Matthew Thomas wrote:
> bhuvan wrote:
>
>> ...
>> messages for multiple accounts. A checkbox in each (POP and IMAP)
>> server panel with pref "Log onto this account at startup of mail"
>> ...
>> (66460 ), having a checkbox on the AccountCentral page that says "Next
>> time, take me to the Inbox directly" or something similar would help
>> ...
>
>
> This seems like a gradual process of repeatedly adding features, each
> one designed to patch up the problems caused by the previous one. I
> wasn't here at the time, but I would guess this is the same process by
> which the UI of the Search function and the Forms Manager in Navigator
> got into the embarrassing states they are in today.
>
> You are gambling that each new addition will improve usability, but
> since you are adding complexity, you are gambling at worse and worse
> odds each time.
>
> Problem:
> Some people are confused when they first open the mail window, the
> account is selected in the folder pane, and nothing is displayed in
> the thread or message panes.
> Implemented solution:
> Design a high-falutin' `Account Central' page, which duplicates
> functions in the menus and toolbar -- with the inevitable result
> that some users will be permanently slowed by forever thinking that
> they *have* to come here to access those functions. (That wouldn't
> be bad in itself, were it not for the fact that going to Account
> Central to do these things is vastly slower than accessing them by
> any of the other methods.)
> Alternative solution:
> Select the Inbox, rather than the account, when the mail window is
> first opened. In the rare event that the user does choose the
> account level, show a simple summary of the folders/groups in that
> account, with the number of read and unread messages in each.
I really disagree that Account Central is "high-falutin". We have done
useability studies that show that new users have a hard time finding
simple functionality (I recognize that an argument to this is to find a
way to make this functionality more obvious in other ways besides this
page). This page is an alternative form of help. It's possible that
some people will get stuck using this page, but so what? My guess is
that if they figured out how to use the menu items that they would stop
using this page and if they decide they like this page anyway, what harm
has it done?
>
> Problem:
> Some people like their mail to be checked automatically when they
> open a mail window. Other people don't.
> Implemented solution:
> Have a per-account pref for whether or not an account is checked at
> startup. To completely remove all possibility of the user
> understanding this behavior, have different defaults for this pref
> with different types of account.
> Alternative solution:
> If the user is in online mode when they open their mail window, then
> check their mail in all their accounts. If they're in offline mode,
> then don't. (As I said before, online/offline mode should be
> persistent between invocations of an application, but should not be
> shared across Mozilla applications.) Provide keyboard shortcuts for
> checking mail in all accounts (Ctrl+Shift+T) or just the selected
> folder (or Inbox of the selected account) (Ctrl+T).
>
I think as Ben mentions later on, just because a user is online it
doesn't mean they are connected to all of their accounts. We need some
help from the user about what accounts they are actually planning on
being connected to.
Now, I have been arguing for automatically getting their mail but it
seemed that POP users were against this. We have also done useability
studies where people just expect their mail to be there. I'm not sure
that the default for Check New Mail, that Bhuvan mentions, should be off
for default POP accounts. I have no data to back this up, but it seems
to me that more people would want to have their mail checked on startup
than not and that we should make the people who don't want it to happen
turn off the pref. But, I'm also not a POP user.
Scott
