UX issue with add account/chat icons

[hashashini]

Adding a second account IMHO isn't intuitive, as I didn't associate the "key with plus" symbol in the lower left corner with that task (my first association: encryption keys; my second association: s.th. with rooms as the text "Filter rooms" is displayed next to it) - I propose a simple "+" icon (a quick online search showed that this might be quite common).

Also starting a chat wasn't intuitive - I propose to replace the "+" icon with a "chat-bubble with + sign" symbol (cf., e.g., element-android) or - in case of mirage maybe even better - with a symbol of a pen (cf. thunderbird: create new message) .

(Maybe I even tried to click the "+" icon while trying to add a new account).

Both didn't only affect me but at least one of my users.

[mirukana]

For the add account button, I think we'll use the "user +" icon that's currently taken by the invite button in the right pane, it packs more meaning than a simple "+".

In this case, the invite icon needs to be changed, does an envelope with a + makes sense?

For the add chat button, we could use a chat bubble with a +, in the same style has the "user +" icon.

[hashashini]

Maybe it's even better to add an account from within a future settings menu - after all this is probably rather infrequently done. (Display "add account", "configure accounts" and "preferences" upon click on the gear symbol.)

Since you mentioned an envelope symbol, I'd like to tell another UX story: Some of my users are 70+ years old and never used a smartphone or a messenger and I'm usually touting matrix as a secure successor to email. Consequently, sitting the first time in front of mirage, they searched for a button to compose a new message. This made me realize that for matrix to become a successor to email we need a client with a better UI for writing longer messages. This could be solved by a compose button that opens a separate window for that purpose. For that button e.g. an envelope with a pen would be an adequate symbol.

(We'd also need a way to save and edit drafts.)

[mirukana]

It's important to explain the difference between IM and email to them before using Mirage, as these are radically different experiences that need their own particular interface.

Email clients are split between a list of messages from anyone and a pane to display one of those at a time, conversations are long spaced apart messages between two addresses. On the opposite side, IM works with a group of people agreeing to join and stay in a specific room together, for real-time conversations where most messages are single sentences. Mirage was designed to be an IM client with a minimalist UI for this purpose. Users should not expect it to work like an email client, and adding another space-consuming button to open a duplicate composer window does not make sense in this context, nor is it pleasant for the user to have to manage separate windows.

I suppose the main annoyance for writing long messages is the behavior of the enter key, so I wouldn't mind adding an option to swap enter and shift+enter (open a separate issue in this case).

[hashashini]

Of course I'm totally aware that right now matrix is not yet a replacement for email however it aims to be (cf. e.g. https://www.matrix.org/blog/2019/10/10/new-vector-raises-8-5-m-to-accelerate-matrix-riot-modular, 2nd paragraph) and I hope it once will be. This doesn't mean that mirage has to be that client accounting for that (although due to its multi account support it's certainly for now the client closest to a classical mail client). Until now I didn't know which direction you intend to go, that's why I mentioned it - just in case.

For the add account button, I think we'll use the "user +" icon that's currently taken by the invite button in the right pane, it packs more meaning than a simple "+".

I still uphold my stance on this, see https://github.com/mirukana/mirage/issues/143#issuecomment-704338862

In this case, the invite icon needs to be changed, does an envelope with a + makes sense?

In case it doesn't need to be changed I think the current icon is better - but I don't have any UX data points.

For the add chat button, we could use a chat bubble with a +, in the same style has the "user +" icon.

I think we should.