Save state (open/closed) of right sidebar with members list etc.

[nicoroeser]

Problem description

Whenever I start Rocket.Chat (the web version or the native version (Rocket.Chat.Electron)), the right sidebar (the one where you can see the member list, or channel information, and so on) is closed.

I like to have the member list open for all groups and channels.

The current behavior means that I lose time on each Rocket.Chat start (at least once a day), have to integrate additional steps into my workflow, and am a bit annoyed, to be honest.

Suggested solutions and possible alternatives

I can think of several solutions (of varying degree) to this problem. We have to distinguish two cases here, and both can have individual effects, and can be combined in all possible ways.

• The word “chat” in the following text shall be interpreted as “channel, or group, or thread from channel/group, or thread (chat) with single person”. (I have not yet found out the correct terminology in Rocket.Chat for this, sorry.)
• The “state of the sidebar” or “UI state” shall mean: whether the right sidebar is open or not open.

State of sidebar for non-new chats

This is for chats that are already visible in the left sidebar in the user’s UI (and has not yet been in the main UI area). It does not affect new ones.

Suggested solution: always save the last state of the sidebar, per chat. When users start Rocket.Chat again, they find the UI state as they have left it last time. (Result for me: this would solve a big part of my problem.)

State of sidebar for new chats

This is about what happens when a new chat is opened, meaning: one that is newly added to the left sidebar in the user’s UI (and opens in the main UI area now). It does not affect chats which are already contained in the left sidebar of the user’s UI and which have already been visible in the main user’s UI at some time before.

Suggested solution: one of the following:

1. Leave the current behavior: the UI state within the new chat is always closed. (Result for me: if the state for non-new chats is saved (see above), this is still a bit annoying, but I could live with it and open the sidebar for each new chat.)
2. The UI state is copied from the chat which is currently open in the main area when a new chat is switched to. This may be interpreted by users as having a more consistend UI. They might, however, pay less attention to other things that are set per-chat, and might misinterpret them as being global settings. (Result for me: as I have the member list always open, it will be like this for new chats. I am happy.)
3. Add the possibility to set a preference for the state of the sidebar. New chats will open with the state which is set in the preference. (Result for me: I can set the preference to “open member list” and am happy.)

Further thoughts

One could combine the two aspects (behavior for non-new and for new chats), like: save the state of the last open chat as default for next Rocket.Chat startup for the first chat that is opened on startup. But that could be interpreted as really confusing.

Additional context

This might be something to be considered for https://github.com/RocketChat/Rocket.Chat/issues/14621. I am not sure about how these things are handled in the Rocket.Chat project.