[Evolution] Search boxes and UI meddling
Hi, I've been an Evolution user for a long time. The main reason I use Evolution is for its search/indexing features, since I have huge mail boxes and like to be able to search through them quickly. In recent versions of Evolution (I guess beyond 2.7, I'm using 2.8.1) the Search Box at the top of the message view was redesigned. I think this redesign was actually a step backward, and would like to know if other people have raised this concern. Aside from the silliness that the box is just too small, I don't understand why it seems to make sense to have a click on the tiny icon of a magnifying glass change in what part of a message you are searching, and to click a paint brush to clear the message (you may tell me that's a broom, but at that size, it's a paint brush). When I am searching within a message, I don't even know I am because the gray text for Message contains only appears when my search query is empty. Considering these searches are sticky to the folder I'm in, I may very well return back to a folder I previously searched for dinner and not know whether I search the subject/sender or the message itself, unless I click that silly magnifying glass again. I also don't get why the Show pull down exists. I think it would make more sense if that Show pull down showed _your_ saved searches, rather than some hard coded ones some other developer thought I'd find useful. I don't even use labels (and why should I, Evolution doesn't even let me customize them), but even so in the Show menu I have not one but six options related to labels. Likewise, I don't use Evolution's built-in Junk mail filtering (I use spam assassin externally since for some reason it's much faster that way), and have another wasted option there for Messages Not Junk. Less than half the options are therefore even usable by me, but I can't get rid of them and what's even more frustrating is that any of them could be emulated by a Saved Search, which _don't_ show up there. Does anyone else agree with me as to the silliness of these UI redesigns? I hate to be a whiner and if I had more than a few moments I'd scratch the itches myself, but I really would like to know what inspired these steps backward, and see if there is any agreement about undoing them. Andrew ___ Evolution-list mailing list Evolution-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/evolution-list
Re: [Evolution] Search boxes and UI meddling
Totally agree. I'm nervous every time I search. Should I use the Search menu, or the Search box? Do they do the same thing or not? What about Advanced Search? Is it going to make me give a name to save the search or can I use it just once? etc. etc. The whole thing needs to be rethought IMHO. BTW, I didn't even realize the little magnifying glass was clickable! Its location makes it functionally invisible and it lacks what the CHI people call affordance. poc On Fri, 2007-02-09 at 10:54 -0500, Andrew Montalenti wrote: Hi, I've been an Evolution user for a long time. The main reason I use Evolution is for its search/indexing features, since I have huge mail boxes and like to be able to search through them quickly. In recent versions of Evolution (I guess beyond 2.7, I'm using 2.8.1) the Search Box at the top of the message view was redesigned. I think this redesign was actually a step backward, and would like to know if other people have raised this concern. Aside from the silliness that the box is just too small, I don't understand why it seems to make sense to have a click on the tiny icon of a magnifying glass change in what part of a message you are searching, and to click a paint brush to clear the message (you may tell me that's a broom, but at that size, it's a paint brush). When I am searching within a message, I don't even know I am because the gray text for Message contains only appears when my search query is empty. Considering these searches are sticky to the folder I'm in, I may very well return back to a folder I previously searched for dinner and not know whether I search the subject/sender or the message itself, unless I click that silly magnifying glass again. I also don't get why the Show pull down exists. I think it would make more sense if that Show pull down showed _your_ saved searches, rather than some hard coded ones some other developer thought I'd find useful. I don't even use labels (and why should I, Evolution doesn't even let me customize them), but even so in the Show menu I have not one but six options related to labels. Likewise, I don't use Evolution's built-in Junk mail filtering (I use spam assassin externally since for some reason it's much faster that way), and have another wasted option there for Messages Not Junk. Less than half the options are therefore even usable by me, but I can't get rid of them and what's even more frustrating is that any of them could be emulated by a Saved Search, which _don't_ show up there. Does anyone else agree with me as to the silliness of these UI redesigns? I hate to be a whiner and if I had more than a few moments I'd scratch the itches myself, but I really would like to know what inspired these steps backward, and see if there is any agreement about undoing them. Andrew ___ Evolution-list mailing list Evolution-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/evolution-list ___ Evolution-list mailing list Evolution-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/evolution-list
Re: [Evolution] Search boxes and UI meddling
On Fri, 2007-02-09 at 12:45 -0400, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote: BTW, I didn't even realize the little magnifying glass was clickable! Its location makes it functionally invisible and it lacks what the CHI people call affordance. FWIW, I filed a bug a few months ago to have a downward arrow added to the icon, to make it more obvious that it offered some menu items (aka make it look more like Spotlight search on the Mac). I'd agree there's certainly scope for grander improvements, though. Cheeri, Calum. -- CALUM BENSON, Usability Engineer Sun Microsystems Ireland mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]GNOME Desktop Group http://ie.sun.com +353 1 819 9771 Any opinions are personal and not necessarily those of Sun Microsystems ___ Evolution-list mailing list Evolution-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/evolution-list
Re: [Evolution] Search boxes and UI meddling
Hi, On Fri, 2007-02-09 at 12:45 -0400, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote: Totally agree. I'm nervous every time I search. Should I use the Search menu, or the Search box? Do they do the same thing or not? What about Advanced Search? Is it going to make me give a name to save the search or can I use it just once? etc. etc. Even more interesting is that I'm experiencing a bug since I upgraded. If I do use a saved search from Search - 1. My Saved Search, it doesn't actually get applied unless I go into the search box, press enter so that the Advanced Search dialog comes up with my saved search, and then press OK. How annoying. Will file a bug about this when I get a moment, don't know if it has to do with some stale state in my .evolution folder. The whole thing needs to be rethought IMHO. I think the whole thing needs to be REALLY rethought. Evo's mailer has some real design innovations, but at the core of an e-mail application is search. E-mail applications need to have two main use cases in mind: 1. Receiving and reading NEW mail (which Evo does decently well, but still not optimally) 2. Searching OLD mail (which Evo used to do exceptionally well, but now does abysmally) I want a mailer with great search capabilities, so I can track down that JetBlue receipt for a flight I booked three months ago, or find an e-mail my friend sent me 6 months ago but that I never got around to replying to. I would also really push for some standard query language capabilities in Evo. I'd like to be able to type unread messages containing 'Andrew' in a search box (with shortcuts, like unread contain 'Andrew'), rather than having to create a search called Unread, creating the message is unread condition, and then filtering those based on message contains 'Andrew'. Sometimes, a GUI isn't the most usable UI. Evo also needs to get more keyboard friendly. What happened to our UNIX roots? BTW, I didn't even realize the little magnifying glass was clickable! Its location makes it functionally invisible and it lacks what the CHI people call affordance. Evo gets affordance better than most other applications for most things. But this search box redesign definitely ruins affordance, as you say. I know Evo's designers/hackers don't like to see themselves in competition with Gmail, but... we really need to start looking at what works. Andrew On Fri, 2007-02-09 at 10:54 -0500, Andrew Montalenti wrote: Hi, I've been an Evolution user for a long time. The main reason I use Evolution is for its search/indexing features, since I have huge mail boxes and like to be able to search through them quickly. In recent versions of Evolution (I guess beyond 2.7, I'm using 2.8.1) the Search Box at the top of the message view was redesigned. I think this redesign was actually a step backward, and would like to know if other people have raised this concern. Aside from the silliness that the box is just too small, I don't understand why it seems to make sense to have a click on the tiny icon of a magnifying glass change in what part of a message you are searching, and to click a paint brush to clear the message (you may tell me that's a broom, but at that size, it's a paint brush). When I am searching within a message, I don't even know I am because the gray text for Message contains only appears when my search query is empty. Considering these searches are sticky to the folder I'm in, I may very well return back to a folder I previously searched for dinner and not know whether I search the subject/sender or the message itself, unless I click that silly magnifying glass again. I also don't get why the Show pull down exists. I think it would make more sense if that Show pull down showed _your_ saved searches, rather than some hard coded ones some other developer thought I'd find useful. I don't even use labels (and why should I, Evolution doesn't even let me customize them), but even so in the Show menu I have not one but six options related to labels. Likewise, I don't use Evolution's built-in Junk mail filtering (I use spam assassin externally since for some reason it's much faster that way), and have another wasted option there for Messages Not Junk. Less than half the options are therefore even usable by me, but I can't get rid of them and what's even more frustrating is that any of them could be emulated by a Saved Search, which _don't_ show up there. Does anyone else agree with me as to the silliness of these UI redesigns? I hate to be a whiner and if I had more than a few moments I'd scratch the itches myself, but I really would like to know what inspired these steps backward, and see if there is any agreement about undoing them. Andrew ___ Evolution-list mailing list Evolution-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/evolution-list
Re: [Evolution] Search boxes and UI meddling
On Fri, 2007-02-09 at 17:17 +, Calum Benson wrote: On Fri, 2007-02-09 at 12:45 -0400, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote: BTW, I didn't even realize the little magnifying glass was clickable! Its location makes it functionally invisible and it lacks what the CHI people call affordance. FWIW, I filed a bug a few months ago to have a downward arrow added to the icon, to make it more obvious that it offered some menu items (aka make it look more like Spotlight search on the Mac). I'd agree there's certainly scope for grander improvements, though. IMHO, the very idea of having a clickable icon *inside* a text entry box makes me squirm. It's just wrong wrong wrong. An icon in a text box looks like a label or type indicator, not something operational. poc ___ Evolution-list mailing list Evolution-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/evolution-list
Re: [Evolution] Search boxes and UI meddling
On Fri, 2007-02-09 at 13:50 -0500, Andrew Montalenti wrote: I know Evo's designers/hackers don't like to see themselves in competition with Gmail, but... we really need to start looking at what works. Thunderbird is closer to Evo in philosophy than Gmail is, and many of its interface decisions seem better thought out than Evo's. Its Junk controls also work a lot better, but that's another topic. poc ___ Evolution-list mailing list Evolution-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/evolution-list
Re: [Evolution] Search boxes and UI meddling
On Fri, 2007-02-09 at 15:01 -0400, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote: IMHO, the very idea of having a clickable icon *inside* a text entry box makes me squirm. It's just wrong wrong wrong. An icon in a text box looks like a label or type indicator, not something operational. Lucky for us, we have not one but _two_ operational icons in the same text box :-) Andrew ___ Evolution-list mailing list Evolution-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/evolution-list
