I think some sort of label would be more meaningful than numbers, especially if there's a limited set. (So let's see: I'm participating in 9 conversations, I get bored with #s 4 and 7 and say "go away", then I want to join another, so it has to take over one of those slots, except that I spent hours mentally associating that number with something else entirely... ack.)
Subject lines are good for conversations but verbose for IM. But subject lines can be compressed -- one key word or an abbreviation -- at a little more pixel load but less cognitive load than numbers. In a later use case (I don't expect this in an early version), it would really rock if clients get to set that tag locally. 'Cause the conversation might be mainly about new features in Java 7, but I'm watching it because I just got a resume for a senior-guru position from one of the participants. Or it's about styling of 15th-century Italian balli, but I'm really just following the entangled thread about the class that Master So-And-So is going to teach on this at Pennsic. Conversations aren't about the same things to every participant, necessarily.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-07-25 03:36 am (UTC)Subject lines are good for conversations but verbose for IM. But subject lines can be compressed -- one key word or an abbreviation -- at a little more pixel load but less cognitive load than numbers. In a later use case (I don't expect this in an early version), it would really rock if clients get to set that tag locally. 'Cause the conversation might be mainly about new features in Java 7, but I'm watching it because I just got a resume for a senior-guru position from one of the participants. Or it's about styling of 15th-century Italian balli, but I'm really just following the entangled thread about the class that Master So-And-So is going to teach on this at Pennsic. Conversations aren't about the same things to every participant, necessarily.