[Users] [Bulk] Re: Claws config needs much better documentation

[Michael Gmelin]

On Mon, 30 Jul 2012 17:08:56 -0400
Steve Litt <slitt at troubleshooters.com> wrote:

> On Mon, 30 Jul 2012 11:04:25 +0200, Michael Gmelin said:
> > On Mon, 30 Jul 2012 06:02:56 +0530
> > Sitaram Chamarty <sitaramc at gmail.com> wrote:
> > 
> > > On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 12:47 AM, Kevin Chadwick
> > > <ma1l1ists at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>  
> > > That would be fine if it matched with what people *expect* from
> > > other email clients.  IME no other mail clients do this, so it is
> > > a surprise.  And not a good surprise either.
> > > 
> > > The behaviour you spoke of should be implemented more explicitly.
> > > For example the checkboxes in gmail let you do just that.  In
> > > claws as is, I'd say "hide the message view and then move to a
> > > message to have that safety".
> > 
> > In my understanding claws focuses on useful features which are
> > presented in a more or less programmer style way (sometimes you just
> > dig through the rc files to find a configuration settings, the
> > dialogs tend to be crowded and full of advanced options etc.). And
> > you know what? I dig that, because it means it is not hiding
> > anything from me for the sake of usability (Apple), or trying to
> > invent useless features instead of fixing year old bugs (TB). 
> 
> Fair enough, but when a part of the program departs from the
> behavior norms of user software, for gosh sakes, DOCUMENT IT, and
> document it prominently.

Well, Claws deletes the currently selected message - which is standard
behavior for UI applications. Moving the cursor keys does not open a
mail, but changes the selection - which is standard behavior for many
file managers and other programs where changing the selection does not
open a file. It might be unusual for a mail client - but then again,
clicking an email actual opens it, just moving the selection with the
cursor keys doesn't. I don't quite understand how somebody could just
not realize this immediately - I mean you are using the cursor keys and
realize that the selection changes, but the mail shown doesn't. It's
very obvious and I doubt that anybody who is not getting this will
actually read the documentation before stumbling over this (who is
reading documentation software before using a program these days anyway
- if ever, unless they hit a problem which would be too late in this
case).

That said, I have a very simple suggestion that might solve this and
increase usability at the same time - it definitely would get the
attention of new users so that they understand that something's
different:

Change the message list, so that the mail currently shown in the
message pane is marked as well as the currently selected mail. Keep the
standard selection color in case both refer to the same mail (selected
mail is also the one shown). When moving the selection using the cursor
keys, keep an outline around the currently shown email and use a
different color for the selection bar. If you hit enter, the previously
shown email gets deselected, and the selected entry uses the normal
selection bar again (I hope you get the idea).

Does that sound useful/reasonable/easily possible within the
boundaries of GTK?

(I don't really feel like improving this is a must have, but it actually
might be useful for new users without changing default functionality).

-- 
Michael Gmelin