On Sun, 2016-01-24 at 12:34 -0500, Nick Pontillo wrote: > Hey all, there are two things I'd like to propose/bring to attention.
It would be good to know what version of Evolution you are using so we can put your comments in to historical context. > > First of all, Google is blocking Evolution from working with Gmail due > to this: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/6010255?hl=en I think "blocking" is putting a bit strongly - Google changed it's authentication mechanism, that is all. > > There are three options here. One is Evolution starts using 0auth2, and > is therefore not blocked when it tries to login to Gmail. It does to some extent. Provisioning of non-imap gmail accounts is done via Gnome online accounts - that is the mechanism for dealing with Oauth2 in Gnome and since Evolution is a well behaved Gnome application, it "all just works". > A second > option is to tell the user how to connect their Evolution to their Gmail > right in the setup wizard, without them having to look for the > workaround online like I did If you set things up as IMAP, then I suspect you got the wrong information. > (while you're at it, you might as well tell > them to enable POP/IMAP too, since that also needs to be done). The > third option is to do nothing, and essentially alienate every Gmail user > who doesn't have the patience to figure out where to go in the Google > settings to "allow less secure apps". The help within Evolution tells you how to enable Gmail IMAP. > > If it is not feasible, then I would suggest option 2, which is to give > the user more instruction in the very beginning for how to get around > this. Specifically, I think the setup wizard when you run Evolution for > the first time should say something along the lines of "if you would > like to connect a Gmail account, go to > https://www.google.com/settings/security/lesssecureapps and enable less > secure apps. Then log in to gmail with a web browser, go to settings, go > to 'forwarding and pop/imap', and enable pop or imap." To be honest, that's just not the right thing to do - it presupposes that the user *only* wants to use mail. Gmail is a whole lot more than that - contacts, calendar, notes and so on. Pointing a user to an IMAP solution just causes problems further down the line. > > And this brings me to the other thing I want to talk about, which is > that in order to give feedback about this I had to sign up for this > mailing list and send out an email. I think there is a good opportunity > for Evolution to improve its user-friendliness by having a forum on the > web of some sort. Just no. Forums/fora are a pain in the backside. I get Evolution list emails into my inbox (well sort of) and I can see them immediately and try to help people. I would have to visit a forum on the web and actively go looking for things to help people with. > > *Forums are better than IRC and mailing lists because people don't have > to sign up to look at them*, Err, what about https://mail.gnome.org/archives/evolution-list/ no sign up for that. > therefore if someone is having a problem > they can look on the forum for solutions. Right now there is no central > place on the web where people can go to look for help and tips with > Evolution https://mail.gnome.org/archives/evolution-list/ > - unless they set up IRC, sign up to the mailing list, or to > the Gnome wiki. There are threads *about* Evolution in other tech > forums, but there is no Evolution forum. > > This does not even require any money, hardware, or investment from > Gnome. All it would take is for someone to make a subreddit called > "/r/evolutionmail" Oh great, I can really imagine that being immune from the creationist nut jobs on reddit. And personally I find reddit a confusing mess. > and then link to that subreddit in the Evolution > manual, gnome wiki page, and setup wizard. Maybe advertise it a bit on > Linux blogs/forums on the same day it's created. And it could even link > to all the other Evolution stuff like this: > https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Evolution/ and this: > https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/evolution-list Oh, and perhaps on https://mail.gnome.org/archives/evolution-list/ as well?? > > So in short: > > 1: In light of Google's policy, do something to make it easier to > connect Gmail accounts with Evolution. Done. > 2: Have a public forum where people can ask for help and provide > assistance anonymously, Why anonymously?? If you mean that you don't have to sign up, then all forums I have ever come across you have to sign up to to ask/answer topics. Certainly you have to for reddit. And in any case, I don't think you have to sign up to use this list - if you aren't a subscriber, then your post is moderated, but it will get through if it is suitable. And you can look at the answers on, yes, you guessed it: https://mail.gnome.org/archives/evolution-list/ P. _______________________________________________ evolution-list mailing list [email protected] To change your list options or unsubscribe, visit ... https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/evolution-list
