Chuq Von Rospach <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > If that's your feeling, then you're so bound to the NNTP client > interfaces that I don't think you can really judge the web > interfaces. You're so comfortable in one space than any other space > can't be comfortable. That's a bad thing to be if you're trying to build > sytstems in that other space.
> (or as I like to say it, if you're someone who loses your brain when > you're with a redhead, you can't really judge a contest between > blondes). Or I'm just more aware of the feature lists of such clients than you are and you have no idea what you're missing. :) The basic problem with the web interfaces, all of them, including Google, is that theeeey'rrree iiiiincreeeeediblllllly sllllllloooooooooowwwwwwwwww. Because they have to do a round-trip to the server for *every click*. If Google were actually responsive, it would be usable. It's probably the best available one. But I think you've completely missed my point, as stated in my previous message. The ideal archives have the same interface as *the user's e-mail client* but with searching. And by "the user's e-mail client," I mean exactly that. If they use Eudora, it should look like Eudora. If they use Outlook, it should look like Outlook. If they use Pine, it should look like Pine. Because that's the interface they already know how to use and are comfortable with. If you have *any* other interface, you're making the user learn something new, and you're going to disenfranchise at least some of the least computer-savvy in your audience. >> Saving the archives as mbox files or as separate files per message is >> probably the best, as the e-mail format is more stable than most >> anything else. > God, no. what, flat files and grep? (shudder) Um, Chuq, just because you keep the archives in that format doesn't mean that's the format you *use*. Sure, throw them into MySQL, convert them to HTML, turn them into Postscript, whatever turns your crank and enables your archives. Just save a copy of the straight mbox files *too*, since twenty years from now no one's going to be able to read MySQL databases, but mail clients will still be able to parse mbox files, at least once they're split on From headers. -- Russ Allbery ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
