The Obvious: Skype Interface on the Mac Sucks

[Xeo_it]

Thanks god we can still use the 2.8, it's simpler, it uses 40mb of ram instad of 150, and it shows exactly what you need: your contacts and their status!!

Skype 5 is completely idiotic! You can't even resize or choose the columns, so the 99 percent of the interface is occupied by things you dont need (status message, location, etc etc) and the name of your contact is just the 1%.

[rwakeford · Accepted solution]

You can see just contacts and their status with version 5. Just select Window\Contacts monitor (CMD+3).
It's only idiotic because you don't like it and I think you'll find that following versions will give options to organise things more the way you want.
Can't please all of the people all of the time!

[oliwiadrozd]

just want to add that this is not a solution as one cannot instantly send message or call from this "simple list. And I agree with the topic. the new interface is soooo PC and why there's no "send a message" short cut under the big fat green button (only call which I never use), but somewhere else? At first it's difficult to find your way... Skype, take our advice and design a simple yet functional interface, plz.

[mwm]

Well I'm a new user on a mac bought late last year...my university daughter got me going on skype about a week ago and I expected it to be all instinctive and easy to use like everything else on the mac....wrong...it all loaded up and we chatted away face to face, an icon establised itself on the desktop etc...but then  a couple of days later I got a few funny noises out of the 'blue' haha, a freaky voice message about my virus protection being broke, and the next time I looked skype seemed to have disappeared.

(You can see Im not very geek)

I've spent hours navigating this wierd site trying to find answers which reminds me badly of why I'm no longer pc.

I downloaded the 2.8 mac version and sort of found it again, but the contact with daughter and her bf gone. The humanoid mac has obviously ruined any chance of me working out skype!

[rwakeford]

So presumably you've got a virus protection programme installed on your Mac? You'd not get that message with a normal Mac. Have a look at its settings and you should find the problem. Skype on its own won't, or shouldn't, tell you anything about virus's.

[IoanPopovici]

I've just upgraded to see if it's usable now, but...5.7 and very few design improvements. Still bad on my small screen. I guess you cannot repair a bad design you just have to start from scratch.

I'm downgrading cu 2.8 again!

Does anyone know a decent replacement for skype?

[cadeout]

rwakeford: Thanks for pointing people to that setting. I already had "Show address book" unchecked since I don't want it connected with my Skype account. But I do have 2 questions about what is actually happening here.

If I checked that box, is it just that my Address Book would open on my computer next to the Skype window? If so, it seems like a waste of feature development effort since it is so easy to open your address book yourself at any time.

Or, is it that Skype, somehow, "has" my Address Book & so has access to its contents?

(And, I can't remember if "Show address book" was checked as the default setting in the General Preferences.)

Here's hoping that there will be as many answers, responses and changes as possible to address the issues raised in this forum. Thanks.

[tocantins]

I love Skype and all that it offers, but when it comes to upgrade all sorts of worms come out of the can. 

Now with this new upgrade all the landline numbers I called in Brazil suddenly became "invalid numbers" but I can call mobile numbers which really eat up my credits fast, something like 50¢ per minute for mobile calls vs. 0.05¢ per minute on landline calls. 

Hmmm, very convenient...

I believe the people at Skype read these posts and they will provide a solution soon, so then we can open another can of worms. 

[lsaleme]

I'm boggled by the current Skype UI.

Let me offer some credentials before offering a scathing opinion: I was designing and implementing Mac & iPhone rich unified client solutions for Cisco for 7 years before recently moving to a company that doesn't use Cisco products. The Cisco solutions won awards, including Best of Show at MacWorld. Now. . . I'm stuck with Skype (or worse-still Avaya) offerings.

The home screen is the heart of any unified client and this heart is in need of a quadruple bypass. Useless columns, auto-resizing that clearly fails to do the job, bloated white space, and a UI completely beyond the user's control to customize or optimize for personal work style.

Online contacts monitor as a solution? No, a floating window is NOT the answer. It eats valuable screen space and is frequently in the way. Further, any contact action is a two step process. No contextual menu, period. How about a status menu item with the contacts listed and the ability to initiate an IM or phone call from there? No 'main window' needed at all.

It's time to take Skype back to the drawing board, throw away the current design, and get a clean and modern solution in place. Quickly.

[Duckweb]

I upgraded a couple of days ago and hated Skype 5 from the start!

- Bad interface that uses to much real-estate.

- Black ugly blob in the menu bar that didn't tell me whether I was connected to the internet.

- Constant fight with Skype 5 to keep my bluetooth headset connected.

Went back to v2.8 thanks to soesraider's link and I am so happy!

Won't make the mistake of upgrading again without first checking the support forums!