New Message button not obvious

When going to "Messages" to send a new message the "New Message" button is not very obvious. I was expecting a button i the second toolbar like for "Compose" or "Mention" and didn't notice the faded-out "+" right away. I also had someone I got to sign up on Friendica ask me "How in the [expletive] do I send a DM?" because they didn't see the "+" either.

It's bad UX to have that button normally faded out as fading or graying a control is typically used to indicate that it is disabled. Only revealing that it is enabled on mouseover is also not ideal for a UI that doubles for use on mobile touch devices.