For us, it would be interesting to see the current approach somewhere upfront to think about. I want to attend this meeting - however, only, if your plan differs from what Slack does for folded threads (which works very very well).
Hope to see some data before the meeting starts in two days!
Zulip, LinkedIn (narrative feed), Reddit, Twitter, Outlook (conversation view button)
Issues with replies in Mattermost right now
Replies are not discoverable - meaning users are creating parent posts rather than replies. We should make it easier to reply from a click interaction stand-point
Why not allow clicking on the whole post to reply? Seems to be consensus that this would be a better UX than requiring users to click the reply arrow. This would help people keep threads in order.
Post hover menu with reply option is far away from the users attention. Consider showing reply option closer to the profile picture or below the message.
Consider inline input field for replies
Need clearer UI indicators of a reply vs a new post - grey bar is insufficient. Consider colors, intents, different sizing of profile pics
Parent posts mixed with replies causes major distractions in the channel
Notifications: if everything is collapsed by default messages are definitely going to be missed
Mixed feelings about implementing an “All Threads” view, but having that option is a good idea.
“Users love choice”
“Might be information overload”, “want to see threads in the channels they live in”
Most conversations happens in replies. That’s a lot of extra effort to read messages if I have to expand every thread to read messages.
Alternate design approaches:
On-demand expanding and collapsing of different threads
Threads are expand by default and have an option to collapse
We should remember the users choice for which threads are expanded/collapsed when they switch channels
When expanding a thread, all the replies should be in chronological order without other parent posts in-between
Smaller indicator in the post chronology that is a jump to reference/parent post or
Treat replies as an event in the channel with a different visual treatment (ie system messages). When clicked it could expand or open the RHS to that message.
Admin Control:
Admins should have the control of the defaults for users
Need option to disable at the system and end user level
Consider team and channel admin level controls
Consider this as a functionality improvement over existing threading, rather than something that should be “turned on” or “turned off”. If it’s done well there’s no need for a setting.
Other considerations or user stories:
We should not allow parent posts to be resorted. Chronology is important to maintain.
“Opening up the side panel is a distraction to what happens in the center channel”
Possibly explore inline input fields
Threads within threads
Designs in general should consider what provides the most value benefits for the masses rather than being afraid to break corner cases.
Thoughts on improving design calls:
Positive reactions to the design call
Would like to see this happen more with other designs
Optional introductions from people other than Mattermost
Hey @msirovy, we’ll be looking heavily into the design in Q4 this year. If you haven’t already, can you please join the ~Folded Reply Threads channel in our community server so we can continue the conversation on how a plugin approach may work?
Hi there! Any update timeline for this? Our institution just switched over to Mattermost, and many individuals have expressed interest in seeing this as an option.