Re: [Evolution] Evolution 2.0 UI proposal

[Jeffrey Stedfast <fejj ximian com>]

you should look into writing your own gtk program that swaps in/out the 
appropriate %gconf.xml file in ~/.gconf/apps/evolution/mail/ based on 
the 'location' the user is in. this is what you seem to be wanting...

Jeff

tomh simas com wrote:

> Well, actually, I'd still need to create the outbound accounts (ie, a
> different SMTP account for each location), and assign the accounts to a
> location (or to multiple locations).  If I then tell Evolution which
> location I'm at, it should handle the enable/disable itself.
>
> Ultimately what I'm after is a config file (XML, text, whatever) that I can
> distribute to my road warriors.  I think that it would be much easier to
> have them click a 'Change my location' type of selection than to go thru an
> enable this account, disable that account dialog.
>
> Tom Hightower
> Solutions, Inc
> http://www.simas.com
>
>
>
>                                                                                                                                           
>                      Jeffrey Stedfast                                                                                                     
>                      <fejj ximian com>            To:       Tom <tomh simas com>                                                          
>                      Sent by:                     cc:       Evolution List <evolution lists ximian com>                                   
>                      evolution-admin lists        Subject:  Re: [Evolution] Evolution 2.0 UI proposal                                     
>                      .ximian.com                                                                                                          
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>                      07/20/2003 12:59 PM                                                                                                  
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> why not just create an account for each location and which which
> account(s) are enabled?
>
> Jeff
>
> On Fri, 2003-07-18 at 15:42, Tom wrote:
>  
>
> > Would it be possible to have multiple locations (user-defined), with a
> > different pop3/smtp setting for each location?  For example, I travel
> > quite a bit to various customer locations.  Each customer site has their
> > own requirements for pop3/smtp, requiring me to change my account
> > settings each time I go to a new place.
> >
> > If I could simply select my location from a list and have Evolution use
> > the pop3/smtp settings for that location it would sure make things
> > easier for me.
> >
> >
> > On Thu, 2003-07-10 at 17:44, Ettore Perazzoli wrote:
> >    
> >
> > > Hello!
> > >
> > > Here at Ximian we have been brainstorming a bit about what happens
> > > next in the Evolution world.  One of the ideas that has come up is a
> > > substantial overhaul of Evolution's UI.
> > >
> > > Since images speak better than words, here are the mockups for some
> > > designs that Anna has developed: (this is just to give a very rough
> > > idea of what it would be like; the icons and labels are not final, the
> > > widgets are not the real ones etc.)
> > >
> > > http://primates.ximian.com/~anna/evo2/evo2_contacts.png
> > > http://primates.ximian.com/~anna/evo2/evo2_calendar.png
> > > http://primates.ximian.com/~anna/evo2/evo2_mail.png
> > > http://primates.ximian.com/~anna/evo2/evo2_tasks.png
> > > http://primates.ximian.com/~anna/evo2/evo2_navbar_shrunk.png
> > >
> > > The most important changes are:
> > >
> > > * You no longer see all the types of folders at once.  You
> > >          switch between calendar, mail, tasks and contacts by
> > >          clicking on the buttons at the bottom.
> > >
> > > * The calendar allows you to see multiple calendar at once.
> > >          Also you can subscribe to web calendars and see them in the
> > >          pane on the left as well.
> > >
> > > There are a few reasons for us to go with this design:
> > >
> > > * It kills the all-in-one tree view, which currently makes it
> > >          difficult to reach for your calendar or contacts folders,
> > >          since they are hiding between all the various mail folders.
> > >          You no longer need to hunt for you calendar folder scrolling
> > >          through the tree to see what your schedule is like, you just
> > >          click on an easily accessible button marked "Calendar".
> > >          Much better navigation.  (Please note that, although it's
> > >          not obvious from the mockup, we would still have a mail
> > >          folder tree, the same way we have it now.  Calendar, Tasks
> > >          and Contacts, however, would be just flat lists.)
> > >
> > > * Killing the tree view also simplifies the architecture a
> > >          lot.  Right now there is a lot of machinery in place to
> > >          handle the tree, making sure that components don't step on
> > >          each other's toes.  In particular, the handling of local
> > >          folders is a maintenance nightmare, and also makes it very
> > >          hard to provide the hooks that hackers need eg. to access
> > >          Evolution's folders and do cool desktop integration hacks.
> > >
> > > * The shell's APIs would be drastically reduced to just
> > >   a couple calls and it would become a lot simpler to
> > >          implement new components.
> > >
> > > * This design simplification would also allow components to be
> > >          launched independently from each other.  We could
> > >          potentially even launch the shell without certain components
> > >          (e.g. launch only the mailer) if the user wants it that way.
> > >          If we wanted to have separated apps a la OS X we could
> > >          trivially do that too.
> > >
> > > * As I mentioned, it allows side-by-side calendar viewing,
> > >          which increases the usability of the calendar manyfold.
> > >
> > > On the other hand, if we go this way we are probably also going to
> > > drop the following features:
> > >
> > > * The summary.  While the summary is neat, there is a general
> > >          feeling (at least amongst the developers) that the mail and
> > >          calendar summaries are not tremendously useful, and that
> > >          weather and RDF and weather information is better suited for
> > >          a specialized application.  Also we are trying to reduce the
> > >          amount of code we have to maintain, and this seems like a
> > >          good candidate for trimming.
> > >
> > > * The shortcut bar.  It's been shown that only a relatively
> > >   small part of the Evolution user community actually uses it,
> > >          and we feel that it unnecessarily complicates the UI.  The
> > >          new design is much simpler to navigate anyways, and the
> > >          shortcut bar would add clutter and complexity, both in code
> > >          and UI.  Also, it wouldn't be easy to implement in this
> > >          model without keeping some of the shell's complexity that
> > >          we would like to get rid of.
> > >
> > > Opinions?
> > >
> > > -- Ettore
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > evolution maillist  -  evolution lists ximian com
> > > http://lists.ximian.com/mailman/listinfo/evolution
> > >
> > >
> > >      
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > evolution maillist  -  evolution lists ximian com
> > http://lists.ximian.com/mailman/listinfo/evolution
> >    
> --
> Jeffrey Stedfast
> Evolution Hacker - Ximian, Inc.
> fejj ximian com  - www.ximian.com
>
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