESSAGE WINDOW: Auto-resizing edit area.

* MESSAGE WINDOW: Buzz! support where applicable.

* MESSAGE WINDOW: New group chat invitation window (With easy click to add, searching, and custom adding).

* MESSAGE WINDOW: Text selection improved, more pinpoint. Proper cursor shown on mouseover of text.

* MESSAGE WINDOW: User is typing in tabs of a container.

* MESSAGE WINDOW: Tablet support, draw mode in edit box. Supported on Astra and MSN. Scales images in display.

* MESSAGE WINDOW: Autohiding of the scrollbar when not needed.

* MESSAGE WINDOW: Status message within the chat window.

* MESSAGE WINDOW: Contact authorization integrated into the message window and systray alert system and available to plugins via the API.

* MESSAGE WINDOW: Knowledge bar.

* MESSAGE WINDOW: Newly-designed stranger window.

* GENERAL: Guest login support for friends that visit; won't save profile information.

* GENERAL: Login as invisible and all networks will inherit the state if they support invisibility.

* GENERAL: Proper documents and settings support; new accounts will be adhere to Docs/Settings directories. Legacy accounts will remain in place.

* GENERAL: Many updated or improved icons throughout.

* HISTORY: New header in activity history.

* HISTORY: Full activity graph shown at all times (automatically scales)

* HISTORY: Renaming of history bookmarks.

* API: Various bug fixes.

* API: messageBuzz : Trigger a window buzz (for mediums).

* API: eventsStatusRequest : Request the current status.

* API: accountsPreferences, accountsPreferencesUpdate : Integrated account preferences.

* API: assetRequest.

* API: messageChatRequest, messageChatRequestList : Integrated chat request window.

* API: messageReceiveHandwriting : Handwriting support.

* SKIN: Dynamic skin changing.

* SKIN: Theme support.

* SKIN: Layered window support.

* SKIN: Reduced memory usage.

* SKIN: Skin Math supported in most areas now.

* SKIN: Trillian will use the default component values when applicable.

* SKIN: -1 is supported in most color tags as transparent.

* SKIN: Proper control layering (when skin is set to v4).

* SKIN: Alpha Transparency: Option to turn it on/off per window in xml < window .... alpha="yes"/>.

* SKIN: Alpha Transparency: %window.alpha%; Allows for different views depending on if alpha is turned on or off.

* SKIN: Hue/Themes: New tag.

* SKIN: Hue/Themes: New tag, supports multiple filters in one theme.

* SKIN: Hue/Themes: New , , filters.

* SKIN: Hue/Themes: Hue Change menu from View menu.

* SKIN: Hue/Themes: Bitmaps may be changed within a theme.

* SKIN: Hue/Themes: Theme button.

* SKIN: New Variable: %totalscreen.width%, %totalscreen.height%.

* SKIN: New Variable: frame.width and frame.height (e.g.: %fraTooltip-1.width%).

* SKIN: New Variable: %window.top/left/bottom/right%.

* SKIN: New Variable: %window.docked%; Proper support for creating a docked contact list.

* SKIN: New Variable: New variable %window.has_taskbarentry%... to shift buttons when the minimize button appear.

* SKIN: New Variable: desiredWidth, desiredHeight for framebars.

* SKIN: New Variable: hasText, desiredScrollbar for edit controls (ie: %searchEdit.hasText%).

* SKIN: List Items: Background, placement support for every list item.

* SKIN: Buttons: More button actions: "setVariable", "setFocus", "clearText", "setText".

* SKIN: Buttons: Button action to set a preference value: (Set variable with the variable being prefs.value).

* SKIN: Buttons: Text control can have hover, select and normal states.

* SKIN: Edit: Default text (text, colors, style).

* SKIN: Edit: Font settings (color, font style).

* SKIN: Edit: Text alignment.

* SKIN: Edit: < cursor name="blur" type="link"/> < cursor name="focus" type="ibeam"/>.

* SKIN: Regions: Region map support of stretch=1 middle if you add the attribute to the mainregion of 'useDefaultColors="1"'.

* SKIN: Regions: Visible support.

* SKIN: Topic Control: Option to set 'all caps' on.

* SKIN: List: Background can be transparent.

* SKIN: Backgrounds: Middle supported.

* SKIN: Backgrounds: Middle supported.

* SKIN: Backgrounds: 9 Slice mode for ease of coding.

* SKIN: Backgrounds: Tile support.

* SKIN: Backgrounds: Stretch support.

* SKIN: Backgrounds: Visible support.

* SKIN: Framebar: Alignment support (left, center, right, horizontal, vertical).

* SKIN: Controls: "away-edit" control allows editing of Away messages quickly, completed with correct mouse and click behaviors.

* SKIN: Controls: "global-status"/"away-menu" cleaned up.

* SKIN: Controls: "add-service" menu button that will set a switcher to current service, save between loads the current service and show a menu to choose service.

* SKIN: Controls: new text edit control "add-edit" that allows users to type in a screenname to add right away on Enter key. Text field clears after contact added. Default text "Type Astra ID to add...".

* SKIN: Controls: New button control "add-button" that acts as the Enter key for "add-edit", and also opens Add Wizard if "add-edit" is empty.

* SKIN: Controls: New button control "away-menu" that shows a drop down menu of subtitles or away messages.

* SKIN: Controls: Skinners can create controls that change certain preferences settings, e.g. Always On Top, Sounds On/Off, Notifiers On/Off: < action name="setVariable" variable="%prefs.prefsNotificationsSounds%" value="on/off/toggle"/>, with child switcher "icon" that has on and off states. < settings name="default" value="%prefs.prefsNotificationsSounds%"/>.

* SKIN: Controls: New button control "prefs" that launches Trillian Preferences.

* SKIN: Controls: New button control "prefs-myid" that launches My Identity Information.

* SKIN: Controls: New button control "prefs-myicon" that launches the My Icon page in My Id Information.

* SKIN: Controls: New switcher "basic-local-avatar" will not have click to change icon.

* SKIN: Controls: New button control "history" that launches Activity History.

* SKIN: Controls: New button control "profileeditor" that goes to Profile Editor.

* SKIN: Controls: New text edit control "search-edit" that searches contact list as user types.< setting name="default" value="Type here to search" />.

* SKIN: Controls: Topic control "profile-name" is now a chat-edit control. Can be used to click and edit user name quickly.

* SKIN: Stixe: Icon pack support.

* SKIN: Stixe: Custom Windows support.

* SKIN: Stixe: All elements recoded for new control.

* SKIN: Stixe: All elements can now have stretched backgrounds, or choice of colored or tiled backgrounds.

:woot:

Edited November 21, 2006 by Copernic

[Xab]

I really hope they have a public beta soon, it's been forever since Trillian 3 came out and this looks great.

[velkymx]

Why not just build on top of an Open Source project like GAIM. Afterall GAIM, even beta 3 is pretty darn stable.

[Koolslacker]

Cool. I can't wait until the beta comes out. Thanks for the heads up.

[:: Lyon ::]

It's been a while since I used or even heard about any update from them :)

[Mike Mayer]

Heres to hoping they get the memory and cpu usage to uTorrent-like levels!

Then-> it would be the ultimate IM product as far as I'm concerned.

Miranda is just too not easy-to-configure/stable enough. GAIM is getting better. All the standard clients are undesirable for me.

[_R2D2]

I don't like the theme at all, but hopefully you can change that.

[+.Aaron Subscriber¹]

I am personally not too fond of the name "Astra." But who knows they may change that too. Go CeruleanStudios.

[fr8t]

ooh, that's hot.

[quanta]

Any word on Jabber connectivity in the non-Pro client? Trillian's been so stagnant so long, they run the risk of being run over by Google Talk, not to mention Miranda and GAIM, which are getting better and better.

[Lee]

This looks great, roll out the betas!

[MiamiGuy]

Nice loading screen? Err I want to see interface and feature list.

[Tim Dorr Veteran]

Why not just build on top of an Open Source project like GAIM. Afterall GAIM, even beta 3 is pretty darn stable.

So, Opera should ditch their own rendering engine for Gecko (FireFox's), and Windows should ditch it's own kernel for the Linux one? No, that wouldn't make sense. The Trillian guys do help out the GAIM people, though, and vice versa. Even though they make their own product, they're not overly protective of what they know.

[YBG]

I just hope the windows skin with the rest of Windows..please, I'm begging for that.

[masterren]

It's been ages since the last release...really looking forward to seeing how the new interface turns out and seeing if the memory usage goes down.

[Xab]

I just hope the windows skin with the rest of Windows..please, I'm begging for that.

It seems like it given that the initial screen shot is skinned with Luna.

[Marshalus Veteran]

It seems like it given that the initial screen shot is skinned with Luna.

Yeah but their non-buddy list and non-chat window stuff is always skinned by Windows. That screen doing it wouldn't be a suprise.

I hope they have a better Jabber plugin for this one.

[Echilon]

I used to have a subscription, and Trillian was a great client, but they were always behind on new features in the default clients.

[IceBrewedBeer]

I just hope the windows skin with the rest of Windows..please, I'm begging for that.

+1

[protias]

hasn't it been like a year since trillian 3 came out? sure seems like a looooong time ago

[Pallab]

I used to have a subscription, and Trillian was a great client, but they were always behind on new features in the default clients.

Thats the reason why i stopped using trillian.

[#Michael]

I used to have a subscription, and Trillian was a great client, but they were always behind on new features in the default clients.

My questions is what features? Everyone always complains when msn added bloat to ver 7.5 of messenger and then has done wlm8 almost right. AIM is hiddeously bloated...triton is still too young to use.

Personally I use Trill everyday and I love it. Some things that it does need.....better IRC support, lower mem footprint, native skinning, better jabber support (still an infant protocol though), smilies need some work, the set status need work. But those are little things.

[casao]

My questions is what features? Everyone always complains when msn added bloat to ver 7.5 of messenger and then has done wlm8 almost right. AIM is hiddeously bloated...triton is still too young to use.

Personally I use Trill everyday and I love it. Some things that it does need.....better IRC support, lower mem footprint, native skinning, better jabber support (still an infant protocol though), smilies need some work, the set status need work. But those are little things.

Jabber is 6 years old now, I think it's out of the stage of being an infant protocol, ESPECIALLY since GTalk came around.

[#Michael]

Jabber is 6 years old now, I think it's out of the stage of being an infant protocol, ESPECIALLY since GTalk came around.

If you were to go ask anyone on the street what IM program they use.....they would say MSN or AIM.

I would bet good money that that person had never heard of gtalk or jabber.

[.Ark]

Any word on Jabber connectivity in the non-Pro client? Trillian's been so stagnant so long, they run the risk of being run over by Google Talk, not to mention Miranda and GAIM, which are getting better and better.

Yeah right! Google Talk taking over Trillian.. No way.. They are two different products.. Trillian is mostly for people who are seeking a multi-client program.. I dont think gtalk has that feature in it. I also dont think gtalk has tabbed chatting as a feature. Miranda's default skin is TERRIBLE. Its like totally crap and compared to trillian's interface, miranda is crap.. Its not crap if you wanna skin every single element of it. I agree that its more powerful in that aspect. But comparatively, its not worth getting miranda just for the sake of skinning it and making it look good.