Re: user interface niggles

[Carlos Morgado <chbm chbm nu>]

On 2003.04.10 11:46:51 +0100 David Scotson wrote:
> 

> 
> I hope you can use this information to further improve Balsa. Note that I 
> am new to both Balsa & Linux, so some of these issues may be more general. 
> For example,  I have heard cut & paste can be hit & miss on Linux.
> 

XWindows copy'paste is 100% reliable. Except when you expect ctrl+c,
ctrl+v to work :) Middle mouse button pastes (simple as that). It pastes into 
whatever
has focus at the time.

> Here are some of the things I have noticed:
> 
> -------
> When trying to paste into the To, Subject or Cc fields the text to be 
> pasted appears in the main message body area instead. Your FAQ mentions a 
> similar problem where the text appears after you press return but this 
> appears to be a separate issue.
> 

You need to give the field focus first, or do it all in 1 action -
point at the field and middle click (this gives that field focus)

The return issue is linked to the way the email fields scan input
for valid adresses

> There is a 'grippy' on the separator between the To, Subject etc. fields 
> and the main body of the email that appears to have no real function.
> 
confirmed works on 1.4, don't have a 2.0 handy to check, but it
should move separator and resize the panes

> When new mail arrives the window listing emails updates in a strange 
> manner. If the window was showing the most recent 10 emails before the new 
> mail arrived I would expect it to show the most recent 10 emails taking 
> into account the new arrivals rather than continue to display the exact 
> same emails.
> 

the message list show the first unread message if no message is
selected. most people read older -> newer, not the other way around

> When cancelling an email, the confirmation dialog is confusing. According 
> to the Gnome HIG [Don't Save] [Cancel] [Save] would be better than the 
> current [No] [Yes] [Cancel] with the default being [Save] as it is

i believe not actually answering the question and presenting buttons
with actions makes the user ignore the question. that's worse.
but that's just my opinion and i don't even have strong feelings about
it.

> non-destructive, rather than the current [No]. There are a few other issues

HIG nowadays believes the user is a fumbling idiot most of the times.
Balsa believes the user is right most of the times. This I have stronger
feelings about.

> with this dialog, e.g. it is a question, rather than a standard 
> confirmation alert, and it's message reads poorly if the email does not 
> have a destination address.

hum, yeah the '' looks odd. any sugestions ?

> 
> In the meantime, do you find such 'superficial' bug reports useful, or are 
> you fully aware of these issues and merely waiting for someone to find the 
> time to make the necessary changes?
> 

They are very usefull as most balsa users (the ones active on the
list at least) tend to be old hat types that basicly trample over
UI issues without flinching ;)

-- 
Carlos Morgado - chbm(at)chbm(dot)nu - http://chbm.nu/ -- gpgkey: 0x1FC57F0A
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