Hello everyone.
Earlier this year, we released a redesigned set of emoji, to help modernize our platform and make the chat work more efficiently. The new emoji, rendered via SVG, look crisp and perfect no matter what type of display, zoom level, or devices you use. Although change is never easy, many owners agree that emoji are more modern and more expressive than the old set.
But we’re not done yet. Over these past few months, we’ve been hard at work working on bringing the rest of the chatroom to a modern look. And today, I’m pleased to give you your first look at the new design:
Compare this same set of messages to the current chatting experience available today:
Chatroom bubbles, if enabled by the owner, appear sharper and more condensed, with a better color scheme. Names are no longer inserted into the bubble itself, instead resting above them. Sequential messages are combined to keep the chatroom clean, and messages you send appear on the right, while messages sent by others appear on the left, the same behavior users expect from other websites and applications they use every day.
Rather than showing “0m” for messages recently sent, representing “0 minutes ago,” they now show the actual time they were sent, in the user’s timezone, reducing the need for them to calculate these things in their head to get an idea of when events start or other key information.
The user interface icons are also reimagined as well, appearing next to the textbox. As you type, irrelevant icons vanish, being replaced by a send icon. And the buttons themselves match your chat’s color scheme, rather than being colorless and black (or white on dark mode), allowing your chatroom to better match the look and feel of your website. The message text box itself is also smaller and rounded, to better fit user’s expectation of how chatting services should look.
This simple screenshot is only a small taste of the many improvements made to the chatting experience. Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook to receive continued information on this and all other projects and improvements we’re working on. I’m excited to work with chat owners and get this experience rolled out over the coming weeks.
Happy chatting!
Jesse