Re: [Evolution-hackers] Call for Release Notes

[Srinivasa Ragavan <sragavan novell com>]

On Mon, 2007-08-27 at 10:15 +0200, Murray Cumming wrote:
> On Mon, 2007-08-27 at 11:32 +0530, Srinivasa Ragavan wrote:
> > Hey Murray,
> > 
> > On Sun, 2007-08-26 at 18:36 +0200, Murray Cumming wrote:
> > > Evolution developers, please do try to find the time for this. You
> > > deserve that the world knows about your hard work.
> > >  
> >  I have added everything to release notes wiki page. Sorry, I was
> > confused with
> > http://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2007-July/msg00173.html and just updated to Roadmap only.
> 
> Thanks. I didn't realise that you had updated the RoadMap. Not everybody
> has done that.
NP. I had done the day it was on d-d-l.
> 
> So, we have the following:
> 
> > * Improved SPAM filtering with plugable junk filters 
> 
> How is this different to before, from the user's point of view? I
> thought we always had SpamAssassin and BogoFilter plugins.

Earlier, just SpamAssassin plugin was packaged and now even bogofilter
is also shipped by default with Evolution. In the preferences window,
users can choose which spam/junk filter they want to use and some nice
SPAM options too available. With 2.12 Evolution can train SpamAssasin or
Bogofilter with the 'Junk' (SPAM) and 'Not Junk' (HAM).
> 
> > * Backup restore support
> 
> What does this actually allow the user to do?

Users can archive/backup entire Evolution mails/setting and restore it
on a different/same machine.
http://gnomebangalore.org/~sragavan/2.12/evo_restore.png shows that you
can also restore from the startup assistant. 

> 
> > * Improved e-mail notification 

> Is this just about the notification area icon? By the way, I notice that
> you can't turn that off from the main preferences - you have to disable
> the plugin, when you know that it's a plugin.
Yes. It is written as a plugin and you have to disable the plugin to
disable it. 
> 
> > * Improved Gtk+ Printing support for mails 
> 
> What does the "improvement" look like to the user?

You have a nice page setup and can print selected range. Most (all -
AFAIK)of the Gtk+ print options are supported in mail printing like
collate, two-sided etc.

> 
> > * System Timezone Integration 
> 
> Does this mean that evolution no longer asks the user for their timezone
> at first use? Are there any other user-noticeable changes?

You don't have to update Evolution when there is a DST change. Evolution
picks up the timezone information from the system default timezone
database/category. 

> 
> > * Attachment reminder for message composer
> 
> Could you tell us more about this? What does it do, and when?
It reminding you of a missing attachment in case you are sending a mail.
When you compose a message, it searches for some predefined strings and
popups up a attachment warning.
http://gnomebangalore.org/~sragavan/2.12/attachment-reminder.png
These strings are configurable and comes with a default-set that works
mostly for English. Locale specific strings needed to be added by the
user atm. Again, this is a Plugin and needs to be enabled/disabled in
the plugins and the configuration is also in the plugins dialog only.

> 
> > * Evolution Exchange
> >  * Better offline support

> How is this noticeable? Is it just a performance improvement, or has the
> behaviour changed? I mean, how would the user notice this?
Yes noticeable. The message list is filled up with cache, before
getting/updating messages from the server. So that the user can read
messages from the cache, while the fetching is happening in the
background. This is the case with all Evolution providers and just made
it the same way for Exchange also. 

> >  * Delegation support

It is like making someone act on behalf of you. You can give permissions
and you can act on behalf of the user in Evolution. I will send you the
screenshots in a day. I don't have a working setup atm.

> 
Some new things I have added recently to the wiki...


> * Magic space bar support
One key to read mails in all folders. With just the space bar key, the
user can scroll the message preview window. When the preview window
reaches the bottom, on next 'space bar' it selects the next unread mail
in the same folder if not, it wraps down the message list. When all the
mails are read, the focus is moved to the next folder. In this fashion,
with just space-bar you can read all the unread mails in you entire
Evolution folder hierarchy. 

>  * FACE header and Contact image in preview pane

Evolution has support to attach FACE header while sending e-mails and
extract the header while receiving and show it in the preview pane.
http://bp3.blogger.com/_G_VBnbGWMzs/Rpy_2WCctrI/AAAAAAAABGo/qWewaum0Z-A/s1600-h/ZFace.jpg

Evolution can also fetch the image of the sender from addressbook and
show it in the preview pane.
http://gnomebangalore.org/~sragavan/2.12/contact-image.png


>  * Calendar Search improvements

Calendar search interface provides support for advanced search similar
to mail and addressbook. The searches can also be saved and edited. The
Show options provides quick access to Next 7 days' appointments and
Active appointments.

Under Usability:

* Thread Improvements
Any new mail to an older thread promotes the entire thread to the top of
the list, so that the new mail in that thread can be read easily. 

* --disable-preview option

If Evolution crashes due to the last selected mail, contact or task, it
would be difficult to start Evolution at all, unless the user resets a
few gconf keys. This option deselects the last mail and disables the
preview for mail, contacts and tasks so that Evolution can start and the
user can change the selection.

-Srini.