Feedback from an active group chat.

[Capt. Eduardo del Mango]

I'm regularly logged in to an active, busy group chat (non-trading/idling, actual chatters). For this new chat system to be workable as a chatroom, I believe it needs the capability to:

+Set text font and size, and line break size.
+Disable automatic display/preview of media.
+Optionally to have usernames at the start of lines of text (as per the old system) to enable more efficient use of vertical space.

Text disappears from the visible screen too quickly - either due to the formatting issues, or media causing chat to scroll too quickly. The option to change these is needed for group chat to function as an actual chat room rather than as something more akin to a WhatsApp style messaging service.

[krelon🦀]

+ Ability to resize elements of windows, e.g text box and group member sidebar.

+ Since it's taking a lot of cues from discord anyway, a compact mode option like discord has as a one-stop way to fit more in the window.

+ Copy link button for invite links doesn't work.

[Conehæd The Barbarian]

• The ability to block images loading from certain people, like a soft block option. But without actually blocking them and missing half of a conversation.
  
• Make the chevron next to a persons name larger for easier clicking. In both the friends list & group chat
  
• An option to have the timelog for each message posted, instead of being grouped together.

[Pyro Gourmand]

EDIT: posted an updated, shorter list a few posts below. This message should serve as an archive/complete list.

Note: all my observations and feedback comes from the Steam Beta Client and using a Steam Group chatroom. I have not tested the Steam Web Client or the ad hoc (multi-users) Group Chats yet.

1. Wot the people already said. Krelon's Compact Mode suggestion (that is a must) being: the user avatar is not displayed + the text message is on the same line as the user name.
   
   
2. (Optimization) Better RAM management: (1) flushing cache more aggressively, particularly for gifs/videos ; (2) Limit the previous posts to preload to a fixed number, load the rest on scroll up ; (3) Flush previous posts after x new posts (loaded posts/RAM shouldn't increase as the session happens, it should remain stable). All these things might be already implemented, but a quick check wouldn't be superfluous.
   
   
3. (Foolproofing) Preview size limit (= any content bigger than xy MB requires clicking on it to see in the default browser) to prevent preview-bombing with massive gifs/pictures.
   
   
4. (Foolproofing) Preview cache size limit, to prevent mass-preview-bombing (many different pictures/videos that can individually fit through the previous size limit).
   
   
5. [ FIXED ✅ it's only displayed on error, but we know it's 10 MB](Information) Indicate the Image Upload (the "Send Special" button, the one with a paper clip icon) individual size limit, as well as the total size limit per user. If uploaded content has an expiration date before automatic removal, please indicate it too.
   
   
6. [ FIXED ✅ ] (Usability) Animated GIF files should be hideable by the user, using the existing ❌ cross mark, currently only available for static image files. Same for Twitter tweets or Youtube videos: these embedded content take a lot of space, users should be able to reduce the size covered by these elements.
   
   
7. [ FIXED ✅ ](Usability) GIFV files or Youtube videos should be hideable by the user, using the existing ❌ cross mark, currently only available for static image and GIF files. These embedded content take a lot of space, users should be able to reduce the size covered by these elements.
   
   
8. Twitter tweets should be hideable by the user, using the existing ❌ cross mark, currently available for static image, GIF files, GIFV and Youtube videos.
   
   
9. [ FIXED ✅ ] (Usability) Gifv files with a sound track should be set to Mute by default + only play on focus + only play once (no more looping). These files currently (1) play sound by default ; (2) play on loop ; (3) play even when the Group Chat window focus is on a different Group Chat (!). ~ [ Autoplay: gone!, Loop: gone!, Out-of-focus play: still there but that's okay without autoplay ][ Bonus features gained with the update: Play/Pause button! Volume slider! Fullscreen button! ]
   
   
10. (Usability) Minor bug: embedded Gifv files can not be downloaded (download button does not do anything) or opened in the default browser (right-click does not open a contextual menu).
    
    
11. [ FIXED ✅ ] (Usability) Allow < url > formatting (the < > characters around a link) to manually prevent preview (even when automatic preview is turned on), for when the poster is linking potentially NSFW content/url or doesn't want to spoil the surprise or take up all the chat with multiple previews taking up all the screen.
    
    
12. [ FIXED ✅ ] (Usability) Allow users to disable media preview (completely, or auto-hide by default) in the Group Chat settings and/or the Friends List settings.
    
    
13. [ FIXED ✅ ] (Moderation) Group Chat users with the old Steam Group Chat Moderator or Admin role can not edit or remove messages. These users need that feature to moderate and administer their group chats.
    
    
14. [ really needed! ] (Moderation) The current "Kick" function is actually a Tempban (temporary ban) that last: a) 1 hour, b) 24 hour, c) a full week. Moderators/admins should be given the possibility of reducing that tempban to 5-10-15-30 minutes and/or manually lifting the Tempban from the Bans list. To actually only kick a user for a couple of minutes or as a warning, at the moment admins have to permanently ban the user first, then remove them from the Bans list. Let the Kick be kick (with optional tempban), and the Ban be ban (with optional duration).
    
    
15. [ really needed! ] (Moderation) There is no moderation log accessible to Admins or Moderators for the Group Chat. It leads to confusion when there is multiple Admins/Moderators and text/voice channels are created/removed/renamed, users are kicked/banned, or when title/tagline are modified. Currently, only some of the actions (title/tagline change, kick/ban of members) are indicated in the middle of the "Home" Text Channel feed.
    
    
16. (Usability) Basic chat text formatting (bold, italic, underline).
    
    
17. (Usability) The "Hide image in chat" symbol, the ❌ cross mark, indicates closing or deleting elements in other User Interfaces (including Steam Client windows). Users are confused about it and think it will delete the picture. I recommend changing the symbol to either (a) a straight line – (the same as "Minimize Window", in both Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS), or an eye (spoiler symbol) or a crossed eye (toggle visibility symbol).
    
    
18. [ FIXED ✅ ] (Usability) Scrolling up the text channel feed should remember the absolute position (which message it is currently scrolled up to) instead of the current relative position (how many lines up in the current feed the user is). Basically, if I scroll up to catch up on a certain discussion (to check some links or whatever), do not make the chat automatically scroll as more posts are currently made.
    
    
19. (Information) The Group Chat "Task Bar" (at the top) notification: it shows how many Text Channels have new entries, not how many messages. I think it would be more useful if it was showing how many new messages were posted. An even better notification system would display a message counter for each text channel (up to 3), with the max counter to 99 to keep it inside the tab.
    
    
20. (Information) It is not clear which text channel you are currently viewing and posting in. The name of the channel should be displayed on the top bar (either center or close to the Group Chat Name, Tagline and Icon) in a bigger font or in bold, not just on the left panel listing the channels. Additonally, it would be great if admins/moderators could select a custom background color for each channel (either hex code or limited preset list), with or without a soft gradient effect.
    
    
21. (Optimization / Usability) Better sync between local client and server (as fed to other clients): truncated posts showing as full posts on local client, duplicate posts only showing on local client, or different oldest-available-post when scrolling up (some users can look up further in the past than others).
    
    
22. [ Improving! ✅ ] (Optimization) Better crash management: the Steam Client doesn't crash along with the Steamwebhelper, so that's good. What would be better: better detect when the Steamwebhelper (the Steam Community chat system one) is not responding, or consuming an abnormal amount of RAM, to automatically flush/drop its caches and restart it. I had to manually terminate some processes in the Task Manager quite a few times, it should be more automated. Typical example: the Group Chat window crashes, the link offering the user to reload it only leads to an empty -105 error page with no ❌ to close it (the Task Bar can still be used to right-click and close it), and any attempt to relaunch it (clicking on Friends & Chat, launching the Group Chat url) fails until the user kills the Steamwebhelper processes. Edit 1: sometime the crash (black windows) automatically closes both the Friends List and Group Chats, but won't quit and relaunch the Steamwebhelper processes (Task Manager is required to terminate it) ; but sometime (frozen windows still displaying content) it will relaunch both the Friends List and Group Chats successfully.
    
    
23. [ POSSIBLY FIXED ] (Work In Progress) Group Chat Owner in the Group Chat Settings menu is not implemented yet for existing Steam Groups. Current one is the placeholder STEAM_0:0:0 (steamcommunity . com / profiles / 76561197960265728 ). Edit: now set to "NO OWNER". Edit 2: now set to Group Creator apparently (our current group got a different one though :D).
    
    
24. (Work In Progress) Group Chat Icon is not implemented yet (in the Group Chat Settings menu) for existing Steam Groups. The Steam Group icon still displays in the interface correctly, it's the Group Chat Settings menu for the Icon that is not functionning yet (doesn't show the current one, can't upload a new one, even when it's a JPG or PNG file, whose dimensions are equal to 184*184 pixels).
    
    
25. (Work In Progress) Nickname changes are no longer saved between sessions (exiting Steam and relaunching it), it keeps going back to the previous nicknames.
    
    
26. (Work In Progress) There is no "Search" function to search through previous posts. It might be a design choice, otherwise it's something users might find useful.
    
    
27. [ Improving! ✅ ] (Work In Progress) Links to Steam Store pages are automatically turned into embedded banners. Clicking on the "MORE INFO" button, the name of the game, or the thumbnail of the game [edit: only [b] SOMETIME
[/b] now] opens a 1 pixel window. The corresponding Task Bar window has the correct title, and pressing Alt+Enter keys (to force fullscreen) displays the correct Steam Store page, but the window doesn't have a ❌ cross to close it (right-click on the corresponding Task Bar window allows the user to still close it).
28. [ SEEMS FIXED ✅ ] (Youtube) The command "Copy Link URL" for embedded Youtube links copies the following link: "steam://openurl/https://www. youtube .com/watch?v=<video_id> and not "https://www. youtube .com/watch?v=<video_id>". The same command for embedded pictures ("Copy Link URL") works fine and copy the HTTP URL without the steam://openurl/ prefix. Some links to regular web pages (not picture, not video) also get copied with the steam://openurl/ prefix.
    
    
29. (Twitter) The embedded tweets with multiple pictures only display the first picture and no visible arrow or panel to click to display the other images.
    
    
30. (Twitter) The embedded tweets with video content do not let you play the video, only the thumbnail frame is displayed. Clicking on the picture opens the tweet in the default browser.

[Just A Regular Shrimp]

Reiterating the request for better whitespace control/vertical management. That's really my only major complaint.

Here's a few minor things:

The steam tray icon on Windows doesn't just flash to indicate unread messages anymore. The popup can be too attention-getting at times, I'd like a just flash mode.

A thing I can't seem to do anymore is navigate to groups from the friends tab once you've selected one. A bit of a hassle, but, since you only join once now it's pretty minor.

A thing I'd like to have is, much like discord, the ability to paste media into chat.

Some positive points:
* I love the sound design. Very pleasing.
* The chat window is generally easy on the eyes.
* The unread message indicator is attention-catching without being too demanding.

[Qazi]

Workshop links embed into these huge chat filling monstrosities. but its nice you can rate them from within chat.

[Not A GDR Spy]

Here is my personal wishlist of changes and bugfixes, what's already there is a really excellent framework though! Big thanks to the people responsible for the redesign!

- Compact mode or something similar, allowing me to disable game icons, avatars etc.

- Ability to resize UI elements such as the text channel list, group member list (in group chats) and the various UI elements in the friendlist

- Ability to turn of embedded links, even better if this could be granular (only embed images, but no YT videos, for example) and even betterer if it could be a setting tied to the text channel (i.e. one channel has embedded links allowed, another doesnt)

- Easier and more straightforward setup of Push-to-talk

- IMPORTANT FOR ACTUAL USE OF VOICE CHAT: Ability to create more hotkeys other than just PTT (think Push-to-mute, hotkeys for muting/deafening at the same time), a possible AFK voice channel

- IMPORTANT: Ability to mute specific text channels, or a better implementation of the @ mentions commands

Big thanks also for the implementation of the Invisibility mode!
Whoever decided that goes in, I want to buy you a beer!

[Pyro Gourmand]

~ Updated & Reworked Pyro List ~

(UI suggestions taken out from my first post, since these only needs to be communicated once)

1. Compact Mode: the user avatar is not displayed + the text message is on the same line as the user name.
   
   
2. [ FIXED ✅ They've done it! ] (Usability) Allow users to disable media preview (completely, or auto-hide by default) in the Group Chat settings and/or the Friends List settings.
   
   
3. [ FIXED ✅ with the /spoiler or /code or /quote prefix command ] (Usability) Allow < url > formatting (the < > characters around a link) to manually prevent URL preview (even when automatic preview is turned on), for when the poster is linking potentially NSFW content/url or doesn't want to spoil the surprise or take up all the chat with multiple previews taking up all the screen.
   
   
4. [ really needed! ] (Moderation) The current "Kick" function is actually a Tempban (temporary ban) that last: a) 1 hour, b) 24 hour, c) a full week. Moderators/admins should be given the possibility of reducing that Tempban to 5-10-15-30 minutes and/or manually lifting the Tempban from the Bans list.
   
   
5. [ really needed! ] (Moderation) There is no moderation log accessible to Admins or Moderators for the new Group Chat yet. It leads to confusion when there is multiple Admins/Moderators and text/voice channels are created/removed/renamed, users are kicked/banned, or when the title/tagline are modified.
   
   
6. [ Improving! ✅ ] (Optimization) Better crash management: the Steam Client doesn't crash along with the Steamwebhelper, so that's good. What would be better: better detect when the Steamwebhelper (the Steam Community chat system one) is not responding, or consuming an abnormal amount of RAM, to automatically flush/drop its caches and restart it. I had to manually terminate some processes in the Task Manager quite a few times, it should be more automated.
   
   
7. [ SEEMS TO BE FIXED ✅ ] Links to Steam Store pages are automatically turned into embedded banners. Clicking on the "MORE INFO" button, the name of the game, or the thumbnail of the game often opens a 1 pixel window. The corresponding Task Bar window has the correct title, and pressing Alt+Enter keys (to force fullscreen) displays the correct Steam Store page, but the window doesn't have a ❌ cross to close it (right-click on the corresponding Task Bar window allows the user to still close it).
   
   
8. (Usability) When exiting the Fullscreen mode of an embedded Youtube video, the chat window scrolls back to the latest post in the feed, it does not stay or resume to the post of the corresponding Youtube video. But the video keeps playing! So the user has to scroll up all the way to the video to pause it.
   
   
9. (Usability) Basic chat text formatting (bold, italic, underline).
   
   
10. (Usability) Embedded Gifv files can not be downloaded (download button does not do anything) or opened in the default browser (right-click does not open a contextual menu). EDIT October 2018: they seem to no longer display now (with media preview on).
    
    
11. (Twitter) Tweets should be hideable by the user, using the existing ❌ cross mark, currently available for static image, GIF files, GIFV and Youtube videos.
    
    
12. (Twitter) The embedded tweets with multiple pictures only display the first picture and no visible arrow or panel to click to display the other images.
    
    
13. (Work In Progress) Group Chat Icon is still not implemented yet (in the Group Chat Settings menu) for existing Steam Groups. The Steam Group icon still displays in the interface correctly, it's the Group Chat Settings menu for the Icon that is not functionning yet (doesn't show the current one, can't upload a new one, even when it's a JPG or PNG file, whose dimensions are equal to 184*184 pixels).
    
    
14. (Work In Progress) Nickname changes are no longer saved between sessions (exiting Steam and relaunching it), it keeps going back to the previous nicknames.
    
    
15. (Work In Progress) When a media URL fails to preview (FAILED TO LOAD...), using the ❌ cross to hide the small preview square will turn the window into a long vertical column of a 1 character width with the FAILED TO LOAD... message.
    
    
16. (User Information) There is no place in the User Interface indicating that the messages posted in a channel (both Home or any other Text channel) will be automatically deleted after approx 2 weeks. It generates confusion among users when the content is gone and they are left wondering if it was manually removed by a moderator or admin.