4 ms·

It surprises me that they copied the suboptimal tablet-like UI layout of the official client. It's gotta be an MDI app with each chat in a separate window :)

mrweasel 2y ago
My suggestion would have been a tab for each chat, but you're right, should be a separate window, to allow tabbing between them.
- grishka 2y ago
  Tabbed chat windows are a newer invention than the 90s. Late-00s messaging apps all had the same, rather convenient, arrangement: a tall window with the contact/conversation list, and a tabbed window with your current conversations. Things like profiles and settings would also open in separate windows. But yeah that's my ideal desktop chat app UI tbh. It's a shame that out of the current ones, only Steam and Battle.net are like that, and those aren't even messaging apps, they're game launchers with social functionality as an extra.
  - Shorel 2y ago
    I don't remember Pirch or mIRC being like that.
    - Izkata 2y ago
      Even AIM used separate windows for each chat in the 90s.
    - mrweasel 2y ago
      mIRC doesn't exact do that, the contact list is attached to the chat/channel window. Each window sort of exists inside the main window, but can be minimized to something that mimic a tab.
perching_aix 2y ago
What do you find "suboptimal" and "tablet-like" about it?
- grishka 2y ago
  The fact that it doesn't take advantage of the multi-window nature of desktop systems. Everything happens in one single large window — like on an iPad. In particular, my issue with modern IM app UIs is that the chat switcher is merged with the chat list. You can't have multiple chats that you're currently active in open at once and switch quickly between them. If you switch away from a chat, you have to find it again in the list to return to it, possibly requiring a lot of scrolling and multiple clicks for what could've been one click or even a keyboard shortcut.
  - Mashimo 2y ago
    Ctrl + K on the official app lets you switch quickly between the last active channels. Ctrl + / lets you see all the short cuts.
  - Dalewyn 2y ago
    >The fact that it doesn't take advantage of the multi-window nature of desktop systems. That's because nobody uses more than one window. Remember, Discord was for gamers, not the tech zealot with a taskbar full of windows. Speaking from experience, I've had extremely low success trying to get normal people to understand windows. So a one-window-contains-all design is great for normal people. This design is also shared by Skype, LINE, and other mainstream chat software. Modern email clients also follow this design paradigm. And if you still doubt me, remember: The two most popular operating systems in the world, iOS and Android, do not have windows. Windows are a failed analogy as files-and-folders, normal people do not understand them and software for normal people rightfully don't use them.
    - bruh2 2y ago
      > Windows are a failed analogy as files-and-folders, normal people do not understand them and software for normal people rightfully don't use them Weird claim regarding files and folders. In my experience, my pretty tech illiterate relatives have a pretty strong grasp for them. Younger people do not, because they only use mobile computers that don't make frequent use of that abstraction. Why are they a failed analogy? What are normal people doing instead of using them?
Pavilion2095 2y ago
I agree. All they had to do was to copy mIRC!

mrweasel 2y ago

My suggestion would have been a tab for each chat, but you're right, should be a separate window, to allow tabbing between them.

grishka 2y ago
Tabbed chat windows are a newer invention than the 90s. Late-00s messaging apps all had the same, rather convenient, arrangement: a tall window with the contact/conversation list, and a tabbed window with your current conversations. Things like profiles and settings would also open in separate windows. But yeah that's my ideal desktop chat app UI tbh. It's a shame that out of the current ones, only Steam and Battle.net are like that, and those aren't even messaging apps, they're game launchers with social functionality as an extra.
- Shorel 2y ago
  I don't remember Pirch or mIRC being like that.
  - Izkata 2y ago
    Even AIM used separate windows for each chat in the 90s.
  - mrweasel 2y ago
    mIRC doesn't exact do that, the contact list is attached to the chat/channel window. Each window sort of exists inside the main window, but can be minimized to something that mimic a tab.

perching_aix 2y ago

What do you find "suboptimal" and "tablet-like" about it?

grishka 2y ago
The fact that it doesn't take advantage of the multi-window nature of desktop systems. Everything happens in one single large window — like on an iPad. In particular, my issue with modern IM app UIs is that the chat switcher is merged with the chat list. You can't have multiple chats that you're currently active in open at once and switch quickly between them. If you switch away from a chat, you have to find it again in the list to return to it, possibly requiring a lot of scrolling and multiple clicks for what could've been one click or even a keyboard shortcut.
- Mashimo 2y ago
  Ctrl + K on the official app lets you switch quickly between the last active channels. Ctrl + / lets you see all the short cuts.
- Dalewyn 2y ago
  >The fact that it doesn't take advantage of the multi-window nature of desktop systems. That's because nobody uses more than one window. Remember, Discord was for gamers, not the tech zealot with a taskbar full of windows. Speaking from experience, I've had extremely low success trying to get normal people to understand windows. So a one-window-contains-all design is great for normal people. This design is also shared by Skype, LINE, and other mainstream chat software. Modern email clients also follow this design paradigm. And if you still doubt me, remember: The two most popular operating systems in the world, iOS and Android, do not have windows. Windows are a failed analogy as files-and-folders, normal people do not understand them and software for normal people rightfully don't use them.
  - bruh2 2y ago
    > Windows are a failed analogy as files-and-folders, normal people do not understand them and software for normal people rightfully don't use them Weird claim regarding files and folders. In my experience, my pretty tech illiterate relatives have a pretty strong grasp for them. Younger people do not, because they only use mobile computers that don't make frequent use of that abstraction. Why are they a failed analogy? What are normal people doing instead of using them?

Pavilion2095 2y ago

I agree. All they had to do was to copy mIRC!