One of the users was asking how to see all the chat channels and I myself couldn’t figure it out
Turns out you have to click on a pencil icon to browse all channels. This can’t be right, can it?
Wouldn’t it be better to just have a “Browse” button?
AI-generated summary
The discussion revolves around the usability of the pencil icon used to browse all chat channels in the interface. one1 questions why a pencil icon is used, arguing it doesn’t clearly represent the action of viewing channels and suggests a more intuitive label like “All” or “More”. chapoi explains that the pencil icon is linked to editing the sidebar, as it allows users to join channels that appear there. sam raises the point that text labels might be too intrusive, prompting a discussion on alternative icons. one1 notes that common grid icons (like grid-2) are Pro-only in Font Awesome, limiting options. one1 suggests a +/- or plus icon, though acknowledges the plus is already used for creating channels. chapoi points to an existing “More” option at the bottom of the category list, which one1 agrees would be a better alternative to the pencil icon.
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It’s a bit of both. Clicking the pencil does indeed open the window with all channels, but on that page, as you can see, you can join channels, which in turn will then show up in your sidebar. So in that sense, the edit icon is editing the sidebar section.
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Yeah, that seems like a stretch to me. The icon should represent what happens when you click it, in this case show you a list of channels. The fact that you can join channels (which is also not editing) is irrelevant.
In any case, I don’t think an icon is the best UI. A button with the word “View All” perhaps?
Text would be quite lout there and always in your viewport.
What alternative font awesome icon would you suggest?
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That’s a good point. I guess most people will rarely need to change channels.
Are all FA icons available to choose from?
only free ones, Pro ones cost money so we can not ship them in our open source product
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Unfortunately all of the grid icons are pro. grid-2 kind of looks like the interface that displays after you click the pencil icon and to me has the idea of “look at all the things”
I’m still fond of “All”. Looking at the interface where the pencil appears, it’s not clear that you aren’t already looking at all the channels. So a button that said “All” or “More” would indicate that you weren’t already looking at all the channel possibilities.
If most people clicking the pencil intend to join another channel, then perhaps a plus icon. Or even a +/- icon. I do realize that + is used currently for “create channel”
I absolutely concede that it’s hard to find the perfect icon. That’s why I like the text option. Since most of the chat time is not spent looking at the screen where the icon is, I don’t think that would be too invasive.
The specific use case was this: I created a new chat and told someone to join it. Granted, I could have sent them a link to the channel. But telling someone “join the x channel” should be more straightforward.
To me the pencil is really for editing text or an image. Not joining or leaving things.
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Right, that would be a great icon to use instead of the pencil.
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