Thunderbird Suggestions
Rob
Still a little buggy in some areas and obviously WIP but it's so much
better than Thunderbird 2!
I'm not sure if this is the right place to make suggestions but I came
up with a list of things which I think would make Thunderbird the
ultimate PIM, there aren't that many suggestions, but I put a bit of
detail into each one, so it might take up a lot of room.
Things I’d like to see in either Thunderbird 3 or Thunderbird 4:
- More modern default themes to keep in line with other modern email
applications (Possibly a choice of four natives themes created by
Mozilla).
- Native support for Webmail or at least approach Webmail providers to
ask them to develop official plug-ins to interact with Thunderbird
(This might work if the provider requires advertising to be displayed
or has special requirements…)
- Alternative Address bar for sending messages – have an option to
choose between traditional email format of grouping To:, CC: & Bcc:
into single rows where you add contacts to those rows and Thunderbirds
method of splitting each email address into a separate row and having
to tag each email into To:, CC: & Bcc:. If possible employ a method of
being able to quickly switch between the two with a button which could
be located on the tool bar for new messages or include as a global
option.
- Allows Tabs to be movable so they can be organised by preference
(similar to Firefox) and allow context grouping e.g. when you reply to
a message it appears in the tabs right next to message instead of
appearing right at the end of the all the tabs (similar to the IE
explorer when it opens links from an existing tab).
- Have an option where a user can select to have mail open in a new
separate window but have mail tabbed in it, this could be done to
prevent clutter in the main windows, where you are running Calendar,
Tasks, etc..
- Address book should open in a tab and not in a separate window and
have more detailed Contact data (The ability to apply photo’s to a
contact, multiple emails), Search (Business Card, Lists, A-Z Tabs) &
Global options (e.g. each Address book is treated a separate entity,
but allows for multiple tagging of contacts, so you can separate
people into groups without having to create individual mailing list or
a separate address books (though separate mailing lists should remain
as an option).
- Provide Administrative functions for multiple accounts. occasionally
for one reason or another some people share email accounts under the
same application, it would be useful if there was a local
administrative function to create logins for different users (with or
without passwords) and allow an administrator to vary privileges to
those accounts. This should also be extended to locking down Themes &
Extensions.
- Include a notes application tab (essential for any PIM)
- Built in embedded email encryption and allowing options where you
specify contacts where email is always encrypted, giving the option to
encrypt mail depending on the mail sent (to be included in the new
message toolbar) or allow it to be turned on or off globally. There is
currently a way to include encryption through an add on but it’s
particularly easy or user friendly. Having this option built in could
be useful as it would encourage the adoption of encrypted email, allow
encrypted email to automatically be decrypted by other Thunderbird
users (even if not sending encrypted mail).
- Include buttons for Mail, Calendar, Address Book, Tasks (Notes – if
included) in the main toolbar, instead of the tabs bar, on the far
right hand side of the screen, keeping separation from the rest of the
functions, allowing for quick opening of functions for any view point
and also allowing mail to be closed, if only using the PIM functions.
- Adding the ability to have repeat Tasks (Daily Tasks or Yearly
Tasks, with out becoming a calendar item, useful for work scheduling).
- Include in the tag/flag system the ability include follow up
comments and have them displayed next to the mail item by adding a
follow up category to the main mail section.
- Better default Import / Export options (native support for eml
import & various other email types) and better email back up options
instead of doing this through external programs or plugins. Possibly
implement directories for scheduled daily, monthly back up, and some
advanced tools for reinstating back up with out replacing existing
content. It should be a priority to ensure that Thunderbird has the
capacity to easily exchange information between different types of
email applications, as this will help significantly when people are
migrating to Thunderbird whilst maintaining existing email platforms.
- Include by default Google Calendar Sync & Share.
- Include a summary list of all calendar events into a tab of it’s own
(earlier versions of the Lighting calendar had this but it was
annoyingly placed behind the calendar forcing the user to adjust the
calendar every time they wanted to view it) – having this in a
separate tab or including it as a calendar view (next to
day,week,month) would considerably improve functionality. (Google
Calendar has an option similar to this)
- The ability to create shared Calendars (with in a group) and update
them through email went an event has changed, e.g. one person creates
a Calendar and sends an request for two other users to join /
subscribe directly to this calendar, the creator of the calendar can
assign admin functions and password the calendar or leave it open for
others to join. Changes made to Calendar are then sent online through
the software (not through a cloud) to other members of the Calendar
group with options to accept or decline changes or simply receive an
update depending on the level of access. This should all be handled
through Lightning.
- Option of having a pop up window / sidebar similar to daily tasks
that will be available on the right hand side of the screen that would
exist in the same location next to the calendar for the purpose of
viewing calendar details and editing those details when required. it
could be controlled by a similar button that currently exists a the
bottom of the screen for daily tasks or even possibly merged with
daily tasks and then selected by tab from inside the sidebar. This
could provide similar functionality to what exists in Apple’s iCal and
assist in reducing time required to open each calendar event to change
details.
- and my last suggestion: Thunderbird 3 is due to include Calendar and
Tasks by default which I think is a great idea, but there should
remain a Lite version of Thunderbird which would only included the
email and contacts by default. On top of this I also think Mozilla
should consider developing a version of the software which could
operate as an exchange server and include hierarchy administrative
functions. From my point of view, making exchange software available
is really be the next step in launching the Thunderbird platform and
increasing it’s adoption, having a exchange based software that
supports an interacts with the PIM client would bring the software
that much closer to being a real alternative to Microsoft’s Outlook
and Lotus Notes in the commercial world.
Phew...
Keep up the good work & looking forward to next release!
jan sochor
i tried the last beta also and i agree with almost every point you
suggest to improve...i agree that the new TB 3 is much better then TB 2
but i would doubt the possibility to include most of the functions you
suggest in the final release...it would be nice though if at least some
of the functions were improved (tabs, address book) but i think it would
take a lot of time yet...maybe in the next major release :)
anyway i appreciate the good job the development team is doing!
jan