Re: 2.1.3 Discussion Points

[Peter Bloomfield <PeterBloomfield bellsouth net>]

On 06/02/2004 11:06:49 AM, W. Michael Petullo wrote:
> Greetings!
>
> I have some comments about balsa 2.1.3 that I would like to  
> discuss with you folks.  I deploy balsa for several novice  
> users for use in their homes as their primary email interface.

Your feedback is greatly welcomed!

> 1.  Handling of attachments is awkward for novice users.

That's something we've struggling with.  As Albrecht notes, a  
mime message can have a complicated structure, and sometimes you  
need to see it--a forwarded message comes with an attachment: was  
it attached to the forwarded message, or separately by the  
forwarder?  However, a simpler way to present just the parts that  
can be saved as separate files would be useful.

[ snip ]
> 2.  Many of the menus seem unnecessarily complicated.  For  
> example, the following options had me confused:
>
> Mailbox->Empty Trash

Hmmm--I guess it's the only item on the Mailbox menu that doesn't  
refer to the current mailbox--perhaps it belongs on the File  
menu?

> Mailbox->Commit Current
> Mailbox->Commit All

Yes, those need changing--see  the recent thread  
http://mail.gnome.org/archives/balsa-list/2004-June/msg00008.html

> Message->Move to Trash

I'm not sure what's confusing here.

> When using IMAP, "Move to Trash" does not move a message, it  
> marks it to be deleted.

With my IMAP mailboxes, it moves the message to my designated  
trashbox, which is in my local folder tree--perhaps that's what  
it's doing for you.  If you have a Trash mailbox in your IMAP  
folder tree, you can designate it as your trashbox, and then  
`Move to Trash' will indeed move a message there.

> "Empty Trash" does not have any affect on IMAP mailboxes,  
> "Commit .*" must be used.  Can't we come up with some type of  
> policy requires only a "Move to Trash" action or otherwise  
> simplifies things?

Perhaps `Empty Trash' isn't the best label.  This action removes  
all messages from your designated trashbox--it doesn't affect  
messages elsewhere marked as deleted.  I believe `expunge' is the  
most common term for removing messages marked as deleted-- 
elsewhere, I've suggested replacing the `commit' items with  
corresponding `expunge' items.
[ snip ]

> 3.  The address book interface could use some improvements.

Agreed!

> 4.  The remote content within HTML emails is not displayed.   
> This includes <IMG src=...>, etc.  I could imagine security and  
> privacy reasons for this, but the bottom line is that it breaks  
> a lot of users' ability to read email that they receive from  
> legitimate sources.  I think this policy needs to be discussed.

As Albrecht noted, there are sound reasons for not loading remote  
content by default.  Otoh, We could add 'load remote content' as  
an option on the right-click popup menu for html parts...

> 5.  Balsa 2.1.3 does not support SSL.  Is there plans on  
> implementing this?

SSL has been supported since 2.1.1.  What doesn't work for you?

Peter