Strypey
@strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz  ·  activity timestamp 3 days ago

While I'm harping on about Matrix, does anyone know if the GNOME plan to split Fractal into two apps (team chat/ instant messenger) ever went ahead?

https://blogs.gnome.org/tbernard/2018/05/16/banquets-and-barbecues/

GNOME announced in 2022 that they were using Matrix for their official team chat groups;

https://blogs.gnome.org/foundation/2022/06/02/gnome-chat-moves-to-matrix/

So presumably they've put some serious effort into bringing their own Matrix apps to maturity?

#Matrix#GNOME
Strypey
@strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz replied  ·  activity timestamp 3 days ago
@Sturmflut
> why all of this couldn't be UI preferences within a single application

I have a feeling that might have been the way they ended up going. Hoping someone from @gnome can fill us in.

I like the idea of separate apps though. I've been operating 2 accounts, using separate apps, one for personal contacts (mainly DMs)_ and one for public interaction (mainly public and team rooms). It's good to have the option to disable one or the other, or both, or neither, depending what I'm doing.
Cassidy James :ea: :gg: :fh:
@cassidy@mastodon.blaede.family replied  ·  activity timestamp 3 days ago
@strypey @Sturmflut Fractal is a third-party app designed for GNOME, but is not a core GNOME app. You’d need to ask its developers about the specific design decisions. You can check it out on GitLab: https://gitlab.gnome.org/World/fractal

I believe the Fractal contributors' idea to split the designs resulted in Chatty (another third-party app designed for GNOME) handling 1:1 messages over Matrix, but I’m not sure exactly. You can check it out on GitLab: https://gitlab.gnome.org/World/Chatty
Tobias Bernard
@tbernard@mastodon.social replied  ·  activity timestamp 3 days ago
@cassidy @strypey @Sturmflut IIRC the main reason this never happened is that Matrix doesn't really support it - if you want to cover multiple use cases with different UIs you need separate accounts, and even then the fact that the other side might be using a client with a different feature set is gong to be a problem. You'd need some way for clients to declare what kind of app they are.
Strypey
@strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 days ago
@tbernard
> the main reason this never happened

That's a shame. I cite your blog post about it often. It's a rare case of a software dev blog post that's both technically and socially insightful, worded in a way that can be read and understood by almost anyone.

> using a client with a different feature set is gong to be a problem

I can see why you'd think so, but I haven't found it to be a problem in practice. You are right that it doesn't really work with 1 account.

@cassidy @Sturmflut

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