[Kde-pim] KMail Usability Issues

[Matthias Fuchs]

Ingo Klöcker schrieb:
> Please tell us which version of KMail you used. ...

1.10.90, though now I installed the newest version from trunk. The issue
with the icon-chooser for the favorite folders disappeared now.

>> * is there an easy way to use the filters on all folders/or on
>> certain folders? With that I mean I set up my account, downloaded a
>> lot mails and set the filters _afterwards_, but did not find an easy
>> way to filter the already downloaded mails --> in the end I marked
>> all mails
> 
> Filters can only be applied to the selected messages.

Hmm, are there any plans to change that in the future?

> 
> 
>> * what is the difference between a normal-filter and a pop-filter?
> 
> [explanation]

Sorry for my ignorance that I did not click the help-button in that case.

>> * wth are "Sieve"-scripts? there is no information provided there
>> what that could mean, no help-button or whatever
> 
> If you don't know, don't bother. What do you propose? Hide everything 
> some users might not know?

That was not what I meant, but it's rather about giving a hint e.g. if
you open the settings dialog you have a help-button on the left.
There are a lot useful features people do not know ("m", "j", "c" ;) ),
that does not mean that they should not bother. Though I can not solve
that problem either, I'm no good in writing documentation. :D

>> * the text-area of the "mail-preview"-window is relatively small
>> because of the large size of the header and the topic, an option to
>> collapse it (Thunderbird, *hint*, *hint* ;) ) would be great
> 
> That really depends on your monitor. And please don't quote Thunderbird. 
> I'm using Thunderbird on Windows at work and it lacks so many nice 
> features KMail has and it has quite a few usability issues that get 
> into my way of working that I regularly curse it.

That does not mean that it also has not some useful features. Btw. As
the focus of KDE is also on smaller devices screen space should not be
"wasted" (depends on POV). I think it should work the same way as it
works with digital signatures where you can click "Show details".

Only now did I find the option to change the appearance for the headers
... sry

> Something like this has been added to the development version on the 
> last weekend.

Ah, I was wrong, I'm using KDE4:Unstable, so packages build from trunk
(approx. each weak). Anyway I guess I should install KMail from trunk
too. Done.


>> If you think the points I raised here are no issues or that I should
>> have searched more, well then simply see this message as my user
>> experience.
> 
> Some of your points might be valid, but if you do not make proposals how 
> to fix those issues ...

Pointing out issues does not mean that one can solve these. Sometimes
talking about issues helps one to come up with a solution. Imo it is not
just about sharing code but also thoughts, impressions etc.

>> Also the favorites are a good idea, especially if you have many
>> mailboxes + folders. 
> 
> Do you know the somewhat hidden Jump to Folder feature? Press j and then 
> simply type an arbitrary part of the name of the folder. Move (m) and 
> Copy (c) work similarly. Moreover, you can assign shortcuts to your 
> most often used folders. Just to name a few more features for quickly 
> switching between folders. :-)

Just "c inter" to copy that mail to interesting, so that I won't forget
that. Though daily use will make me memorize it anyway, especially (m).


There is a small inconsistency in the settings dialog for the accounts:
the accounts in "Receiving" aren't sortable, while the accounts in
"Sending" are. I changed that for sending to non-sortable --> see
attached diff.


Btw. on the "j" folder chooser: If you create a new folder it does not
appear in the list. In folderselectiontreewidget.cpp

const KMFolder *fld = folder();

if ( fld ) {
    mFolderTree->addChildFolder( (KMFolder *) fld, parentWidget() );
    reload( mLastMustBeReadWrite, mLastShowOutbox, mLastShowImapFolders );
    setFolder( (KMFolder *) fld );
}

fld is true even if you haven't entered a name yet, just clicking "New
Subfolder ..." will call reload, but not after you created the folder,
as you have left addChildFolder by then.


Btw. can you turn the "Description" (directly under the message body) off?

And before I forget it: Being able to look at mails from today,
yesterday, last week ... at a glance is really useful.

Cheers!


PS.: All this is really not meant as nitpicking even if it looks like
that. I found these "issues" by using KMail, not searching for them.
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