List unread chats (1:1/group) at the top of the sidebar

[svalo]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

I'm subscribed to many groupchats and have many contacts in my roster, most of them are offline all the time, some only at times. Currently I have to keep expanded both groupchat and contacts dropdown and scroll trough all of them to search for unread messages.

Describe the solution you'd like
I'd like to have the sidebar show the groupchats and chats with unread messages on top, most recent chat on top, after that all other chats, I do not have strong opinions on whether to keep 1:1 and group chats separated.

In brief something similar to what other chat systems do: all the chats listed in order of last contact.

Contact in roster with whom I never chatted may be showed at the bottom or the "Start a new chat" may be kept. For group chats the current flow may be kept

Describe alternatives you've considered
I tried keeping groupchats compressed but I missed messages.

Beside, thank you for converse.js! 😃

[jcbrand]

What version of Converse are you using? 1:1 chats with new messages are already shown at the top of the sidebar under Contacts.

So the only remaining thing would be for MUCs with unread messages to be shown above MUCs without unread messages? (And MUCs in which you're mentioned even higher).

[svalo]

Hi @jcbrand, thanks! I'm using version is v12.0.0, it is indeed true that the unread 1:1 chats are shown at the top of contact section, they are however shown after groupchats. As I am subscribed to > 20 groupchats they take all the vertical space in my window so they effectively hide the 1:1 chats.

For my personal taste I'd like to have all chats, being them 1:1 or groupchats, shown in order of last interaction in the sidebar.

I do not feel the need to keep 1:1 chats and groupchats separated but I may fail to see the value of doing so.

If keeping them separated is desired, then an option could be to have an "unread" section at the top of the sidebar containing 1:1 and groupchats in order of last interaction and then below that, a groupchats section and a contact section

[jcbrand]

I hear you, but I'm at the moment not sure what the right approach is here.

I feel reluctant to mix MUCs and 1:1 chats in a single unread section, but perhaps if you or someone else can make a compelling case I can change my mind. I can see the appeal somewhat, but I'm wary of potential unintended negative UX consequences, and UX design isn't really my area of expertise.

For a professional project one would have a UX designer and perhaps a product manager who compares with other products to see what the state of the art is and what good ideas are already out there.

[svalo]

Thanks again, I'm not an UX designer myself either and so far it seems I'm the only user supporting this change 😅

From my experience using XMPP clients I can say that Dino, Gajim and Conversations keep all the chats (1:1 and group) together in order of last interaction with an unread count.
Profanity (console client) instead keeps the roster split into 1:1 and groups, subdividing the 1:1 by status(online/away/ext.away/offline).
Concerning contact groups, Conversations shows them as badges below usernames, Dino does not show them, Gajim I do not recall and profanity groups users based on them.

Here's some screenshots for XMPP:

Gajim
Dino
Conversations
Profanity

The all-chats-together design is shared also with Signal, Telegram and Whatsapp; these are platforms I have direct experience with, can't say anything for the others. A nice feature in Telegram is that it signals differently unread messages in a group and direct mentions.

In the end my only case beside personal preference is to follow a design which is shared between the chat applications I more frequently use.

Anyway I can see why you are cautious with such change, feel free to close the issue!