Autocomplete uses full name
Hi,
When I use tab to enable autocomplete, Propane inserts the full name of the user (for example 'Ryszard Szopa'), and this feels really awkward. I would much prefer it to insert just 'Ryszard' or 'Ryszard S.' (or, better, 'Ryszard' normally and 'Ryszard S.' in case of ambiguity).
Thanks,
-- RS
Support Staff 2 Posted by trevor on 07 Mar, 2010 11:10 PM
Hi,
this is a bit of a contentious issue.
Before December 2009, you could choose an arbitrary name in Campfire. My colleagues and I all set our names to just be our first name and it worked just fine.
In December, 37signals introduced their all-encompassing 37signals ID concept and decided that your Campfire name had to be exactly the same as your 37signals ID name.
This means that it's now impossible to use both your full-name for Basecamp and Highrise while using a more informal name in Campfire.
37signals did try out a 'nickname' feature that allowed you to (as before) choose an arbitrary name for use in Campfire. Unfortunately, this time they concluded that arbitrary names invited abuse (people choosing inappropriate names).
You can see the discussion about nicknames here: https://answers.37signals.com/campfire/295-any-chance-you-could-res...
So that's the background.
To address your question specifically:
Propane can alert you when someone speaks your name. People accessing Campfire in Fluid also have access to similar behaviour through userscripts.
In order for that feature to work, the name autocompletion needs to be consistent across clients.
Campfire in a web browser autocompletes the full name and so must Propane.
If 37signals change their autocompletion behaviour then I will follow suit, but ultimately the correct solution (in my opinion) is to allow arbitrary, unambiguous, nicknames.
Regards, Trev