Why deep-linked URLs must /start immediately

The Telegram Bot API offers many rich user interface elements that a lot of bot developers utilize in very impressive fashion. Amongst them are for example case sensitive inlinequeries, or ridiculously complex nested menus.

While I won't argue that these UI elements are useful in many cases, they do not cover every kind of input a bot requires from its users.

The need for these workarounds (even if they are cool) arises just because we do not have the simplest and most established thing of the internet: The good ol' hyperlink.

Websites connect different pages by links, which have a high level of affordances and symbolic value in that "any stupid animal knows what to do with BLUE TEXT":

MUST CLICK.

How?

To make hyperlinks work, the Telegram clients only need to turn one little knob:

Whenever a deep link with the same target as the currently opened chat is displayed, meaning that the bot sends a link to itself with start parameters, the client app must know to execute this link directly, without showing a big START button beforehand.

Telegram X already does this, and I am grateful for it. However, we as bot developers, can't rely on the feature if it is only supported by a single client. Therefore, I urge the other platforms to follow in X' footsteps and allow us to bring Telegram Bot interfaces to the next level.

Why?

Natural Mapping is a term from the field of Human-Computer Interaction that describes how the affordances (pushing, twisting, moving) of physical objects should be mapped to their respective controls (buttons, knobs, sliders) in a natural way.

Bad mapping: Arbitrary controls in a row (source: Wikipedia)

Good, natural mapping: Controls in same layout as objects (source: Wikipedia)

Here's an example of @BotListBot (the admins' @BotList approval section):

As you can see, there is currently no other way to visually group labels and controls together in Telegram Bots, than to have them span over multiple button rows. Of course, there are also inline queries, but they do have their weaknesses aswell.

Now if you forced this UI into a natural mapping, it would look something like this:

But you can see that this is not at all convenient for the user, as he has to gaze up top, remember the number, and then select from the options below.

Which brings us to the next issue: Proximity.
When the buttons in long messages are all the way at the bottom, you can't read the text and interact with the message at the same time.

After all, Telegram remains a Messenger. Which means that the main medium of conveying information should be rich formatted text, and for this use case, inline keyboard buttons make very little sense.

Don't get me wrong, buttons have their uses. They're great for pagination, quick actions after the message is read, or for building (nested and layered) menu layouts.
However, I still feel like we're lacking a very obvious solution to the addressed problems.

Well, then what would the solution look like?

Something like this.

Every part of a message can be hyperlinked. Yes, even Emojis. The possibilities are endless.
Clicking on the 👎 button here will cause your client to try and open an URL like
"https://t.me/botlistbot?start=thumb_down_imguradbot" and immediately edit the message according to the developer's conception. In this case, the bot submission @imguradbot would be rejected from inclusion on the @BotList, a notification sent to the submittant, and the message be edited to display the remaining options:

Of course this message is still free to have pagination buttons at the bottom.

Security Concerns

When the user is in chat with a specific bot @somebot, and clicks on one of the links contained in a message which references back to the bot itself (https://t.me/somebot?start=payload), then this action should be no different than just pressing a button below the message.

In that sense, there is no security issue inclined since these kinds of links are essentially the same as InlineKeyboardButtons. It is simply an inconvenience that the user has to click on the "START" button beforehand.

What I am expecting from the client implementation(s) is that they check if the link points back to the origin (it is debatable if this should also be limited to the current chat, not just the currently interacted-with bot), and if so, execute the action immediately. Again, just as Telegram X does.

Call to Action

Dear client devs, please take this into consideration. Let's give Telegram Bots the upgrade they deserve and ring in the next level of Telegram bot user interfaces together!