Re: Balsa 2.2.0 end user impressions - OUTBOX discussion

[Joacher <joacher gmx de>]

Hello!

You both brought up some solutions for that issue, all of them having 
some advantages and disadvantages. The main problem seems to be, either 
the solution isn't sufficient for each situation or the concept is too 
complicated for beginners. But actually you are following a misleading 
path. We have not one big, but two completely independant problems.

I tried to specify a complete new model from the beginning:

First: We are not talking about the situation where a user is regularly 
offline, e.g. cause he is a dialup or notebook user. In this case it's 
the users responsibility to configure Balsa in an appropriate way to 
cope with this situation. Balsa could assist him with this task by 
providing online/offline modi. But we are talking about being accidently 
offline, maybe because the ISP failed or the IMAP/SMTP server suddenly 
crashed.

The first problem is: The message is unsentable (SMTP down).
The second is: The message must be stored in a _local_ outbox folder, 
but local folders are unwanted (IMAP down, too).

Currently, balsa fusionates those two problems to one, because an 
unsentable message leads to saving.

But have a look at the users intention: He wanted to SEND the message by 
pressing the SEND button. He never wanted to SAVE it to some ominous 
hidden outbox he can't access directly even if SMTP is down.

Suggestion: The compose window stays open until the message is sent or 
the user closes it. Failed sending brings up a popup dialog with 
following options:

1. The possibility to choose another SMTP server. (Remember, the 
capability of managing different several SMTP servers is planned for 
balsa). Probably this solves the problem.
2. "Save message to folder". The folder can be chosen freely. If it's 
unreachable (IMAP down), this is another problem. The user has either to 
choose a reachable one or:
3. "Save message to file". This replaces the "always local outbox".
4. "Cancel": Just closes the dialog - and refocuses the compose window 
as if the user had never pressed SEND.

This concept seems clear to me.

Sixty-four-dollar question: What to do if sending worked but storing it 
to SENT folder failes? With the current approach Balsa also requires a 
local sentbox, too.

I just tried it out, composed a message, turned off the IMAP and pressed 
SEND. The message was sent but no error popup appeared informing me 
about the fact that it wasn't storeable! That should become resolved, a 
dialog with the options to choose a different folder, to save it do file 
or to discard it would be sufficient.

Regards,

Joe