The development team behind the new eBuddy web messenger has been working for some time now to make this client our future flagship product. While we are working on this client we are usually focused on certain themes or sets of (new) features, like conferencing or the support of a new network. Since it’s a new client, features like this are usually quite visible for you, the end-user and you can follow the progress we are making if you log in regularly. However, this doesn’t mean we spend all our time on the creation and development of these new features. Recently we’ve been focused on improving the performance of our client.

Performance has always been an important theme in software development and in every project it means something different. In our case we decided we wanted to dive into three different areas: the contacts tree, the chat tabs and the chat editor. For each of these areas we wanted to greatly improve the responsiveness so users spend less time waiting and more time chatting.

In this blog post I’ll dive a little deeper in what our approach was for each of the problems to give you a little insight in the work behind what we feel is the best chat client on the web. Please let us know how you feel about our efforts.

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As we are aiming to phase out our legacy web IM products and replace them with our new Multi-Network client, we are steadily piling on the new features. Aims for the past iteration have been, as the title suggests, Drag & Drop and Group Management.

Group Management

Quite simply we have implemented the ability to add and remove groups to your contact list. Although this may seem very simple this took quite a bit of thought and work. You can put contacts from any account in a group you create, so you can finally have all your friends from all networks in a single group.

Drag & Drop

As an obvious companion to being able to add and remove groups we added the functionality to “Drag” contacts to a group and “Drop” them there. Again not a trivial addendum to the already extensive codebase, but we feel we have hit the nail right on the head, and hope you will all enjoy the ability to move your contacts around at will

Enough yapping, time for you to log in and get Dragging and Dropping!

If you find any bugs, or have any suggestions, please let us know at feedback@ebuddy.com

Following another iteration ending, we have just released a new version of our Multi Network Beta. Again we have taken your feedback to heart and have tried to make those changes that you most requested. As usual we are always bug-fixing and improving our product, and have done so as well this iteration. So on top of these below a list of the major features and improvements:

Google talk Support
Definitely very noteworthy is the introduction of Google Talk support. As this is the first time we will be offering this on any of our products, we hope you will enjoy using this on eBuddy. All standard GTalk functions are included, including uploading your own Avatar.

Improved text editor
Being a major point of feedback received from users, the text editor used to input text has been improved. This component has had a complete overhaul and is functioning a lot better than before. On top of improved performance we have resolved an issue with text styling dissapearing while typing, causing you to have to set it over and over again.

Performance
Again we’ve looked intensely at the performance. We believe we’ve made a big step forward this iteration. An issue with processor usage going through the roof while being logged in with more then two accounts has been resolved. This impacts not only the editor as discussed above but also improves general usability as a whole. As always, your feedback is much aprreciated, so if you have any, feel free to let us know here!

All this said, if you haven’t tried it yet, try our eBuddy Multi Network Beta now!

As some of you may have noticed, our Multi-Network Beta has just been updated. Armed with your feedback, we’ve used the previous period to improve on the Core functionality of the Beta. Our idea of quality over quantity if you may. Amongst numerous small bugfixes and glitches, here are some of the most noteworthy improvements:

No more getting disconnected
This was one of the largest feedback points you supplied us with. We have improved a lot - you should now be able to stay online for days on end

Automatic OS recognition for all Yes/No and Accept/Cancel buttons
After some internal Windows user vs. Mac user struggles, we came up with a brilliant solution: the client will automatically detect your Operating System and place the buttons accordingly. What does this mean? This means that on MacOSX all your Yes/Accept/OK buttons will be on the right side of the No/Cancel/Not OK buttons. And on Windows, you guessed it, it’s exactly the other way around.

Chat tab functionality improvements
We had some bugs involving the chat tabs not functioning properly. This included getting multiple chat tabs for the same buddy, getting blank chat tabs that didn’t render correctly, incorrect status icons in the tab and more.

Performance improvements
Although we’re not there yet, we’ve already solved quite a few performance issues. Annoying “Features” like 100% cpu usage after clicking certain OK buttons and while switching between tabs of the same account have been removed. More performance improvements to come in the next release.

Together with more bugfixes and improvements, we’re improving our Beta periodically. Next Up: Upload Avatar and receiving Custom emoticons. As you can see, your feedback definetely counts. So keep it coming!

So, surf to http://www.ebuddy.com/#ebuddy and try out our new Multi-Network Beta now!

Gizmodo wrote a post about using the mobile eBuddy AIM client on the iPhone. Not too shabby! But you know us, we’ve always got something cooking…

As one of the developers on the new eBuddy multi-network client I’d like to introduce you to some features I really like. These are not the obvious ‘big’ new features of the client, like the fact you can log in with as many different accounts as you want. These are features you might not even notice if they weren’t pointed out. Nonetheless, I believe these features really enrich the user’s experience and hopefully even make you forget you’re actually still just visiting a website.

Design
First and foremost (and very noticable) is the fresh new design by Garbrand. We’ve lost the old eBuddy blue and got some cool white and grey in return. Colorful icons and shiny new buttons grace an interface that doesn’t get in your way. Can you tell I really like this design?

Resizable layout
The new client has been designed and built so it neatly fits just about any size you give your browser and use the available space more efficiently. Buttons and other key components are always in the same spot relative to the browser edges so it’s easier to find them when you resize your browser and resizing the window feels very smooth. Personally, I like to chat with a wide window because I often have many tabs open simultaneously. If you prefer a more narrow setup it’s completely up to you! It should look and feel good at almost any size.

Tabs

Every contact you’re chatting with gets its own tab, so you can chat with more people at the same time. These tabs have some subtle properties you might not notice. First of all and most noticable, they have an icon that indicates the network status of the contact you’re chatting with, so you can immediately see if the person is online, offline, busy or away. Another small feature is the automatic shortening of the contact’s display name in the tab so all the open tabs fit neatly in the window. If there’s ever too little text in the tab to see who you’re chatting with, hover the mouse pointer over the tab to get a little tooltip with the full name.

Filter

Every new feature is of course extensively tested on the eBuddy employees before we decide to leave it in permanently. One feature that was an immediate hit was the filter. Just enter a few characters and the contact list filters out all contacts whose account or display name don’t match. Our employees generally have rather long contact lists and multiple accounts online and it became clear very quickly to us this was a extremely useful tool if you want to find a particular contact.

The future
Of course we’ve still got an extensive list of features (both big and small) we want to deliver and the features that are already in have hardly been perfected. For instance, I’m not fully satisfied yet with the way tabs are sized and the filter could also be improved. I’m sure you can think of a few improvements, too. Please let us know! It’s a Beta and stuff might break occasionally but we’re totally committed to deliver the best user experience when it comes to Instant Messaging.

Wow guys, thanks for all the high-quality feedback you have been sending us. We have received an amazing amount of compliments and feedback. What surprised us the most however, is the quality of feedback. The posts have been really articulate and detailed, thanks!

These are the top 3 requested features you send us:

1. Upload your own avatar
2. New email notification
3. Change font and font settings

Even though we already had those features planned, we decided to move them up and do them first. You guys asked for it!

We have some housekeeping to do (mainly stabilizing the foundation of our application, we’ll also blog about that), when that is done we start implementing these features. Keep an eye on this blog!

The new eBuddy Web Messenger Beta has arrived.

We are proud to announce the immediate release of the multi-network eBuddy Web Messenger Beta. Instant Messaging just got fun again.

It has been completely rewritten from the ground up. The new client allows you to easily manage all your contacts, whether they are on MSN, AIM, ICQ or Yahoo. Here are some of the new features that come with this client:

1. Multi-Network

The new client allows you to chat to your contacts on MSN, Yahoo! and AIM, all from within the same application. Now you can manage all your contacts from a single, consistent application.

2. Completely Overhauled Interface

The Beta features a brand new design. After taking a long look at what people wanted, we made the interface a much nicer place to be. You will find it much easier to navigate your contacts and your tabs.

3. Developed In-House

Because we have developed this application completely in-house, you can expect more features being added regularly. Already we have some great new stuff cooking in the lab - keep your eyes peeled for new functions! We’ll discuss them here on the blog as well, of course.

4. Live Filter

The Live Filter is one of the improvements we made to work with large contact lists. Just type in a couple of characters from the name of the contact you are looking for and see the list shorten as you type.

5. Web Application

To use the new client, all you need is a modern browser and an internet connection. There is nothing to install, and it will even work behind a firewall.

Log in to the new eBuddy Web Messenger »

Last Friday, the Next Web conference was held in Tuschinski theatre in Amsterdam.

Inspiring speakers from influential companies all over the world, including Netvibes, Plazes, Yahoo!, Techcrunch, Adobe, Digg (via IM) were present to give their view on, or demo the newest of the newest in Web 2.0.

eBuddy was present too (of course )! Onno, one of the three founders of eBuddy gave a demo of our new web client (in closed beta) and our new mobile messenger (beta still open to sign up). The presentation went very good, but of course at the time of the demo, there was a Wifi problem….Murphy was present.
Nonetheless, we got a big ‘Wow’ out of the critics in the audience.

We have just launched a new version of the eBuddy Web Messenger Beta. Thank you for all your feedback, we have put it to good use and made some changes to the design and the code. It is still very much a work-in-progress, so please keep testing everybody!

Contact Filter

One of the new features we’re delivering is the Contact Filter, which you can see in the screenshot. Just type in a few characters of the name of the contact you want to chat with to find them instantly! No more hunting and searching through your list of contacts to find that one guy (or girl). To see the entire list again, just delete the text in the Filter. It is instant! We are pretty sure you will love this feature.

Multiple Networks

Did you know you can access multiple chat networks at the same time? Chat with your buddies on MSN, Yahoo! and AIM, all from the same application. Click on the “plus” after your name to add more accounts. You can even have multiple accounts on the same network logged in!

Spit & Polish

Even though this Beta release is mostly stabilizing and bringing the application in line with the design we’ve made, there is already a little spit and polish going on… Try opening a couple of chat-tabs and rescaling your window for instance. This and some other stuff will be blogged about by the development team in a couple of days.

So, we’re really curious to hear what you think about this beta. Take it for a spin, and please leave us a comment!

Greetings from the eBuddy Development Team.