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List:       evolution
Subject:    Re: [Evolution] Non-intuitive design POP/On this computer User Interface
From:       Chide <cg () xs4all ! nl>
Date:       2018-11-18 12:25:45
Message-ID: 1b160eae1961384bff09e62d00e1c9428aa6a79d.camel () xs4all ! nl
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Thank you so much for your elaborate reply. My inline reponses follow
below:

On Sun, 2018-11-18 at 11:52 +0000, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
> On Sun, 2018-11-18 at 12:38 +0100, Chide wrote:
> > And as a follow-up to my previous question, a feature request based
> > on
> > it at the end of this post. It may save other users  quite some
> > time if
> > they end up in the same "corner" of evolution as I did... 
> > 
> > (Note that I'm a fan of evolution, already been happily using it
> > for
> > years, hence this is no critique, but a tip to make it even better
> > ;-))
> > 
> > On Sat, 2018-11-17 at 19:21 +0100, Andre Klapper wrote:
> > > On Sat, 2018-11-17 at 14:03 +0100, Chide wrote:
> > > > Version Evolution: 3.28.5-0ubuntu0.18.04.1 
> > > > I created a new POP account. It worked.
> > > > Then I switched it off (Edit -> Accounts -> Mail Accounts). It
> > > > disappeared from the Mail overview.
> > > 
> > > I don't see a bug. As far as I know, POP accounts do not have and
> > > never had a separate node in the folder pane in Evolution's mail
> > > view
> > > (contrary to IMAP accounts).
> > > All mail of any POP accounts ends up under "On this Computer".
> > 
> > I must say that this is a quite confusing, and non-intuitive user-
> > interface design decision within evolution.
> 
> "Intuitive", like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

True.

>  What you mean
> is "other email clients I've used don't work this way".

Well, no because I only have used evolution for the past 5 years or so
;-) So, the other email clients I've used are... evolution. Indeed I
only use it for IMAP, but accidentally created and switched on a POP
account. Then I discovered this behaviour of which I think it is quite
confusing.

>  There are many
> differences between Evo and other MUAs and this is one of them. Evo
> was
> designed as an IMAP client and that's where it takes its design cues
> from. It supports POP of course, but there's no question that for
> most
> people POP is a protocol of last resort. If you want to organise your
> POP mail into folders, use Search folders. There are several
> discussions of this on the list archives. In fact it's even in the
> Help, under the heading "Separating POP mail for more than one
> account".

Thanks for the info.

> 
> > One would expect that switching on the POP account (in the Mail
> > Accounts preferences) itself should show it in the mail-client. But
> > it
> > does not. I think it would be a more consistent design decision to,
> > for
> > example, warn the user that he or she should also switch on "On
> > this
> > computer" once he or she checks the box next to a POP account. Or
> > even
> > switch it on automatically. 
> > 
> > After all, for what reason would someone check a POP box, and not
> > want
> > to see it? 
> 
> It's on by default. In fact I didn't even know it was possible to
> switch it off (not that I've ever looked). If someone does switch it
> off, presumably they know what they're doing. I guess Evo could offer
> to turn it back on if a POP account is created, but it seems like a
> minor issue. Feel free to file a Request For Enhancement.

Indeed, that is my request. It seems like a minor issue, I would rather
say it is a 'low probability' issue - if you end up in that corner of
evolution - it causes quite some loss of productivity. I think I lost
over an hour searching, and could not access my historic emails anymore
which cause difficulties during my work. A little dialogue-box warning
as I suggest above could indeed save someone else a lot of trouble,
while it is easy to implement for evolution developers.

I will file it.

Thanks again for the quick reply, I really appreciate the support from
the community!

Note I will not post follow-ups to this email thread anymore, I've
other matters that demand my attention.



> 
> poc
> 
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