Abbreviated user interface for instant messaging to minimize active window focus changes

A computer program product for presenting text messages, the computer program product comprising:

• a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising:
• computer usable program code operable to detect a manual user action made within a graphical user interface environment of a computing device, wherein said graphical user interface environment comprises a plurality of different application windows each corresponding to an active application instance, wherein one of said application windows is a communication window for an instance of a communication application, which permits real-time communications over a network between at least two people, wherein said communication window is not on top of a z-order of the graphical user interface environment;
• computer usable program code operable to, responsive to said manual user action, display an abbreviated user interface next to a task bar element for the communication application instance, wherein the abbreviated user interface has focus and is placed on top of the z-order of the graphical user interface environment, wherein the abbreviated user interface is a small-footprint interface relative to the communications window, wherein said abbreviated user interface lacks interface elements of the communications window, wherein said abbreviated user interface is not a thumbnail of the communication window, and wherein said abbreviated user interface is concurrently active with the communications window and provides a non-comprehensive subset of functionality compared to functionality of the communications window;
• computer usable program code operable to present at least one previously unread text message of the communication application instance within the abbreviated user interface without altering the z-order of the communication window relative to the other ones of the plurality of different application windows and to present a text entry to allow entry of text in the communication application window through the abbreviated user interface;
• computer usable program code operable to, when the unread text message is presented within the abbreviated user interface for at least a previously determined duration, mark the text message as read for the application instances, which causes the text message to be marked as read within the communication window;
• and
• computer usable program code operable to detect a close event to close or hide the abbreviated application window;
• and
• computer usable program code operable to, responsive to the close event, remove the abbreviated user interface from the graphical user interface environment, wherein upon removal the z-order of the plurality of different application windows remains unchanged from a state existent before the manual user action was detected.

A desktop of a graphical user interface environment of a computing device comprising hardware and computer program products running on the hardware to produce the graphical user interface, said desktop comprising:

• a plurality of windows, each for a different application instance, wherein one of said plurality of windows is a communication application window for a communication application instance, wherein at least one window of the plurality is positioned on top of the communication application window within the z-order of the computer desktop;
• and
• an abbreviated application interface for the communication application instance, which has a different graphical element layout than the communication application window, wherein said abbreviated application interface presents textual content of unread messages received by the communication application instance, wherein the abbreviated application interface is positioned on top of the plurality of windows within the z-order of the graphical user interface environment, wherein content presented within the abbreviated application interface is concurrently available within the communication application window, which is at least partially obscured by other ones of the plurality of windows being on top of the communication application window and to present a text entry to allow entry of text in the communication application window through the abbreviated user interface;
• wherein presentation of an unread text message from the communication application window within the abbreviated application interface does not alter the z-order of the communication application window relative to the other ones of the plurality of windows,
• wherein when the unread text message is presented within the abbreviated application interface for at least a previously determined duration, the text message is marked as read, which causes the text message to be marked as read within the communication application window.

A communication application implemented within a computer program product digitally encoded in a non-transitory storage medium, wherein said communication application is operable to exchange real-time or near-real-time text based communications over a network with at least one remotely located devices, said communication application comprising:

• a communication application window operable as a graphical user interface for users to input text and to display text, where the input text and display text is text of the exchanged text based communications;
• an abbreviated user interface operable as a graphical user interface for users to view at least a portion of said display text, wherein said abbreviated user interface lacks interface elements of the communications application window, and wherein said abbreviated user interface is concurrently active with the communications application window and provides a non-comprehensive subset of functionality compared to functionality of the communications application window;
• code stored in a tangible storage medium operable to present the abbreviated user interface responsive to a manual action performed within a graphical user interface environment by a user of the graphical user interface environment and to present a text entry to allow entry of text in the communication application window through the abbreviated user interface;
• and
• code stored in a tangible storage medium operable to present an unread text message from the communication application window within the abbreviated user, wherein when the unread text message is presented within the abbreviated user interface for at least a previously determined duration, the text message is marked as read, which causes the text message to be marked as read within the communication application window.