Some feature suggestions

[Jules Bean <jmlb2 hermes cam ac uk>]

Right.  I got balsa CVS working - thanks all, especially Richard.

So - ways forward.  I'll start with some specific features I plan to
implement, and then move on to more general ideas:

1) SMTP mailing

I need this implemented before I can use balsa - I don't have a working
local MTA (they're hard to set up, due to local CS rules). So this'll be
my first job.

2) IMAP improvements

My email access is exclusively IMAP, so this is where I expect to do
most work.

a) Scan for folders:

I read about 30 mailing lists, in separate folders.  I'm damned if I'm
going to add them by hand.  So balsa nmust be able to scan for folders
(this is a simple IMAP command).

b) Check for new mail in every folder

As soon as this is implemented, balsa becomes more functional than
netscape for me, since netscape can't do this, so I'll probably switch
for almost all my email needs.

3) Threading

Reading large mailing lists is *so* much easier with threading. 
However, this isn't particularly easy to do - requires some design
thought, to do it right,

4) Modularise message sources

Balsa already has a reasonably modularised architecture, which is good. 
However, it doesn't support everything that IMAP and NNTP need to work
nicely.  Yes, I said NNTP.  I want balsa to read my news, too.

5) Sophisiticated off-line usage

IMAP is a protocol designed with some very neat features for simple
off-line usage, with the ability to synchronise the local message cache
with the remote server, even though you may have logged in at work and
deleted some messages.  To my knowledge, only netscape (out of the linux
mailers) does this properly.


Well... there's the kind of ideas I'm thinking about.  I have lots more,
too - multiple personalities, cascading preferences - but they may have
to wait.

First I have to familiarise myself with the code, anyhow.  But I thought
a message like this might reassure people on the list that balsa isn't
dying..

Jules

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|  Jelibean aka  | jules@jellybean.co.uk         |  6 Evelyn Rd        |
|  Jules aka     |                               |  Richmond, Surrey   |
|  Julian Bean   | jmlb2@hermes.cam.ac.uk        |  TW9 2TF *UK*       |
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