[kdepim] [Bug 316457] New: KDEPIM2 very error-prone, poor general usability

[Steffen]

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=316457

            Bug ID: 316457
           Summary: KDEPIM2 very error-prone, poor general usability
    Classification: Unclassified
           Product: kdepim
           Version: 4.10
          Platform: Ubuntu Packages
                OS: Linux
            Status: UNCONFIRMED
          Severity: normal
          Priority: NOR
         Component: wizards
          Assignee: kdepim-bugs at kde.org
          Reporter: herrfleisch at googlemail.com

KDEPIM, especially the Kmail2 component in its current version in KDE 4.10 is
still very prone to errors and the user is often left in the dark about what he
can do to fix certain errors, so that he/she will finaly get a working
Email-client. 

examples:

- there still is no indication, that the user needs to have one identity per
Mail-account. This issue persists since KDE 3.5

- during setup of 2 IMAP servers, there are a lot of popup windows opening and
closing in very short time. This is "Microsoft Windows style" and confuses the
user because he does not know whether something went wrong, or what

- after the setup of the IMAP servers, finally a small window is on the screen,
where all the information is presented to the user, as well as a button "setup
account", which is somewhere in the middle of this window. To the user, this
appears as an option to create a new mail account with yahoo, google, whatever,
but not as a button which actually needs to be pressed to create the IMAP
access within Kmail2!
So the user just presses "ok" and the next window appears, after pressing "ok"
there, the former window appears again, starting a circle. No message, no hint,
that the user actually has to create an account in KDEPIM

- After setting everything up, the user needs to connect all the smtp accounts
to their respective identities/ IMAP accounts manually, because as a default,
KDEPIM is not able to do this automatically

- Sending E-Mail: when trying to send a mail, first the user gets a huge
message that virtuoso-t is not running and therefore, Kmail is not able to send
mails, because the addressbook is not available. Errrrmmm... okay this is
getting embarrassing. The user will switch on virtuoso-t and try to send his
mail... All that he gets, is an error message, which tells him that there are
"problems to put the mail into the send-queue". Only option for him: to press
"ok". Thats it. No hint, no tip, no fix. Great. Google says that you need to
delete the /~/.config/akonadi folder, because something went wrong. 
Seriously? 

- After deleting the /~/.config/akonadi folder, mails can be sent, but it can
happen, that now something else "goes wrong" with Akonadi. The clear indicator
for this is, that the user can't read mails anymore, because Kmail does not
fetch them from the server. Because it is "offline". The user does not find any
option to put Akonadi "online" again. He can choose the option to refresh the
IMAP folders. Then he gets the question whether he wants to go online. After
pressing "yes" to this question, nothing happens. No error message, no hint,
nothing. 
Deleting the /~/.config/akonadi folder again and setting up the IMAP-accounts
again, helps. 

So in summary, the user gets the impression that he/she is sitting in front of
a monster, being left alone. The user gets the impression, that choosing an
option or not to choose it, doesn't make any difference, because the program
does what it wants anyway. And while doing what it wants, it is dumb and stupid
too. 
The user needs to think about things and details, he is not firm to. There are
no hints, there is no help in the program itself. The error messages do not
help, but increase confusion to the next level.
There are so many errors which can occure, that the user gets the impression
that this program is just a random generator which randomly presents a new
error, only that it does not need to do what it is supposed to do. 


Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. be a normal user, no rocket-scientist
2. try to use KDEPIM
3. see the epic fail
Actual Results:  
see details

Expected Results:  
that KDEPIM behaves like a modern application. Being useful to the user, doing
things like searching for IMAP servers automatically, error and failure
messages need a comprehensive description and hints what the user can do about
it, and (most important): just work.

after writing all this, I came to the conclusion, that this won't be fixed
anyway, because all the text is too offensive or whatever. And it also does not
contain debug information. So, never mind. Just go on. Its alright, guys.

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