Splitting a group chat into subgroups
this way could be a great idea. You can instantly see the number of unread messages in all the subgroups and intuitively understand how they work.
Navigation between them is not too easy, however, since side-swipe gestures are already taken for the 'back' and 'reply' actions. Reaching to the top of the screen also might be a bit of a pain, but acceptable overall.
The concept is not entirely thought through though. The chat list shows one new GIF message in "Jeff's club", but opening it displays 3 new unrelated messages in "Offtop". So where's the GIF?
Currently there are too many questions lacking answers. Which preview should be displayed for the group in the chat list – the last message of all of its subgroups? Should opening such a group always take the user to the subgroup with the most recent unread message? Can notifications settings be different for every subgroup – and if yes, how can a user change them? What happens if the titles of the subgroups are wider than the screen width? How do you actually create subgroups – as different group chats that you bind together, or as sections of one group?
Figuring out all such details makes a great design concept, worthy of a prize (~
@durov)
