Nicklist
--------

nicklist would be a split window. probably would look more or less like
current /names. you'd get it visible with /names and probably some
keyboard combination also.

it would grab the focus, so typing something (part of a nick) would filter
out nicks that don't match it

you could select a nick with arrow keys, enter would bring up /whois info
about the nick and also allow easily querying and so on

also in /names list you could get a /who list instead using some key combo
there typing would search all fields and not just nicks

away vs. non-away people could be shown with different colors in the names
list.

Prompt
------

prompt would be "#channel: " in channels and "nick> " in queries. in
status window (and others without channel/query) you could type #channel:
hello or nick> hello directly. TAB in empty line would also do "nick> "
instead of /msg nick

the > or : character would change color if something's looking wrong. for
example if the nick isn't currently in irc, or if you can't write to the
channel (+m)

statusbar above the input line (which is currently half-empty) would show
the reason

when you start typing a /command, the > or : would disappear. maybe
replaced by another character? Like %? Or just color could change to grey.

Queries
-------

"users" (== known nicks) would get query windows automatically by default.
others would get their messages in a msgs or status window (haven't
decided yet). writing just "nick>"+ENTER (or hitting tab to write it)
would do the same as /query nick.

Completion / history
--------------------

you could have irssi-like completion with TAB by default. but there could
also be some other key to bring up a scrollable/searchable completion
popup menu

also in history fields you could show up a popup history list

General
-------

i'd try to keep a lot of commands irssi-compatible, but still add 
alternative more newbie-friendly ways to do things via menus/dialogs.
scripts/configuration most likely won't be anything like irssi

i think /ignore should be temporary by default. like half a day or so.

Tags
----

tag and irc network separation is also confusing with irssi
or at least there should be some automation between them

so if i haven't configured a network to "irc.foo.org", it would give it
tag "foo" and network "foo"

and if there already is a "foo" tag, it would give "foo2" (as now) and
still network "foo"

icecap/irssi2 doesn't really have tags at least currently, but i was going
to add that kind of automatic network naming to it.

although don't servers also tell their network name when connecting? so
the name could be marked also "automatic" in which case it could be
changed by the server's reply