Focus in the near-term on 1-on-1 Messaging
1-on-1 Conversations Only
In the near-term, the focus of the new message flow should be on how we eventually achieve the design highlighted in #235 (closed) (which is the Matrix/L1 design) and the technical concessions to support XMPP group messaging deviate from that intended eventual user experience.
Supporting XMPP more fully means we would have a series of features that are outside the scope of the intended design and vision for Chatty, and when the intended functionality eventually lands it would constitute a big change for existing users, breaking how they may have gotten used to using the app. So rather than implement a concession that we'd have to revert, we should wait until we are able to fully implement the features we intend instead of a workaround or fallback solution.
This means on the Chatty client side, not supporting the creation of and related features of XMPP group messaging and focusing the New Message flow on 1-on-1 messaging, so ostensibly creating a message becomes:
- finding a contact to chat with (including search)
- initiating chat with that contact
- composing the message to that contact in the newly created conversation window
Group Messaging Support
As for group messaging, only creating groups would be deferred until the solution as intended for Matrix can be implemented. Joining groups when invited and being added to groups externally would still be supported and group messages would appear in one's conversation list alongside one-on-one chats, so group messaging would still be possible, it's that the Chatty client would not be able to do any of these things itself.
The gist is that since XMPP is a stop-gap for Matrix we should avoid over-investing the user experience in the features of XMPP and wait until we can fully implement the user experience as intended for Matrix.