Matrix client with traditional GUI?

[Mæstro]

I have recently been informed that Matrix might be a suitable IM protocol for me to use in future. I am trying to find a good client to use for it. Most clients listed on the official site fall into either of two classes. Most try to mimic the appearance of Discord and other common 2020s IM sites, which I dislike; several use Electron, which I loathe. One of these states outright that it intends ‘to provide a native desktop app for Matrix that feels more like a mainstream chat app (Element, Telegram etc) and less like an IRC client.’ A few others use CLI, which I find awkward. Some have no screenshots at all, making it impossible for me to evaluate them. Are there any Matrix clients which actually do feel like an IRC client? I cannot find one myself.

[vannilla]

Matrix itself is not really meant to be like IRC, so it goes bottom up... and most people using Matrix come from Discord and Slack so they intentionally replicate what they are used to. You're better off making it yourself or getting someone to do it for you, unless you want to go TUI which I do not recommend ever.

[Mæstro]

I would like first to thank you for your most prompt reply.

You're better off making it yourself or getting someone to do it for you

How would I get someone to do it for me? My best guess is that I would look in the phone book for ‘programmers’ and just call each one in turn, saying that I want a Matrix client that looks like Ambassador, offering €1000 or whatever. I am not being facetious. I really have got no idea how I should go about this.

Alternatively, what is a Matrix alternative that has got traditional-looking UI? I have described my circumstances in detail on another forum, and would have tried IRC myself, if not for the facts that IRC seems to struggle with asynchronous communication, ie messages are likely to be dropped, and I would need it for talking to a friend who lives through his iPhone and I have no way to verify whether an iOS IRC client actually works before suggesting one to him.

[vannilla]

Pretty much, you look around the web or your physical location for people with knowledge about GUI programming, ask for their price and go from there.
It will be costly and I'm not saying it's the only way to go, but when everything else fails it's something you can choose to do.

[Mæstro]

Pretty much, you look around the web or your physical location for people with knowledge about GUI programming, ask for their price and go from there.
It will be costly and I'm not saying it's the only way to go, but when everything else fails it's something you can choose to do.

Thank you for confirming this; it is good to know my intuitions are better than I have credited them. Would this very forum be a sound place to ask about such things if needed as such a last resort? Frankly, I trust the developers here far more than I would someone random in this city or online.
Also, is IRC really as unsuited for my purposes as I have been advised? This friend and I interact only through sharing text (including links to images), but we often send messages to each other when the other is offline to read later. I have vaguely heard that there exists technology called ‘bouncers’ which bypass this problem, and I have noticed that HexChat is capable of displaying earlier messages in a chatroom (viz the Linux Mint support IRC, the default), but my actual knowledge of the details is too fuzzy, and it is hard to find a substantial introduction to IRC.

[moonbat]

Matrix isn't the only choice. A free account on any XMPP(Jabber) server that has private chatroom support should suffice. There are multiple Jabber clients for all platforms and with the old style IM UI that Yahoo/MSN/AOL had. I use Pidgin on Linux.

Jabber works like email - you don't need to be all on the same server since it's an open protocol and can add anyone using their jabber address which is of the form username@server. Different servers offer different features; from encryption to voice/video calls so experience may vary. If you ask me, this is what instant messaging should've been like originally instead of being forced to communicate with others only on proprietary providers.

[Mæstro]

Matrix isn't the only choice. A free account on any XMPP(Jabber) server that has private chatroom support should suffice. There are multiple Jabber clients for all platforms and with the old style IM UI that Yahoo/MSN/AOL had. I use Pidgin on Linux.

Jabber works like email - you don't need to be all on the same server since it's an open protocol and can add anyone using their jabber address which is of the form username@server. Different servers offer different features; from encryption to voice/video calls so experience may vary. If you ask me, this is what instant messaging should've been like originally instead of being forced to communicate with others only on proprietary providers.

Funny you mention that! I discovered Jabber in 2021 and quite liked it as long as I was able to use it; my profile actually mentions it. I used Gajim 1·1·2, which I found in my package manager, this whole time. Also, I did not know that ChatSecure’s rating is up to 4·1 by now. This is most encouraging, for I have a friend who is only reachable through his iPhone whom I have wanted to encourage to move to XMPP for years (as long as I have been using it, really), but when I looked back then, its rating was lower and I had no way of verifying whether it, Monai or anything else in the App Store would notify him and otherwise work properly because neither I nor anybody else I know has got an iPhone. I am pleased to hear the situation has improved.

I have been in an involuntary exile from Jabber for a few months now. One day in late February, I was suddenly no longer able to connect. I tried running Psi because its UI also looked nice (unlike later versions of Gajim, which just ape Discord’s UI), but had likewise been unable to connect. My account still works in Conversejs (a JavaScript mess), and newly created accounts on Hookipa and a few other free providers also failed to connect in my Gajim client. The kind users in the Hookipa support chat were not able to help much in the way of diagnosis or cure, so until I read your message, I quietly discarded XMPP as ‘no longer viable’. I see I was wrong. If I could just get my client to work again, or find a suitable substitute, I would be happy to return to Jabber and present ChatSecure to my remaining friend so he can use XMPP, too, letting me achieve my years-long goal of leaving Discord behind for good. It is past my bedtime, but I will look at Pidgin again tomorrow when I wake up. Thank you for encouraging me to try it again!

[moonbat]

Were you able to convince at least a few people to switch to Jabber, or did you already join some (usually niche tech) community that used it? Network effect is the biggest problem, everyone I know prefers to stay on corporate messaging clients which are total shit. At least in the old days Yahoo/MSN/ICQ etc had great features and weren't just webpages stuffed into an Electron app.

[Mæstro]

Were you able to convince at least a few people to switch to Jabber, or did you already join some (usually niche tech) community that used it?

Happily, yes. One close friend, with whom I speak daily and who was happy to move to Jabber in 2021, just as readily returned to it with me now. We have been speaking through it without mishap for a week. I am not involved with the larger community at large; when I moderated a public channel in 2022–24 on Jabber.fr, anarchists stuck to me like lint in a dryer’s trap. Ereyesterday, I announced to most of my other friends that I plan to leave Discord by summer (antipodean winter)’s end, but am remaining long enough that I can help manage their transition to a Jabber chatroom (or similar: one likes Chatzy). Some of them are old friends with whom I lost contact for three years because they could not get Gajim to work in 2021, when I fled Discord in a panic about the Microsoft acquisition rumours. None of them have moved yet, but they seem, at least, more receptive when I am willing to take it slowly.

Network effect is the biggest problem, everyone I know prefers to stay on corporate messaging clients…

Indeed, this is my pain. More than anything else, another close friend, the one who is only available through his iPhone, concerns me, for he resisted switching the most years ago. Back then, his mobile was too full and old to install the extant iOS XMPP clients, limiting him to Skype and Discord. (Since then, he has got a new iPhone. I have no idea whither his Skype friends went in May.) Moreover, he is often my shoulder to lean on during my panic attacks (rarer now than years ago, but I suffered one a few days ago), and he was concerned that switching to Jabber would only encourage paranoia. I created a new Discord account just to remain in touch with him. This friend is a secondary teacher in the US who is now on holiday, so this season offers another chance which I do not want to squander. Really, convincing him is my greatest obstacle left, and this is a social, not a technical problem. He was, uniquely, not informed when I made my general announcement ereyesterday; it was in a group chat to which he does not belong. Would you have any advice about how to handle the subject with him?

At least in the old days Yahoo/MSN/ICQ etc had great features and weren't just webpages stuffed into an Electron app.

I knew about AIM and friends in my childhood; my mum liked Yahoo. When I was young, I took the internet safety advice not to talk with strangers online too literally because autism, so I never used them then.
It was pleasant to see the Running Man among the IM services Pidgin supports. Because Discord is now among these, I could export my Discord chats with the iPhone friend and use Discord through Pidgin as an interim measure to maintain contact with him.