unity-design team mailing list archive

[Eduard Grebe <eduardgrebe@xxxxxxxxx>]

How do people feel about Thunderbird's message tabs? On a small screen I
very much prefer to switch off the preview pane and have messages open
in new tabs, and I think so would many other users.

Also, things like the search and  filter dropdowns in evolution taking
up a whole whack of vertical space (together with a useless indicator of
which folder you're in above the folder tree) waste a tremendous amount
of space.

Very much agree that evolution can do with some attention -- looks
extremely dated.

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
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~ayatana
> Post to     : ayatana@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~ayatana
> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp