Button to close side panel is missing

[kongo09]

On receiving feedback on the new room header and right panel, it's clear that folks are missing the [x] button.

This issue represents the work needed to add the close button to the right panel. Please see the designs for more details (designs are internal only, screenshots of expected outcome are in the comments below)

Thanks!

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_Original Issue_

Steps to reproduce

1. Click on (i) in header to open side panel on the right

Outcome

What did you expect?

A button to close the side panel, typically an X in the top right

What happened instead?

No obvious way to close the side panel is visible

Side panel in Edge:

Side panel in Slack:

Side panel toggle button in MS Teams

It seems a X is typical, but even without the X there are alternatives in the top right to close the panel

Operating system

Windows 11

Application version

Element version: 1.11.71 Crypto version: Rust SDK 0.7.1 (80a151e), Vodozemac 0.6.0

How did you install the app?

element.io

Homeserver

element.io

Will you send logs?

No

[kongo09]

I noticed another weird thing. If I hit the Threads icon because, hey, it has a notification bubble, the right panel closes and does not show Threads, instead of switching over to the Threads section:

[t3chguy]

That is as design asked for it

[daniellekirkwood]

we need to figure out the close button. I also 'miss' it and get confused by how it's there sometimes and now there other times. I've connected this to the Epic to work on after first launch and will discuss it with @americanrefugee when back

[tibroc]

To me what @kongo09 mentioned in his comment seems like a very obvious bug and was immediatley confusing to people I talked to. @t3chguy Should this be treated as a separate issue?

[t3chguy]

You can file a separate issue, it won't change how Design/Product investigate/think about it, but might be cleaner.

[daniellekirkwood]

Our suggested solution is to drop the tabs and introduce a close button [x] to the far right of the right panel - we're just gathering feedback on the designs before committing to this solution... What would y'all think to that?

What that might look like 👇

@tibroc as for the buttons opening the right place in the right panel instead of closing the right panel, we'll address that too. We don't need an issue to track it (unless you already made one?)

[opusforlife2]

Why not keep the tabs and just add an X button? That seems like the most straightforward solution involving minimum effort.

[tibroc]

@daniellekirkwood The screenshots you provide seem like a good idea to me. It also removes the duplicated functionality between the buttons and the tabs, so it is already less confusing.

I did not yet open a separte issue, so I'm fine with tracking progress here.

[daniellekirkwood]

We drew up what keeping the tabs and introducing the [x] would look like and it gets really 'busy' as you'd also need a scroll bar to see all the tabs.

To tibroc's point, removing the tabs removes the duplicated functionality

[opusforlife2]

Oh, right. I didn't notice that the pre-existing buttons still remain along with the tabs. Then yeah, removing the tabs makes sense. They don't serve any purpose.

[Krishcode264]

do we still need to add [X] icon to close the right Side panel ?

[daniellekirkwood]

Yes, we will be reintroducing the close button. Thanks for catching that I had not yet updated the content of this issue!

[daniellekirkwood]