[Feature Request] Single Window Mode with Tabbed/List Navigation to prevent UI lag in crowded cities

[mqiancheng]

Description
Hello! First of all, thank you for maintaining WIM for Turtle WoW/1.12.1. It is currently the most stable version for us.
I am a Holy Priest who also runs Enchanting and Jewelrycrafting businesses in Stormwind. In highly populated areas with high whisper traffic, the current "One Window Per User" architecture causes significant performance issues.
The Problem
When 3 or more whisper windows are open or popping up simultaneously, the game client often freezes for up to 30 seconds due to the heavy UI stack rendering (Multiple WIM_msgFrameTemplate instances). This makes it very difficult to manage multiple customers while trading.
Proposed Solution: Single Window Management
I would like to suggest a "Modernized" session management mode similar to later versions of WIM (v3.x) or Cellular:

1. Single Window Mode (Tabbed View):
   • Instead of creating a new frame for every user, allow all conversations to be hosted within one main frame.
   • A Contact List/User List should be attached to the side (e.g., right side) of the chat window.
2. Notification & Interaction Logic:
   • When WIM is closed: A new whisper should trigger a single pop-up (the main window with the user list).
   • When WIM is already open: A new whisper from a different player should not pop up a new window. Instead, the new user's name should be added to the side list and flash to indicate unread messages.
   • Clicking a name in the list switches the text buffer to that specific conversation without reloading the entire UI frame.
3. Performance Benefit:
   • By limiting the active UI frames to just one, we can drastically reduce the memory and CPU spikes caused by CreateFrame and repeated Whois queries during peak trading hours in cities.
   Summary of Features
   • [ ] Option to enable "Single Window Mode".
   • [ ] Integrated Sidebar for active contacts (User List).
   • [ ] Visual alerts (flashing text) for new messages in the sidebar instead of window pop-ups.
   • [ ] Toggleable "Docked" user list.
   I believe this feature would make WIM the ultimate choice for crafters and traders on high-population servers like Turtle WoW. Thank you for your consideration!

[refaim]

Thank you for the kind words and for such a detailed write-up!

Unfortunately, implementing a single-window mode is not something I can realistically take on - it would require refactoring and/or rewriting nearly the entire addon codebase.

That said, I may be able to eliminate, or at least mitigate, the performance issues you're describing while keeping the current architecture intact. I'll look into it.

In the meantime, I'd recommend checking out the MessageBox addon, which implements exactly the single-window paradigm you're looking for.