On Sep 5, 2007, at 3:42 PM, Philippe Bossut wrote:
FWIW as a user feedback, I usually do not unstamp the mail-ness as
I find the "from/to" addresses useful info (though having contacts
in Chandler would make it even more useful... I know, I know...).
I'm not sure about capital-C Contacts as in Address Book / Contacts
Management. But I do think there are usage scenarios related to
contacts that we already support today, namely the ability to address
items and the WHO column in the table view. We can iterate on what we
have to make these features more useful to people separate from a
larger conversation about how and when to take on Contacts.
Personally I've been feeling blocked from being able to use the WHO
column in the table view to list who a particular item/task is
assigned to in the shared PPD collection as well as my shared Home
collection.
I'm not sure we need to solve this problem for Preview. I think it
involves allowing people to change the who column from a column that
'dynamically displays the most important WHO attribute' to a column
that only displays the TO field. However, I think we need a
generalized solution for giving users control over what attributes
they see in the table. The WHO column is just one place where
customization would be a huge win... The DATE column is the other
place where there's been a lot of user requests for more control.
(This deserves it own, separate proposal and discussion thread.)
In any case, after the last few months of dogfooding, I do think it
might be worth tweaking the rules we use for calculating which
attribute goes in the WHO column.
1. When to display ED/UP in the WHO column if the item is a message.
Currently, if someone else edits or updates an item, you see them in
the WHO column until the next person edits/updates the item.
Essentially, that means that with the exception of when the message
item was first created, the byline *always* supercedes the FROM and
the TO fields in the WHO column. This somehow undermines the 'smart-
ness' of the WHO column, which should ideally display the 'right'
attribute depending on whether a message is toMe (inbound) or fromMe
(outbound).
I propose that we display the byline info (edited-by/updated-by) ONLY
WHEN AN ITEM HAS BEEN MARKED UNREAD (either because a sharee edited
the item or because someone else updated the item). However, as soon
as the user has clicked on the item and the item is now READ, the WHO
column should return to displaying either FROM or TO depending on
whether the message is Inbound or Outbound.
Here's an example to illustrate.
I dragged an email in from my email client that was sent to me by a
friend. She wants me to help her figure out something about a banking
acct / routing number.
It's useful for me to see my friend's name in the WHO column because
it reminds me of what the task is. And when the email first appeared
in my Chandler, that's exactly what I saw in the WHO column. However,
as soon as somebody else edits that item, I no longer see that the
email is 'fr my-friend'. Instead, I see 'ed random-subscriber'.
That's extremely useful when I first see that someone edited the item
(I want to know who!). But once I've been there and done that, I'd
prefer to see 'fr my-friend' again, because that's the person I
associate with this task.
2. What to display in the WHO column when an item is left un-addressed.
Currently, if you stamp an item to address it, but don't fill in any
of the TO/CC/BCC fields, we display the FROM attribute in the WHO
column. I propose that instead we put 'to <blank>' in the WHO column,
leaving it blank to either remind users that they haven't addressed
the message or as a way to identify the message: 'That's the message
I haven't addressed yet.'
Looking at it, I feel it's potentially confusing to have a fromMe
(outbound) message item display 'fr xxx' in the WHO column.
3. How to calculate fromMe versus toMe when editing message.
Currently, if you edit a message item, the item becomes fromMe and
the WHO column goes from showing who the message is FROM to who the
item is TO. With the 'drag emails into Chandler via special IMAP
folders' I think it will be fairly common for people to edit messages
with no intention of actually re-sending them again. So I propose
that simply editing a message item *doesn't* turn it into a fromMe
message. Instead, messages are fromMe *only if* the user is in the
FROM/SEND AS/SENT or UPDATED fields.
I'll use the 'bank-account-email-from-my-friend' as an example.
Again, I find it most useful to see that the message was 'fr my-
friend' since I mostly see it as a toMe, inbound task request email.
I edit the message with some questions I need to ask her. I have no
intention of 'updating' the message. Yet, the message now displays
'to mimi' in the WHO column because it's considered a fromMe,
outbound message. When editing, keeping the WHO column 'as is' is
probably a safer bet.
I realize this is so in the weeds it's pretty much face down in the
muck. But I am curious as to whether anyone else has tried to use the
WHO column, particularly in conjunction with Email and Edit/Update
and what your experiences have been. I realize that Email and Edit/
Update aren't usually the first workflows people fall into, but we
knew going in that the WHO column in particular would be really hard
to get right and I'm concerned that it is just 'out-of-tune' enough
to render it a barrier, rather than an aid to using these features.
Mimi
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