unity-design team mailing list archive

[Dylan McCall <dylanmccall@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 2010-03-26 at 16:13 +0000, Shane Fagan wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I thought id look at evolution after reading Mark's post. Oh and id like
> to make a quick notes,
> 
> 1. I hate most menu structures, a lot of the programs in Gnome tend to
> repeat either what is in the main UI or in the preferences dialogues.
> 
> 2. I love how google chrome and how most of the Windows desktop has
> moved away from the menu bar approach to strip out the UI cruft. 
> 
> 3. I think Evolution is one of the worst UIs in the the free desktop
> because there is so much wasted space, grey useless space and repeated
> functionality in the main UI and the Menus. 
> 
> 
> Ok so the easy removal first, the status bar is a lot of wasted space
> and could be either moved or removed to save space for small screens. 
> 
> 
> Now the menu structure 
> File:
> New [makes sense]
> New window [doesnt make much sense for most users]
> Send Receive [is easier to use in the main UI]
> Backup settings [should be in the preferences dialog]
> Restore settings [should be only in the accounts setup dialog]
> Save message [makes some sense but could be done somewhere else]
> Subscribe to other users folder [doesnt make much sense for most users]
> Permissions [Ive never used this id like to know what people use it for
> but it shouldnt be a main menu item]
> Import [Ive never used it but I dont mind keeping it there if people use
> it]
> Page setup [could be done in preferences]
> Print preview [could be combined with the print dialog anyway]
> Print [is the norm so it should be there]
> Empty trash [maybe should be a button in the main UI rather than here]
> Download messages for offline usage [If you use pop it does this anyway]
> Forget passwords [should be done in the preferences dialog]
> Close window [doesnt make too much sense because evolution doesnt work
> in the backround like gwibber aggregating and displaying a notification
> when a message comes in so it doesnt make sense anyway]
> Quit [ok]
> 
> 
> Edit:
> Copy [why do we need 3 different ways to copy something?]
> Select all text [this is the only program that uses this menu item and
> ctrl+a is a lot easier]
> Delete message [isnt that what the del key on the keyboard is for? Its
> in the main UI too and its an option when the user right clicks]
> Undelete [this is an insane one IMO]
> Find in message [thats what the search box is for]
> Sync options [Who has a palm pilot? I dont and thats all this menu item
> is for]
> Message filters [has its uses but something isnt right about it]
> Search folders [thats what the search box is for]
> Plugins [Hmmmmm has its uses but they are all enabled by default anyway
> but its fine where it is]
> Preferences [ok]
> 
> 
> View: [There is a lot here that should be done in preferences]
> 
> 
> Folder: [A lot of this menu is already in the main UI]
> 
> 
> Message: [A lot of whats here appears in the main UI and in file>add and
> if you right click]
> 
> 
> Search: [Thats what the search box is for]
> 
> 
> Help: [ok]
> 
> 
> 
> Its very clear that Evolution is aimed at enterprises and not the bog
> standard user on the street. Its interface is clunky and repeats itself
> a lot so is quite bad if your using it on a netbook. I use it myself but
> after looking at Windows mail client in Windows 7 and Thunderbird 3,
> Evolution looks like it was designed in 1998. If you look at all the
> white space in the UI its quite ridiculous. We should really give it a
> serious design look for 10.10
> 
> Anyone else any thoughts on Evolution?
> 
> 
> Regards,
> Shane Fagan
> ----------
> Software development student

You may be inspired if you take a look at Anjal and the Pimlico project
(search for the app called Dates in Software Centre). They are cute
little apps built for specific types of users on specific platforms
(netbooks and phones, respectively).

The interesting thing with them is that they both use Evolution as a
backend. It's actually a really good approach because Evolution is a
sophisticated project with a lot of strength behind it. It means that
Anjal and Pimlico can focus on user interface instead of infrastructure.
It also means integration with the various other applications that talk
to the Evolution server. Interestingly, I can swap between Anjal and
Evolution Shell _completely_ seamlessly.

I was contemplating such a thing, myself, but I want to do too much
already :)
I think it would be a bad idea to mess with the Evolution shell that we
currently ship since it _is_ an enterprise-focused application and they
tend to appreciate GUIs that stay the same.

For home users, though, it's pretty painful that Evolution's new message
editor, for example, has half of its interface devoted to chrome and
to / cc / subject fields and only the small remainder for the actual
message. Modest solves this well.
The solution is a new Evolution front-end for the rest of us, with a
more decisively tuned interface, leaving the old one fully intact for
those who prefer it.


Thanks,
Dylan