[Evolution] A list of problems/issues I've found with .13

[Alan <alan ufies org>]

Howdy Evolution developers and users!

I've just finished going through the .13 (ssl) packages of evolution
that
showed up in the unstable debian tree today (.13-2 IIRC) and making a
few notes.  I sent something similar to the list a while back to these
lists but nothing seemed to happen from it (nary a reply!).

So in hopes that someone will see/comment on some of the
issues/problems/bitches I've had, I'm posting again.  Something like
"this
is a known issue" "this is bug 1234" "this is supposed to work like
that"
"I disagree with how you think it should work" "you are smoking crack
and deserve to be tied down and forced to watch _Alien:_Ressurection_
for 8 hours straight" or "your spelling sux0rs dude".

I will most likely post all or most of these as bugs/enhancements to
bugzilla in a couple of days, after guaging the reaction of if I am
indeed on crack or not :)

A couple of notes:  I'm primarily concerned with using Evolution as my
primary mail client, so while I don't start out with that component, it
is the one I felt I did the most investigation in.  I also did this as a
"normal" user.  I didn't look at this from the point of view that this
was a development program, with elements and issues that would be fixed
eventually and I could work around, but as someone trying to use this
as a client on a daily basis, where minor "bad" things can get annoying
very fast.

Also, while I may sound like I'm whining and bitching, I have HUGE
respect and thanks to the Evolution developers, hackers, and testers,
as this is an awsome program (it just has a few issues).

Speaking of issues, here's what I've found, unsorted except for by
component, with some bugs that are actually enhancements, vice versa,
and some with solutions and some not.  Here's hoping this helps and
maybe causes a bit of a stir :)

Regards,

Alan

===============================================================================
Setup assistant
===============================================================================
Problem:
 - When creating an identity, putting in a filename of a non-existant
   file for the .signature setting, and then hitting Edit pops up
   (for me) gedit and a message saying "Could not open file, no
   such file or directory" The messagebox can't be closed until
   the application is closed.  The text that gedit shows is simply
   "(null)" (obviously someone passed an empty pointer somewhere).

   The other issue is that the file that is created by gedit is
   chmod 000 and un-openable by evolution, so that when you go and
   edit it again (after creating it, you get the same "no such file
   or directory" message.

Possible Solution
 - Have evolution check for the existance of the file, if it is not
   there either prompt the user or create the file and then call the 
   editor pointing to the now created file.
   
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Problem:
 - On the "importing data" screen the width of the left pan is FAR
   too wide.  The list is a good 7x the width of the viewable area.

   Secondly, if you hit next on this page, and then back, it will
   re-scan for importable data and then add it again, giving you
   double entries in the dialog.

Possible Solution:
 - Reduce size of left pane to size properly to the width of the text
   in the list.

 - Only scan once, or only add unique entries (as between a next and
   a previous new data may be entered).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Summary Page
===============================================================================

Problem:
 - Clicking on an entry in the "My weather" area opens a browser to
   something like:
   http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/mgetmetar.pl?cccc=EGAA
   Here the text is:

   The most recent METAR observation from EGAA in our system was
   generated at the source at:
   2001/09/08 04:50 UTC
   The observation is:
   EGAA 080450Z 32009KT 9999 -SHRA SCT007 SCT018 BKN025 11/10 Q1016
NOSIG

   IE: Pointless and useless by any normal user.

Possible Solution:
 - Find a better page to point the my weather links to something
   better, or remove them altogeather.  I would say leave the main
   link there ("My Weather") so people can view the information
   there, as it is possibly useful.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tasks
===============================================================================
Problem:
 - When you first go to the tasks view, you are prompted for your
   Timezone.  The problem with this is that you already provided
   it during the initial setup.

Possible Solution:
 - Save the timezone value.  If it's not set (they didn't select it in
the startup wizard) then prompt, and use that value for any for
   any unset timezone entries.  If the task / calendar / inbox
   component need their own timezones then they can be changed in
   the preferences already.  IMHO the chances of a "normal user"
   having different timezones set is very very low.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Problem:
 - The first thing you see on entering the Tasks component is a line
   saying "Click to add a task". Well, basically it doesn't work.
   You click, and nothing happens except that the line changes to
   blank fields, and double clicking / right clicking has no effect.

Possible Solution:
 - Have clicking on the "click to add a task" entry launch the same
   dialog that the toolbar "new task" item launches.

NOTE: After adding a task via the toolbar, clicking on the "click here
to add a new task" worked.  I have confirmed that "Click to add a task"
ONLY works if there is a task already in the list.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mail
===============================================================================
Enhancements:
 - Not everyone knows their PGP id, why not have a button that opens
   a browser to something like http://wwwkeys.us.pgp.net/ or even
   better
   http://pgp.dtype.org:11371/pks/lookup?search=%s&op=index
   Where %s is the default email address the user provides.

 - In the mail settings dialog the button at the bottom is labeled
   "Close" no matter what tab you are on.  This is bad design IMHO as
   if you make changes (set, set threading to default on the Display
   tab) are your settings save automatically, or not.  People are used
   to seeing "Apply/OK/Cancel" buttons at the bottom of a dialog, and
   in this case I think at least an "OK/Cancel" combination would make
   sense, to allow people the choice to save their settings or not.
   If the architecture of the program is a "save as soon as an option
   is set", then instead of close, how about changing it to "OK"
   (which is more "friendly" sounding).

 - When connecting via SSL to a site that has created their own cert
   (ie: lots of personal sites and servers out there, including mine)
   a "Bad Certificate" message is displayed.  This is done each
   session.  It would be much nicer to have a "remember this choice"
   or "import certificate" similar to the way that IE or netscape can
   do it, so you are not nagged every time you check your mail (or
   every time you restart Evolution, it seems to vary).  At least
   an "ignore further errors about this site" or "ignore further
   certificate errors" or something like that.

 - A useful option to have when right clicking on a VFolder would be
   "Edit..."

 - Allowing more EMACS keybindings (^u is the one I noticed) in the
   email composer

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Problem:
 - Deleted messages dragged onto their same pane (ie: you decide you
   don't want to drag it anywhere after starting to drag it somewhere
   and move the mouse back to the original message) are undeleted.
   Their strikethrough is removed, even if the "drop" is back where
   they started.

Possible Solution:
 - Have the list pane that the message is dragged from be an invalid
   drop area.  I don't think you can re-order messages by
   dragging/dropping anyway, as this would be controlled by the sort
   order.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Problem:
 - Sometimes vfolders get "stuck" and I get a screen bottom full of
   "Refreshing folder <foldername>" along the status bar.  This is
   sign of an impending crash and time to leave.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Problem:
 - Setting "Message list should display in a threaded fashion by
default"
   does not work.  Having this set (Mail settings->display) does not
   affect (for example) new vfolders, which default to NOT having
   that option checked in the View menu

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Problem:
 - Setting "send HTML mail by default" does not seem to work when
   inserting an inline text file.  This makes sense, in a way, but
   how do you bring a text file in as an email (ie: something you
   wrote somewhere else) without making HTML mail (or at least, an
   HTML attachment)?  Opening it up in another editor, select all,
   copy, paste is an option, but "import text file" or some similar
   type option would be cool as well.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Problem:
 - Vfolders do not seem to refresh their contents until they are
   clicked on.
   For example:
    o I start up evolution, create a bunch of Vfolders on my various
      mailing lists,
      save and exit.
    o Wait a bit till more mail is recieved.  o Start up evolution.
      My IMAP mail server shows the new messages in the inbox.
      The Vfolders that I've created will not reflect those changes
      in the mail count until I click on EACH AND EVERY ONE.

   IMHO, this way of doing things (and I hope I'm doing something
   wrong here, I did wait for some time (a minute? maybe more,
   maybe a bit less) before determining that they weren't refreshing
   automatically) is completely pointless for the way that Vfolders
   work.  You are actually making more work for the user if they
   have to click on each folder to refresh it (funnily enough,
   the UNMATCHED folder will start off with a high number, and go
   down as each mailing list folder is clicked).

   Telling me "just filter your mail to other local|remote folders"
   isn't going to work.  I'm doing it this way so that I can filter
   my mail while I'm at work, and download it via POP when I get
   home, so I want to leave it on the server in the main spool.

   IMHO, I don't see how this behaviour could not be seen as either
   a design flaw or a bug :)  Don't get me wrong, VFolders absolutely
   ROCK, but having to click on them to refresh my mail just sucks.

Possible Solution:
 - Make Vfolders so they are always "active" and searching the contents
   of their sources.  They seemed to work properly after the initial
   click, so it may just be something on initialization or program
start.

   It's not always working though, I have 4 messages sitting in IMAP
   inbox right now, but the text for the UNMATCHED folder shows no
   new mail.  When I click on the UNMATCHED folder it changes to
   "UNMATCHED (4)" :(

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Problem:
 - When initially attaching a file to an outgoing message, the
attachment
   icon is shown in the center of the attachment pane.   When it is
   accessed again (ie: right click->properties->ok) or another
   attachment is added, the icons are moved to the far left.
   Not a huge problem, but inconsistant behaviour.

Possible Solution:
 - Place the icon with the same alignment initially as when the pane
   is redrawn (what I assume is happening).

[the.end]


-- 
Alan <alan ufies org> | "It's all right to be filled with hate, people
http://arcterex.net   | are stupid"  -- Brad, fellow tech support worker