Status menu makeover in 9.0 Beta
July 8, 2008 on 10:30 am | In 9.0 version, Features | 41 Comments
If you’ve downloaded the latest Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 Beta, you’ve probably already discovered the new status message menu. We made a few changes to let you more easily share what you’re up to, what you’re into or what you’re thinking with your friends.
One of the problems we wanted to address was being able to show you’re available or busy but still be able to share something with your friends like a website, video or funny thought. With this new status menu, you can indicate whether you’re busy or available and separately, provide a status message and even link to something interesting. Here’s how it works…
To the right of your display image or avatar is your availability setting. Just click on your name to change your availability to busy, available or invisible to everyone.
Right below that menu is a white box where you can type in a status message. This is a great place to tell people what you’re doing (out to lunch), what you’re thinking (Is it Friday yet?) or ask those important questions (Why can’t dogs talk?). Think of it like your own billboard to your Yahoo! Messenger friends.
When you click to enter a status message, another box appears below that’s labeled “also link to a webpage”. This is an additional area where you can enter a web link. So if you’re counting the minutes to the weekend, you might have a status that says “Already on vacation” that links to a site about your destination, like http://www.disneyland.com. Your status can then be seen and clicked on by your friends.
The status menu will store your five most recent messages. Unfortunately there’s no way to clear out a message or keep one permanently; as you create new ones, they will replace the older ones.
We hope the new status message menu in Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 Beta will give you more fun ways to tell your friends what you’re up to. If you’d like to confirm what your status message looks like to your friends, just add yourself to your own contact list to have a peek. Got a great idea for a fun status message? Leave it in a comment here on the blog.
And if you have feedback about this new status message menu or other feature in Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 Beta, please stop by our feedback form to let us know.
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
P.S. – With 9.0 Beta, you can also include emoticons in your status messages. Visit this page for a list of the emoticons you can use.
I’ve been itching for this feature for a long time guys! You could take it a step farther and have a formal status message manager. When launched this tool would have more robust features like clearing all or some of the used status messages. Not a big deal or a need to have feature. Kudos guys on the great upgrades!! Keep them coming!
Comment by Prophet — July 8, 2008 #
what’s wrong with the links?
All links I click on, lead me to the main page of yahoo messenger with is just webmessenger, even download links!
Can someone gimme some direct links?
regards
Comment by Saeed — July 8, 2008 #
Does anybody know when the final version will be released..
Comment by frndsfrevr — July 8, 2008 #
good job! but were you aware of the fact that 9 Beta is disabling the aero fade effect in windows vista?
Comment by Catalin Puscas — July 8, 2008 #
Bad idea. When I’m busy I’m always unavaliable and I need the red icon. When I’m avaliable, I want a yellow icon. And those two should be linked. As it is now when I go from ‘avaliable’ to ‘busy’ I need to do additional clicks just to change the icon from yellow to red. That’s 4 clicks instead of 2.
Sarah Bacon on your example picture obviously didn’t bother to change the icon to red when going to vacation. I must say I understand her totaly. Since last beta I don’t even change status when I go away from my computer anymore. Too much fuss.
“The status menu will store your five most recent messages. Unfortunately there’s no way to clear out a message or keep one permanently; as you create new ones, they will replace the older ones.”
You mean you haven’t programmed a way to manage the messages yet. Some change a lot of course. Others are used very often. Why not give us a ’status manager’ as Prophet proposed to deal with the latter?
Comment by Odyn — July 8, 2008 #
Hi Odyn,
There is a red icon to indicate busy and a yellow one to indicate that you’re available; that has not changed. Those are available in the menu when you click on your name in Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 Beta.
Sarah Bacon
Comment by Administrator — July 8, 2008 #
I know they are avaliable. They’re just not linked to the status.
It’s kinna illogical to have yellow icon and “out for a walk” status message at the same time. Ppl on the other side will wonder which one is true: am I on a walk (and forgot to change the icon) or am I back (and forgot to change the message).
And since only 5 statuses are remembered (with no preset defaults we had before) that’s a lot of clicking and typing just to have a status properly updated.
Comment by Odyn — July 9, 2008 #
I haven’t upgraded yet to this but so far my computer is working pretty well. I probably should do this because occassionaly I will lose someone during a chat. Maybe that has something to do with it. Thanks!
Comment by David Miller — July 9, 2008 #
Sarah,
Please give the options to go back to the smaller emoticons. Some of the bigger ones are slow and don’t display like the smaller version. You’re trying to fix something that wasn’t broke. I loved the older emoticons so much better.
So an option to have big or small emoticons would be a perfect solution.
Thanks.
Comment by pad408 — July 11, 2008 #
I have had nothing but trouble using M-9. I have tried to get assistance–my questions are not addressed.
Is there a “live” person who can “talk you through” problems?
I also get tired of “Xing” out the various “pop-ups”.
Is there a USEFUL video that can explain M-9?
Comment by JIMMY — July 11, 2008 #
I agree with Sarah, an option to revert from small or large smileys would be great, I also enjoy the older ones more. Speaking of smileys, you know a great idea would be to show their animation in the smiley window as it is in the text window and add in all the hidden ones to the dialog. I really don’t think anyone wants to try to remember the keystrokes for all the hidden smileys… Really and truly I like version 8.1 so much better, and if you add tabbed messaging and auto-reply, that would be great too. I can’t see why yahoo wouldn’t be able to save away messages like AIM. And put back the Emotes. I like those. Maybe even add them to the IM messaging windows.
Comment by Burt — July 12, 2008 #
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Pingback by Yodel Anecdotal » Blog Archive » Product Pulse - July 12th, 2008 — July 12, 2008 #
Hi Sarah,
I agree with Odyn. We have only Available+Busy in the new version. It would be nice to bring back the old IM status indicators like Available/Busy/Stepped out/… which come with the right green/red indicators. It might be better to separate IM status indicators (available?busy?stepped out?idle?…) with custom statuses; the latter is more like a twitter status which can be used to dot down feelings, thoughts, sharing links, blahblahblah (I used the TwitterSync plugin to synchronize with my twitter timeline).
Comment by Ziru — July 15, 2008 #
Thanks, Ziru. I submitted your comment (and Odyn’s last week) to our 9.0 feedback form as well (http://feedback.islanddata.com/IRTWEB/Feedback/Feedback.aspx?clientid=3&nodeid=143&source=public) which our development team also uses to help prioritize changes or additions to the product.
Thanks again for your feedback,
Sarah Bacon
Comment by Administrator — July 15, 2008 #
Anyone else having trouble with the status bar? i keep getting a black picture… it doesnt even let me change my status (let alone show my status as available). help??
Comment by Karlo — July 15, 2008 #
oh and i’m using vista and i have vista 64 for os.. thank you for your time
Comment by Karlo — July 15, 2008 #
Thanks for listening, Sarah.
Comment by Ziru — July 16, 2008 #
Smaller emoticons. Please.
Comment by Anne — July 21, 2008 #
When will beta version for Vista have webcam available? Or do I just have the wrong IM version?
Comment by sandy — July 25, 2008 #
Has anyone else had a problem getting the install to complete without getting an error message? I have totally lost my messenger now. I can’t get an older version or a newer version to download and install.
Comment by Ron — July 26, 2008 #
sorry my windows doesn’t display this new status message box and i have tried just about everything.
Comment by dbbleeb — August 12, 2008 #
hi, how can i store some messages in yahoo which can work as canned or auto reply in yahoo messenger version 9. I am using win xp.
Comment by rupam ,kr chakraborty — August 25, 2008 #
[...] Changes to the look and feel: In addition to new features, we also reworked the status message menu, making it easier to share custom messages and web links. We also added two views for your contact [...]
Pingback by Bye bye Beta – Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 launches « Paul’s Blog — September 27, 2008 #
Hi,
I find the new functionality with the status to be a pain in the rear. I prefer the old method with being able to set and save custom status messages.
I would like to see the old method reincorporated into the current version of Messenger. If this cannot, or is not done, I will find a different IM solution for meeting my IM communication needs.
In general, often times “innovative” changes such as this, are often a disservice to the User community. Please start making some design changes that keep the User in mind.
Thanks,
-Jason
Comment by Jason — October 7, 2008 #
Hi
When I upgraded my YM from 8.1 to 9.0, I was able to show the song name and artist on my status. For some reason, this feature stopped working in 9.0. So I reverted back to YM 8.1 and now it’s not working in that version either. Any suggestions?
Jessica
Comment by Jessica — October 7, 2008 #
@jessica
yes with the messenger window open click on messenger at the top, then click on preferences. then click on yahoo music. to the right will be 3 circle boxes. one to not change ur status one to change ur status to artist + song title, and one to make your status show artist + song title+ ur song rating. hope this helps
and yes i hate that the busy icon is not linked like before. used to be able to have both busy and availible status. now u got to change the icon to busy. makes me want to go back to 8
Comment by Fred — October 9, 2008 #
[...] Changes to the look and feel: In addition to new features, we also reworked the status message menu, making it easier to share custom messages and web links. We also added two views for your contact [...]
Pingback by Fayaballz » Yahoo Messenger 9.0 — November 8, 2008 #
How do you make the pop up message in the right hand corner go away. That is very annoying.
Comment by esjae — November 14, 2008 #
My yahoo display image is not working it stuck black what i can only see a black box but friends are changing their display images and i can see them why my display image is not working i have uninstalled and reinstalled yahoo i have uninstalled flash player and reinstalled too but same same problem i have tell me what to do i m totally frustrated now
Comment by Gul — November 20, 2008 #
[...] Changes to the look and feel: In addition to new features, we also reworked the status message menu, making it easier to share custom messages and web links. We also added two views for your contact [...]
Pingback by Fayaballz » Yahoo Messenger 9.0.0.2034 — December 2, 2008 #
In YIM 8, when a user sends a message, and then sends another before another user, it would display the name with the second message.
Now in 9, it hides the name on subsequent messages until another user sends.
I hate this new behavior, it masks when my friends have two separate, but similar thoughts. How can I change it back to YIM 8’s behavior? (Because I am reverting to 8 if I can’t.)
Thanks,
– Emily
Comment by Emily — December 3, 2008 #
Hi Emily,
Check out this previous blog post to help with the issue you’re describing. Thanks
http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2008/03/21/changing-message-format-in-90-beta/
Sarah Bacon
Comment by Administrator — December 4, 2008 #
Hi. I log in everytime as INVISIBLE and switch it on as soon as I access my account (Where in you see who is online or not). Each time I try doing that, I can’t change my status from invisible to online and also, my status won’t change either.
Comment by Kailin — January 28, 2009 #
how can i change my status message when i’m using mobile? i mean how can i change “I’M MOBILE” to my own personalized status message?
Comment by wasted maica — February 4, 2009 #
i can’t see my display image..please help me! it’s stuck in black..what’s wrong with it?
Comment by bea — February 23, 2009 #
[...] quite some time, last june during 9.0 beta run. some info below.. Blog status post last year. Yahoo! Messenger Blog Status menu makeover in 9.0 Beta Status smileys help and list of emotes that can be used Setting Your Messenger Status: Adding an [...]
Pingback by Yahoo Messenger Emoticons in Status Message — April 28, 2009 #
I have repeatedly asked HOW I CAN MAKE THE TEXT BOX THAT YOU TYPE TEXT IN BIGGER please give me and everybody else an answer. Thank You
Comment by Gordon T Davidson — May 19, 2009 #
Does anybody know how to set your mode to invisible so that sites like this Yahoo scaner can detect if you are invisible and hiding from somebody?
Comment by elmo — June 9, 2009 #
how can i, or CAN i, change my status message to show what i’m listening to? its NOT yahoo music and i’ve seen friends status’, that dj for a internet radio station, show the song title etc, and they DONT change it manually. please help!!! LOL
Comment by tiggie — August 7, 2009 #
@tiggie – Try the iTunes Remote plug-in for Yahoo! Messenger 8.1 or 9.0. More info here: http://www.ymessengerblog.com/blog/2007/06/07/itunes-remote-plug-in/
Sarah Bacon
Comment by Administrator — August 7, 2009 #
ty Sarah, ill try that and see if it works, lol…..do you kno why 9.0 messy shuts down every so often with the message, “messenger has stopped working and is shutting down”? and a black box w/a bunch of numbers shows up. its happened several times since i switched to 9.0. i REALLY like the 9.0 version, cept i wish there were MORE emotes, like the ones i got with 8.1 WITH YTunnel. and IS there a YTunnel compatable with 9.0?
Comment by tiggie — August 7, 2009 #