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Re: Balsa 2.2.0 end user impressions

On 07/19/2004 07:53:31 AM, joacher gmx de wrote:

Hello!

This is a report of my first impressions about balsa 2.2.0.
Thank you for the report--we always appreciate the view from a fresh pair of eyes!
It is indeed very subjective, it's not going to cover features I don't use. I will mention everything that comes up to my mind, even if it isn't directly balsa related. Some complains may address every MUA available, but mustn't balsa outstrip the alternatives? 

That's what we aim for...

[ snip ]

Getting started:
The first start of balsa: I have to admit it, I dislike configuration wizards, though I know that it makes sense and that they won't show up too often. Though all fields are filled with default values, skipping the wizard exits balsa. Why do I have to specify local mail folders? I don't want to use them. All my mails are supposed to lie within my IMAP Server.
Balsa does need one local mailbox: the outbox is a temporary holding place for outbound mail, and must be accessible even when the imap server isn't. But yes, the wizard could be more helpful for a user who wants access only to imap mailboxes. 

[ imap issues snipped--left for others to respond ]
SMTP configurations seems painless, too. But a first test mail delivers a "SMTP server problem (-113): No route to host. Message is left in outbox". This is misleading. Of course there is a route, I just forgot to specify a port. In my opinion, if there is no port specified, balsa should simply use the default of 25.
Agreed; some might argue that "submission" (587) is the correct default port, but I have yet to find an smtp server that provides it! 

[ snip ]
But, why can't I mark an imap box as "outbox"? There is no "Mark as Outbox" option in context menu to assign this duty to another folder. I can't get rid of the local outbox. This gives not just my folder tree an inconsistent appearance, but might store mails outside my IMAP server. But I need access via webmail frontend to them.
As noted, Balsa wants a local outbox. But perhaps it should be omitted from the mailbox list except on explicit request--in principle, you should never need to go into it. 


The main window:
So lets have a look at my inbox. "Unread" and "Total" numbers are shown correctly, but the folder list window seems kindoff bugged. I experience a strange behavior: 
[ imap-server-specific issues snipped ]
If I view a unread message in any folder, balsa comes up with an message "Mailbox (<folder>) is readonly: cannot change flags." - why is that? Other MUA don't complain. It is possible that this issue was caused by malfunction of my imap server.
Sorry about that--it was a TLS-related bug in 2.2.0, fixed in cvs.
Sorting the mails in the right upper window is totally deactivated - this seems to be IMAP regarded, since it works with local folders. It is most likely that this issue was caused by malfunction of my imap server.
Apparently, your server doesn't support sorting--iirc, sorting and threading are an extension to the basic imap protocol--but Balsa should alert you to the deficiency.
I'd like to have a "size" column in the folder tree window, displaying the whole size of the folder. Mozilla has this feature, even easily configurable.
The menu points "Message" and "Mailbox" should become interchanged: "Mailbox" left, ,"Message" right to make it corresponding to the window organization (folder tree is left, message window is right). 

Makes sense to me!


"View -> Expand All, Collapse All" has no functionality in my
situation,


...and should be desensitized in an unthreaded view.
like "Mailbox -> Show from Name, Show Patches". I even have no clue what it's supposed to do.
Me neither! I suspect these shouldn't be in a released version (and perhaps not even in cvs!).
"View -> Find" doesn't seem to work, too. I assume IMAP incompatibilities again.
afaik, it uses only basic IMAP4rev1 search capability, so this is not an extension issue.
But the "Find dialog" itself needs a complete going over! Do you really expect someone to understand it intuitively? The first time I had to refer to the indeed helpfull documentation. I'd prefer a "search row" atop of the message list. Again I point at mozilla's solution.
Yes, it's unusual to have the two options for showing search results--but I'm glad you found the help file helpful! Do you have any suggestions for improving the dialog?
"Mailbox -> Select all" takes quite long if box exceeds 500- 1000 mails.
A "Save" button should be available for the main window, not just for the message window. The only way to save messages within the main window is "Message -> Save Current Part", which is confusing. I want to save a message and no part of whatever. Saving messages also lags explicit functionality: Saved messages don't contain their header lines (is this meant by "part"?), which feels a little bit too "noobish" for such a highly configurable and therefore professional mail client.
I guess needing to save attachments (parts) is more common than needing to export an entire message. "Save entire message" could be added to the message menu--but there's always pressure to keep the menus shorter, too!
Second, the file name should default to <subject>.eml in the save dialog. 

Well, not for images, for example?
I just found the "mailbox tabs": Wow, congrats, great feature! I somehow expected to be able to toggle the "tree view" by pressing F9, as I know it from various sidebars, e.g. of Mozilla Browser, Bluefish and Gnome Nautilus. Maybe F9 is a good default hotkey for this function in future releases?
Sounds reasonable--does anyone know if there are Gnome/HIG issues with grabbing a function key?
Maybe closing the last folder tab shouldn't actually close it, but disable the folder tab itself, as you can see it by various webbrowsers (Epiphany, Mozilla Browser, Opera).
Closing a mailbox is a specific action; for instance, if you're going to mess with a mailbox using some other tool, it's a good idea to close it and reopen it when you're done; so, imho, you really want it to be closed when you click on the tab button, even if it's the last open mailbox.
Another default hot key I am missing is the del key for deleting messages (currently: D).
Adding del as an alternative key is easy--we'd want to keep `D' as the published binding. Again, does anyone know of any Gnome/ HIG issues? 


The compose window:
The order of "To, Subject, CC" should definitely be changed to "To, CC, Subject" 

A matter of taste, surely!
or, at best, to "From, To, CC, Subject" ("From" = Identity chooser). The current identity chooser button is not user friendly. You can't see what identity is chosen at the moment, and even toggling it isn't very comfortable: Press the button, move to the small popup, choose an identity and hope you have hit the right one... A dropdown menu would not just be much faster, but would also give the possibility to check the current identity easily. You can see this behavior in both mozilla and sylpheed mail compose window. 

Good point!
The attachment handling isn't very efficient, too. By attaching a file Balsa suddenly displays a huge attachment frame, wasting a lot of space.
Ah, attachments...much thought and effort has been put into handling _received_ attachments--I guess it's time to turn to _sent_ attachments!
In my opinion, use the organization of Mozillas compose window but integrate Sylpheeds tabular attachment view into mozillas simple attachment field. This would deliver the most powerfull solution. 

We'll have to explore that.


Advanced Configuration:

Identities: I think this topic needs some clean up! I will
explain:

First, each identity needs it's own SMTP configuration.
Yes; some technical difficulties have always made that a todo- later item! Perhaps it's time to bite that bullet...
Spelling: Why is "ispell" the default, while it even isn't installed on my machine? Hey, configuration wizard, why didn't you see and resolve that? Unluckily Aspell-de didn't work for me with balsa, so I finally installed ispell(-de), too.
Probably because it was pretty much universal--I didn't know any distros had dropped it--on FC2, it's apparently a compatibility script provided by the aspell rpm.
A little bit annoying is that balsa redraws the whole screen for any tiny change I apply in preferences window. Change SMTP port -> apply -> redraw whole screen. In case this is technically necessary, the redraw process needs some speedup to reduce its annoyance. 

Agreed--that can and should be avoided!


Conclusion:
Balsa is very promising, but I can't use it yet. It looks like Balsa isn't optimized for IMAP users yet, but for local box users. In my case, this gives a fatal impression. Sure, many problems and disabilities of Balsa might be caused by my IMAP server, but this version is still widely spread. I know that most people store their mail in local folders, but that's not a professional approach IMHO.
That's context dependent !-) My imap server's (highly professional) sysadmin has provided me limited quota, so I have to juggle messages between imap and local folders all the time. We try to make Balsa work for users with lots of different needs.
It gave a very good feeling to use a modern full featured Gnome/GTK2 MUA, and I hope I can involve it in my daily use soon. 

...as do we.  Thanks again for the thoughtful comments.

Peter
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