A hidden feature in Yahoo! Messenger for Vista
February 19, 2008 on 6:17 pm | In Vista version |
Here’s the story, of a lovely lady…” If you grew up in the U.S. in the 1970s, you’ll know that’s the opening line of the theme to the television show, The Brady Bunch. It also served as the inspiration for a hidden feature in the last release of Yahoo! Messenger for Windows Vista that we’re internally referring to as Matrix Mode.
Matrix mode expands on the tabbed conversations feature in Yahoo! Messenger for Vista. Tabs are handy for keeping your desktop free of multiple IM windows, but sometimes staying on top of all your conversations can be tricky.
Inspired by the grid in the opening credits of The Brady Bunch, hitting Ctrl + Alt + Shift + b on your keyboard will turn your tabbed conversation window into one single window with a matrix of boxes, each showing an IM conversation.
Once you’re in Matrix Mode, just click on the conversation you want to jump into and start typing. A white box around the conversation indicates which one you’re in. As you’re in one conversation, you can easily see messages coming in on the others, so it’s easy to read and respond quickly to IMs. As more conversations open, the layout will adjust to accommodate them.
To activate Matrix Mode, start a few IM conversations and then be sure to condense them into one window as tabs. You can do that by dragging the bottom tab of one window into another, or hitting Ctrl + , (ctrl plus comma) on your keyboard. Once your conversations are in a tabbed window, hit Ctrl + Alt + Shift + b to enter Matrix Mode.
Try it out and then visit our feedback page to let us know how we should develop this feature further!
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
P.S. – Check out this picture of Product Manager Josh Jacobson during the naming brainstorm for matrix mode. Will the name stick???
[…] via Yahoo Messenger Blog ] Tags: matrix-yahoo-messenger, tabbed_yahoo_messenger_mac, […]
Pingback by How to enable matrix chat mode in Yahoo Messenger [ Tips ] — February 19, 2008 #
This is good but where is the final version version of yahoo messenger vista ?
Comment by Ray — February 19, 2008 #
Ray, the final version has not been released. The latest version can be found by clicking a link in the first paragraph that reads “Yahoo! Messenger for Windows Vista.”
Also, this is a pretty cool idea. I don’t know if I like the idea of having my conversations crammed into little boxes like that, even if I can make the window bigger. But still, this is neat. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it done (correctly, at least).
Comment by Kyle — February 19, 2008 #
Y!M for Vista is not bad. But for performance and several inconvenience I switch to Y!M 9. One thing I don’t like about Y!M for Vista is typing area is to narrow and can’t be expand.
Comment by n-blue — February 19, 2008 #
Excellent feature ! The day YM For Vista is loaded with the webcam facility, I’ll make it permanent on my system
Comment by Abhinav — February 20, 2008 #
When will be this feature implemented in yahoo messenger for xp?
Comment by Catalin — February 20, 2008 #
[…] explained by Yahoo Messenger Blog - Once you’re in Matrix Mode, just click on the conversation you want to jump into and start […]
Pingback by » Cool Matrix Mode Chat Feature in Yahoo Messenger for Vista — February 20, 2008 #
[…] Messenger para Windows Vista ha añadido una funcionalidad interesante en la que se permite ver todas las ventanas de conversación en una única ventana al más puro estilo […]
Pingback by Matrix Mode de Yahoo! Messenger para Vista — February 21, 2008 #
I just wish that the software feels more integrated in Vista, like IE7 or WMP11 do. Also a closed messenger main window still resides in the alt-tab menu; which wen selected pops up…
Comment by Leafy — February 21, 2008 #
I’ve noticed the same thing, leafy. Quite an annoyance at times.
I really kinda dig this view. I like it far better than standard tabbed chat windows. I never went for that, since it made window management tedious. With seperate windows, they’re available through CoolSwitch or (now) Flip/Flip3D. With Matrix mode, they’re all there at a glance. Tabbed mode, though, you have to go through each tab to find it.
I think matrix mode is good enough to make it the default mode of operation. Only two things I’d like to see added… First, how about adding a window auto-size algorithm, to keep enlarging and shrinking the window as panes are added and destroyed? Next… in matrix mode, move converstaion management off the tab bar at the bottom. If there’s no UI to toggle between them, then using the tab UI is redundant.
Looks like great work, though!! Thanks guys and gals!
Comment by The Jimmy James — February 21, 2008 #
Interesting feature.
Comment by Ziru — February 21, 2008 #
How about just getting a regular messenger made which actually has SOUND that will work in chat rooms and voice conferences… instead of all this other toys kiddie crap????
I have Vista Ultimate, so those little codec fixes do not work. Why on earth can you not just have a messenger which works efficiently, and postphone these little game things your working on. I mean … oh come on!!!!
Comment by Gina — February 22, 2008 #
[…] do, hopefully it’ll be around the end of March to make it holiday appropriate when I try out the Matrix Mode Easter Egg in Yahoo! Messenger. It’s always a shame when you have to tell people about an easter egg instead […]
Pingback by Yahoo! Cool thing of the Day » Blog Archive » Easter comes early — February 23, 2008 #
I have a error window pop up everytime I’m log into Yahoo messenger. Is anyone else getting this? I have window Vista. It only started happening after I had to delete IM and added it back because I could not communicate with other IM users. I would appreciate some words of wisdom here. Thank you
Comment by Dee — February 23, 2008 #
Right!This feature is great!
When YM for vista will have webcam support i will use it also, untill then…i’m using ym 8.1, ym 9 is not good at all!
10x yahoo and hope we will soon see a version om YM vista with webcam support
Comment by MeAndMyself — February 24, 2008 #
Sounds neat.
Comment by Jaunty Mellifluous — February 27, 2008 #
neat
Comment by rob — March 5, 2008 #
I like this feature, wish I would have known about it prior to now. I would like to see most of the features of Y!M 8.1 incorporated into Y!M for Vista. I also miss the webcam feature, photo sharing, being able to go into chatrooms, and the ability to view friend’s profile’s with a click. Like I said before pretty much all of the old features.
Comment by EL Boogie — March 8, 2008 #
I like this Vista version of Yahoo Messenger (well most of it LOL) . But I also would like to see the features of number 8 incorporated into this version. I dont like when I go to edit my contact list it takes me to the web to do so??? Also I cannot see on the list in my groups how many are online at a given time.??? There are a couple of other things as well but i best stop raving lol. Nice work.. tho needs more
Comment by Leanne — March 29, 2008 #
Bravo! still wait for the webcam feature as many many other users. I use YM9 on my vista and it works good.Have had some problems with the canada version, unistaled 2 times and instaled us one and no problem at all,Wonder what is the difference between the 2 of them:)))love all features on vista version, cant wait for the webcam one:)
Comment by Jampa — May 16, 2008 #
I have install this new beta version , but i have no sound at all with it. It was Ok with the preview version.
My computer is running with vista familly, in french.
Any idea?
thanks
Nico
Comment by nico — May 21, 2008 #
this is so cool, i already switched to vista messenger. I only use the old version only when I need the webcam
Geat job!
Comment by Stefan — May 21, 2008 #
how do i acticvate this matrix?!?!?!?! messenger
Comment by 8gears — June 16, 2008 #