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List:       kde-devel
Subject:    Re: The perfect e-mail client?
From:       Gav Wood <gjw102 () york ! ac ! uk>
Date:       2002-04-29 17:00:00
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> For all this functionality one needs a big screen for those splitted views.
> A newbee will drown in windows, not knowing what this is all about.
> I agree with intelligent context menus, but that's all.


without wanting to seem a bit argumentative, surely those of us with big 
screens that do like to use them should have the option of having a few 
more panels on screen at once? indeed, i used to have a dual head 
display with my old 15" being solely used for email.

i completely agree with you on the floating panes - far too much hassle, 
but if they are docked, then surely it could be pretty tidy and manageable?

i know most pine-converts would probably say "bah-bloatware", but 
sometimes a really functional "control panel" of integrated comms 
applications can really do the job well. like an ide but integrated 
communications environment. i haven't used evolution yet, but i imagine 
it to be a bit like that.


> Floating PIM pane
> takes too much space


well, if you've got the space and it's not doing anything else... having 
said that, having a pim _inside_ my mailer seems a bit silly to me. 
perhaps if it was just fairly well coupled with the IM program.

 
> Split-view in-box
> rubbish, you can define a filter where to put incoming mail. So do I.


hmm, yeah - this seemed a bit silly to me also.

> Built-in instant messaging
> Maybe embedding, for those who like it. Again you gotta have a big screen.


fair enough

 
> 4. Calendar-linked autoresponse
> I know best what to do. This won't work perfectly.


i imagine if you've got a busy lifestyle if might be cool - i dislike 
the way all of this pim stuff is spread accross loads of loosely coupled 
utilities in kde in general.

it seems to me that it might just be a good idea to couple the address 
book, calendar and mailer. perhaps having an advanced "calendar" part 
that could autoload the user's diary or something. perhaps it has 
already been done, and intergating a calendar/diary would be really simple.

 
> 5. Integrated PGP encryption
> done.


and done well.


> 6. Spam autoreporting
> won't work perfectly


might be worth a try though...


> 7. Mouseover contact information
> Yeah, OK.


very good idea.

 
> 8. Smart e-mail notification
> Well...


whatever

> 9. All-powerful right-clicking
> OK.



yes, but lets keep the options on the menu actually useful. context 
menus are great things, but can be abused by putting all and sundry 
about something onto one menu which just clutters them up - if there's 
many more than, say, 8 items, then there's probably something wrong.

> 10. Easy-access message templates
> Message templates? How many? 20? 40?
> Who likes standardized replies? Not me.
> What about copy and paste?

this might be a good idea - like a dead-quick context menu or something- 
rather than just "reply", have "reply with template", which could expand 
to a few basic (configurable) templates.

while the personal touch is fine, if you're in a fast-moving business 
situation and you always get some fools trying to sell you stuff, i 
imagine you might just want a basic template saying "No, we don't want 
any". i don't know of how much use it would be, but perhaps it wouldn't 
be completely useless and for the cost of one extra configurable button, 
it may well be worth it...

gav
-- 
Gav <gjw102@york.ac.uk>

Gavin Wood MEng
UIDE Group
Dept. of Computer Science
University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK

web: www.cs.york.ac.uk

 
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