I like Nostr because it challenges many paradigms, including those of interfaces and user interactions, and forces those who build it to think critically outside the box.
I was working on a new design for Blowater by nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyv9kh2uewd9hj7qgewaehxw309aex2mrp0yhxymr0washgetj9eshqup0qy88wumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmv9uqzq6ua4ysvfdhvhukpyqv20gk3gw6dlhuc0rpmatrfuwdmt9uyrnrwufzavy and asked myself: the bubbles UI, typical of chat programs we are used to, is really the best and so inevitable solution?
Quick valuation:
- Pros: it makes clear the two parts in a conversation, both with the position and the colors.
- Cons: it reduces the width available space; it gives equal importance to the two parts, while the user is usually interested on the content by the other part; doesn't scale naturally to group chat.
This is an alternative solution that came out.
In linear structure with full width available; other part messages are prominent while their own are dimmed and collapsible to save space.
The line on the right permits to immediately spot the conversation flow/frequency, also on rapid scrolling.
Can adapt to groups putting a minimal profile pic near the date and customizing the right line with the main color picked from the pic itself.
What do you think?
#nostrdesign #asknostr
Your cons are not cons in my book. Users are very interested in the reactions, comments and zaps to their own messages + they use their own messages more than anything else as reference points to know where they are in the conversation.
Full width (à la Slack) makes it look a lot less like a conversation and a kot more like a feed. (which might be desired in some cases). But very few people love it (lack of breathing room, storytelling and rounded bubble frame).
I'm a top supporter of "my notes" in the main menu (added in Gossip and was thinking to propose it in Coracle), but zap and reactions in a one-to-one conversation? Btw, they can be displayed also on a compressed note.
Of course it is hard to change when we are used to a obiquous model, I'm questioning if this model is inevitable because has objective advantages.
Please keep questioning & experimenting! That's what Nostr allows in the end 😉 Sorry if my tone was harsh btw. It's just funny because I'm currently going in the opposite experimentation direction 👉 making things that are not really chats feel like chats. Because my mom, granddad and the like find that the most intuitive and approachable UI by far.
No worry, you weren't harsh :)
Interesting, love to see more about that!
I'm the past (2017) I followed a similar experiment working on a project that used chat bots to expose typical services to promote local business (and it also had a concept similar to zaps!), with the goal to simplify the UX. The feedback was positive, although we didn't have the current AI to support the conversations. So yes, conversation patterns put users at ease.
