#5139: Mail GUI enhancements -------------------------------+-------------------------------------------- Reporter: humdinger | Owner: bga Type: enhancement | Status: new Priority: normal | Milestone: R1 Component: Applications/Mail | Version: Keywords: mockup | Blockedby: Platform: All | Blocking: -------------------------------+-------------------------------------------- This ticket is the result of discussions on the [//www.freelists.org/post/haiku-development/Working-on-Haikus-Mail- app dev mailing list] and [//www.freelists.org/post/haiku-cdt/Mail-GUI- and-Queries-was-haikudevelopment-Re-Working-on-Haikus-Mail-app cdt mailing list]. Mail's current GUI is wasting space by using disabled text boxes and unnecessary labels and a "To" field that isn't normally needed. It all looks a bit untidy. Also, attachments are hidden in the text at the end of the mail.[[BR]] Since reading and writing mails have slightly different requirements, the interface will reflect that. = Reading mails = Current GUI: [[Image(Mail-reading-original.png)]] Proposed GUI: [[Image(Mail-reading-3-cc.png)]] * Labels aren't needed - besides the "Account" info, as that isn't immediately obvious. This, too, can be omitted if there's just one mail account set up. * Right-clicking a field highlights it and produces a context menu for "Copy to Clipboard", "New Mail to {sender name}", "Add {sender name} to People" etc. * The status pop-up let's you set a (custom) status, as it's also available from the menu "File | Close and | Set to...". * The "CC" button only appears if there's a CC set (and also the "To" button when "To" and the receiving account differ, think mailing lists). The pop-up menu offers all entries in a list, choosing one will open a reply-to-mail-window with that recipient filled in. * The pop-up menu for the decoding setting will provide the current elaborate items, e.g. "ISO West European (ISO-8859-1)", but is shortened as shown when it's selected. At the top of that menu should be a 3-item history of the last used codepages for quicker access. Plus the default "Auto" on top. = Writing mails = Current GUI: [[Image(Mail-writing-original.png)]] Proposed GUI: [[Image(Mail-writing-3-1.png)]] * The "To:" text box is not as wide. Some may see this as a problem. It isn't: if you put more that one contact in, it gets quickly too small anyway. Add to that resizing of the window.... Plus: * Text boxes with truncated contents get a bubble help showing the list of recipients. * The account and encoding info are shortened. = Attachments = Instead of hiding an attachment in the text at the end of an email body, an attachment bar is displayed above the message body. Proposed GUI (reading, one line attachments): [[Image(Mail-reading-4-attach-below.png)]] * The normal context menu on files: "Open With...", "Save As...", "Save All..." (when writing a mail, also "Delete", "Delete All") * If there are more attachments that won't fit in one line, automatically extend the bar vertically. Max. 3 lines of attachments, then add a vertical scrollbar. * In the read-mail GUI the attachment bar background is gray, as it's read-only. When writing, it's the usual white signaling editability. Proposed GUI (writing, more lines with attachments): [[Image(Mail-writing-3-1-attach-below.png)]] -- Ticket URL: <http://dev.haiku-os.org/ticket/5139> Haiku <http://dev.haiku-os.org> Haiku - the operating system.