Tb3 and the Tabbed UI

[alta88[nntp]]

I noticed an agenda item (http://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird/StatusMeetings/2008-03-04) regarding the Tb tabbed UI, namely regarding bug 218999 (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=218999 3Pane Window Tabs) vs. bug 297379 (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=297379 Message Pane Tabs).  Perhaps pros/cons can be discussed here.

I've been using myk's MP Tabs build exclusively and have a hard time seeing the use case for the Window Tabs implementation.

- Opening a Folder in a Tab is almost exactly the same as clicking a Folder, view-wise.  It seems switching Folders is better implemented via the method started with Favorites Folders, ie allowing easy/rapid collections of Folders (via dnd) in that pane.  Or having a second pane (as implemented by the Additional Folder View extension).

- Opening a Message in a Window Tab is an even weaker usage case.  It results in a jarring loss of context for the message.  Does anyone really open individual messages in a tab?

- Compose of a new message or reply, or address book, or other such secondary window is the strongest usage case for a window tab - but not implemented.

I see the real strength of Tb to be organization of "messages", winnowing down from root (all account types, with perhaps more than traditional mail+news+rss types in the future) in Folder Pane, to folders within accounts, to the folder's message list in Thread Pane, to selected messages in a tabbed message pane.   All in one view with context.

For example, reading a very frequent rss feed like Engadget, there are perhaps 3-4 items of interest out of 20.  Processing this folder, in my usage, means going through the list and opening the item of interest in a tab, marking the Folder read, then reading each tab later.

So, I'd like to see MP Tabs replace Window Tabs, but if not then MP Tabs should really be added as an alternate or additional feature.  Thoughts? Try myk's build (http://www.melez.com/mykzilla/2007/09/tabs-for-thunderbird-20.html) first.  (Note: I've implemented a custom version of ThunderBrowse, so I can open any link in a tab, etc etc.  Whole package works really well for my usage.)

[Andreas M]

On 14.05.2008 22:08 alta88[nntp] wrote

>
> I noticed an agenda item
> (http://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird/StatusMeetings/2008-03-04)
> regarding the Tb tabbed UI, namely regarding bug 218999

[...]

> Tabs). Perhaps pros/cons can be discussed here.

[...]

> - Opening a Folder in a Tab is almost exactly the same as clicking a
> Folder, view-wise. It seems switching Folders is better implemented via

I guess it may be a question of implementation. Imagine you have the
possibility to open a folder in a new tab, but along with this, the
layout for that tab changes. The layout I use in Thunderbird currently
looks like this:

+------------------------------------------+
| M e n u |
+------------------------------------------+
| T o o l b a r |
+----------+------------------+------------+
|Folderlist| Messaglist | Lightning |
| | | Pane1 |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | +------------+
| +------------------+ Ligthning |
| | Message Reader | Pane2 |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
+----------+------------------+------------+

If now I'd request a folder in a new view, it would make sense to
display this view as a /dedicated/ view, representing the folder only.
This could be best done with a two pane layout:

+------------------------------------------+
| M e n u |
+------------------------------------------+
| T o o l b a r |
+------------------------------------------+
| Messaglist |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
+------------------------------------------+
| Message Reader |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
+------------------------------------------+

But only for _that_ tab! (The one which is being used to open if a
"Folder in New Tab" has been requested). A "Dedicated Folder View" so to
say.

[...]

> - Opening a Message in a Window Tab is an even weaker usage case. It
> results in a jarring loss of context for the message. Does anyone
> really open individual messages in a tab?

I am not sure. I could imagine, that in a high workload this may be
similare to opening multiple web pages in tabs. You can't read two
web-pages in two seperate tabs at once, can you? If somebody works in a
collaborative environment with different mails from different people
(not all get cc'ed/bcc'ed), this might make sense.

> - Compose of a new message or reply, or address book, or other such
> secondary window is the strongest usage case for a window tab - but not
> implemented.

You mean to compose a message in a new tab instead of a seperate window?
I would not like that. I like to have a seperate editor window for any
new message as well as the address-book (actually, I like it to be a
pane of the main-view and one of the compose-view, hidden via a tabbed
interface, tabs, in this case, for the left and right panes)

> For example, reading a very frequent rss feed like Engadget, there are
> perhaps 3-4 items of interest out of 20. Processing this folder, in my
> usage, means going through the list and opening the item of interest in
> a tab, marking the Folder read, then reading each tab later.

Good point.

I also would like to be able to have multiple tabs open in the Message
Reader in the second illustation above. Ideally, the tabs would not be
on top, but on the left or right of the listviews/textreaders.

--
Bye,
Andreas M.