I'd like to kick off a discussion about redesigning the UI for multiple discussions. With individual chats a tabbed interface makes sense as average usage means the user probably doesn't have more than a few chats open at once.
With IRC support now, however, the tab interface's limitations are starting to show. I often am connected to 7 or more channels at the same time, and finding a particular channel or an open IM chat is becoming more and more difficult as the number of open tabs increases.
Here I have another 5 channels and 2 individual chat sessions hidden under the "more tabs" chevron, and navigating to and finding them is made much more difficult by the current number of tabs that are open.
My suggestion is to have two types of windows - windows for IRC and group chats, and windows for individual IM chats and queries. The individual IM chat window uses tabs as usual. The group chat window moves the connected channels / currently open group chats to the sidebar in the area above the connected users, under a heading with a disclosure triangle to close it down if required.
I think this change would make a huge different in helping a) make new messages and following larger numbers of group chats easily, and b) help keep the tabbed interface from becoming so cluttered that it becomes a hindrance rather than a benefit.
I can wireframe this if that would help.
Thoughts?
