"Delete for everyone" checkbox instead of a button

[WofWca]

This is how the “Delete message” dialog looks currently:

Compare to how it looks on Telegram:

For comparison, WhatsApp desktop has radio buttons, but they make you pick the value every time, it’s not remembered:

I think the Telegram’s approach is much better.

Most of the time when you delete a message, you want to delete it for all chat members. Even if not, you usually do the same kind of deletion (either just for yourself or for all members), and I think cases where you need to switch between the two are rare.
You don’t want to have to think about what button to press. Moreover, you don’t want to accidentally delete a message just for yourself. The checkbox makes it harder to cause non-default behavior.

So, I suggest to introduce this checkbox, and remember its value, just like in Telegram.

For reference, here is an issue about message deletion.

[WofWca]

BTW I’m willing to implement this, just let me know if I should.

[FDMS]

Aren’t those two rather different use cases (for everyone vs just me)? Imo it feels intuitive to have two buttons (which is also the Signal approach) given the difference (and keeping the number of steps for each action low)

[WofWca]

@FDMS

Aren’t those two rather different use cases (for everyone vs just me)?

Well yes. But my point is that I think that people rarely switch between the two. They don’t need to be presented with the choice every time.

[FDMS]

Hm, why rarely? One of them I use for content redaction (for everyone) and the other one for general housekeeping or storage management (just me). Tbh I’d find it somewhat confusing if I’d need to check the checkbox state every time to avoid it defaulting to the other of the two use cases.

[r10s]

i agree with @FDMS. in Delta Chat it is a decision per-message, and therefore two buttons make sense. in Telegram it is partly different as it is a moderation tool where you can partly delete messages of others which we do not want/need as a private messenger atm. maybe one wants to remember state there, but that is not what we’re doing

Most of the time when you delete a message, you want to delete it for all chat members

really? might be the case for some, but i doubt “most of the time”. for me and for many others i know, this is not the case.

i want to delete “for all” only when i accidentally posted sth or when i eg. push an update.

most message deletions are more “cleanup”, and then also affecting own and others messages, where you do not have a choice at all.

also, all of whatsapp/signal/telegram on ios as well as whatsapp-android has also two buttons, so it is not that we’re doing weird things here (btw, wondering why they do things so differently on android, in general, it seems they’re not that much into inner consistency, a thing, Delta Chat is quite often praised for, btw

telegram-ios:

signal-ios:

whatsapp-ios:

EDIT: whatsapp-android has two buttons as well:

EDIT: whatsapp-web:

leaving state remembering aside, it is unclear if the initial suggestion would be an overall improvement worth the effort.

we can consider iterate and to discuss that at some point, but just now, our few resources are spend better elsewhere. things are just fine and it is better to improve on other parts - also as this is not just desktop, but we would to re-do that on all UI, which is quite some work

[adbenitez]

I also like more the Telegram Android approach with the checkbox and only one button, the two red buttons are harder to use while clicking around and if you accidentally select the wrong option there is no way to delete for everyone anymore since the message is gone and only deleted for you

[DELTA_MAFIA]

I agree, the checkbox is much better, and with these three buttons, the interface looks like it was made by someone who doesn’t care.

[bencan]

@adbenitez

I also like more the Telegram Android approach with the checkbox and only one button, the two red buttons are harder to use while clicking around and if you accidentally select the wrong option there is no way to delete for everyone anymore since the message is gone and only deleted for you

I agree about the risk of accidentally selecting the wrong option with no way to delete for everyone anymore. This has sometimes caused message deletion to be a bit more “stressful” for me than it should be because I am aware I need to be extra careful not to accidentally tap the wrong part of the screen! A checkbox or radio approach, or confirmation dialog, would be safer.

The current approach is also unnecessarily confusing with single user chats, which still give you the option to “delete for everyone” or “delete for me” which are the same thing.