Earlier I posted what Netscape is thinking about working on in the
future and asked for opinions on what everyone else thought. Below are
what users of NS6 are saying.
Just like I did for Beta 1, I've gone through a number of feedback forms
from the final release of Netscape 6 and thoughtI would post the results
that I'm seeing so far. I've split these up intoa bunch of categories to
see where the problems/requests are coming from. After each category or
item is the number of people who put that item onthe feedback form. I've
included Netscape only features because I didn'twant to have to do this
twice, so please ignore those items if they don'tinterest you. This is
probably about 1/6th of the feedback we've receivedso far for mailnews.
One interesting thing to consider when choosing what to work on is that
60% of the requests were 3 pane related. I was also surprised that
performance wasn't mentioned more, but it's also possible that some of
these problems stopped people from using the product and they never got
to a point where performance was an issue. Or, maybe they don't have big
enough folders that it really mattered. It's hard to say.
It looks like people are having a hard time starting up. There were a
lot of complaints about profiles from previous NS products not being
migrated and people didn't understand why the import tools included the
ability to import from competing programs but not from older versions of
Netscape. People also complained that some of their mail messages got
migrated butnot others. That sounds like a bug.
People are also having a hard time receiving mail. I think there are a
number of reasons for this. Some made it sound like they didn't know how
to set up an account. Others swore they set up the account like they did
in old versions but that they couldn't reach their servers even though
they could on old versions. Some said that Get Msg is always greyed out
(I imaginethis is because they either had no folder selected or they
were selectinglocal folders - we should fix this). Some said that the
status said it wasdownloading messages but that they never showed up.
Finally, some said theirmessages showed up but that the next time they
started up they disappeared. It sounds like we have some usability
problems in getting started as wellas some bugs.
Biff is really popular. I broke this up below, but there were 62
requests for better biff support. That's almost twice as many requests
as there were for better performance. Playing a biff sound was very
popular. Most people missed the fact that biff used to start
automatically even if you only ran the browser. A number of people
mentioned putting a notification in the tray. It was hard to tell if
people wanted NSNotify back (so they could see if there was new mail
without running the mail app) or if they just wanted the notification
there. I also think people are having a hard time setting up biff.
Lots of people are having trouble sending mail as well. These are
probably similar problems to getting mail and might relate to people not
knowing how to set up their accounts correctly.
A number of people are seeing the Compose Window come up without any
"To:" field. Has anyone else seen this? Likewise, a number of people are
clicking on the spell checker button and having nothing happen.
It looks like LDAP is the feature people miss the most of those we
didn't implement. I don't think that's too surprising.
A lot of people are getting hit by the (Unread 1, Total 0) bug.
Total Responses 502
Total Performance 35:
General performance 31
Subscribe dialog performance 3
Mail hangs on large attachments 1
Total Reading/Retrieving Mail 295:
Total Biff 62:
---Play biff sound 19
---Biff not working(either doesn't show up or shows up when there's no
new messages) 17
---Biff in notification area (also NSNotify) 15
---Biff should start automatically without having to do GetMsg including
when mail isn't open 10
---Biff not working for multiple accounts 1
Can't retrieve email(status says it's downloaded but they don't appear,
get Msg greyed out) 46
Message counts not updated correctly (generally the 1 unread message bug) 20
Can't access NS webmail account or get messages 11
Ability to move a folder 7
Old emails disappear(including messages about email going to old version
of NS) 7
Offline mail and news 7
Panes in 3 pane do not retain their size 5
Can't delete an imported account 5
Reorder thread pane columns 4
Can't access AOL mail 4
Navigation in standalone message window 4
Building a summary file gets stuck and when restarting only part of
mailbox is built 4
Can't set up accounts/log into servers when '@' is in user name 4
Can't rename incoming mail server 4
Messages don't stay deleted or marked read 4
S/MIME 4
Default mail window size and folder pane size is too small 3
3 pane descending/ascending menu items 3
Can't access Hotmail account from mail client 3
Mail fonts too small 3
Can't scroll message headers and body together 3
Trouble setting up an account(Netscape account there but can't figure
out how to add others) 3
Save password dialog causes crash 3
Ability to change print margins 3
Unread messages don't show up bold or with green dot 2
Compact folder not working 2
Can't delete expired news articles 2
Account settings aren't in preferences 2
Move/copy menus not sorted 2
Refresh problems in alternative 3 pane view 2
Can't use network drive to store local files 2
Status doesn't show replied or forwarded 2
Open Inbox by default 2
Account wizard coming up blank 2
Message views remembered for each folder, not global 2
Attachment paper clip not showing up in message pane 2
Mail keeps asking for password 2
Get new message doesn't work after computer goes to sleep 1
Show recipient in subfolders of Sent folder 1
Always fails to connect to server 1
Getting new messages deletes old messages 1
Ability to change priority in 3 pane 1
Secure IMAP doesn't work on Linux 1
Can't use right click with multiple messages 1
Mail doesn't work through SOCKS5 proxy 1
Focus not put in rename dialog 1
Rename folder messes up folder list until restarting 1
Can't save multiple messages at once 1
View all header popup opens off screen 1
Clicking on a link in a message doesn't bring the browser to the front 1
Newsgroup functionality not very good 1
Mark all messages in a newsgroup as read 1
Local folders are confusing 1
Doesn't remember where attachments got saved the last time 1
Can't sort newsgroups by thread 1
Delete not deleting mail 1
Ability to select message headers for copying/pasting 1
Total messages in folder pane 1
Get Msg for multiple mail accts 1
Spacebar moves to next message 1
Can't delete Account 1
Can't see images in html mail 1
Folders should be bold if subfolders have unread messages 1
Moving mail messages makes attachments not work 1
Confirmation when deleting from trash 1
Folders don't repaint 1
Ability to delete Local Folders account 1
Thread counts aren't working correctly 1
Watch threads 1
Imap messages not being shown as unread when they are 1
Downloading doesn't show percentage of completion 1
Empty trash doesn't get rid of subfolders 1
Check IMAP folders for mail on startup even if they aren't the Inbox 1
Crossposted news messages only marked read in one group 1
Ignore Threads 1
Can't thread news messages 1
Imported mail from Outlook Express doesn't allow subfolders 1
No way to see if message has attachment in thread pane 1
Headers sometimes show up in news message body 1
Can't figure out how to change a password that's been remembered 1
Total Composing Mail 54:
Can't send mail 17
No "to:" field in compose window 6
Better context menus, especially in message compose for copy/paste 5
Spell checker doesn't work 5
Ctrl-Enter to send mail 3
Return receipts 3
Can't send messages while offline(dataloss) 2
More fonts in compose window 2
Missing Quote button in Compose Window 2
Can't save to sent folder 1
Adding a signature is confusing 1
Field for entering smtp server in Account Wizard isn't showing up 1
Save as draft not saving accented characters correctly 1
Can't type in body of compose window 1
Can't send through NS Webmail in client 1
No status when sending a message 1
Edit dictionary in spell checker freezes app 1
When selecting a mailto: link, compose window opens with garbage 1
Total Search 6:
Can't search news 3
Search total results 1
Can't search and then view a particular message in its folder 1
Search doesn't work 1
Total Filters 0
Total General 27:
Crashes a lot 9
Ability to change text/image prefs on toolbars 3
Better help 2
Mapi 1
Can't make Netscape mail default mail program through Internet Options
Control Panel 1
Too much output on Linux console 1
Need a different icon for mail window 1
Ability to use different mail client with NS browser 1
Tooltips don't disappear 1
Can't use 4.7 and 6.0 for mail because of 2 different copies of folders 1
Make shortcuts on Mac same as previous versions 1
Shortcut to open mail first 1
Mail doesn't open on startup even though pref is set 1
Doesn't like mail start page 1
No Palm Pilot sync 1
Second helper app dialog appears behind mail window 1
Total Importing/Migration 53:
Didn't migrate mail properly (sometimes not at all, sometime only
partially) 23
Can't use import tools to import from older Netscape products 15
Didn't import NS 4.7x address book 11
Migrated news accounts not working (can't get to server or newsgroups
not migrated) 2
Can't import Outlook Address Book 1
Imported AB from 4.7 disappears after restarting 1
Total Address Book 32:
Ldap 16
Export address book 3
Can't figure out how to edit mailing lists 2
Can't see OK button on New Address Book card dialog 2
Address book typedown 2
Can't search in Address Book 2
Can't view traditional Chinese in address book 1
No add to address book button 1
Address books don't remember sort order 1
Multiple names in imported address book mailing lists 1
When importing Address Book from Outlook, Japanese AB name changed 1
