Desktop/mobile client brainstorm post

[denise]

Many of our Google Summer of Code applicants have mentioned that they'd like to work on desktop or mobile clients. Since the application phase begins today, I thought I'd post an entry for people to mention what features and functions they consider essential in a desktop or mobile client. This will let our GSOC applicants see the thoughts of people who use the site regularly, so they can work those thoughts into their specs as they build their application.

So, this is a post for people to comment with:

* What features/functions do you consider essential in a desktop/mobile client?
* What features or things would you not want a desktop/mobile client to do?
* What are things you've loved and hated in clients you've used previously?

It's okay to answer separately for both desktop and mobile clients, since the two are only very loosely related. The more feedback you can give, the more it will help our GSOC student applicants as they design their application.

Comments

Desktop client features

[damned_colonial]

Good:

* supports multiple logins
* shows userpics (doesn't just give a dropdown, but shows you the picture itself)
* lets you save drafts (including metadata, not just the post body)
* supports posting templates (including metadata)

Bad:

* too much WYSIWYG -- must allow me to type markup by hand

Re: Desktop client features

[azurelunatic]

Again with Semagic, I like being able to switch quickly between regular mode and WYSIWYG mode. (I used to post long chat logs private, with multiple <_< and similar emoticons which needed escaping. I suppose I could have done a search-and-replace-all, but I was being lazy.)

Re: Desktop client features

[chrismm]

Yes, I like this--and it should keep the code clean when you switch back and forth, if it's at all possible.