Re: [Evolution] Improving Interface Divider Visibility

[timzak <tzakharov charter net>]

Jacob XXXX wrote:
> Hello, this is a suggestion for the project (I couldn't find a suggestion
> link, so I figured I might send it on the mailing list).
>
> A few days ago I helped install Ubuntu on a friend's computer, and I
> pointed
> him to Evolution for an Outlook equivalent (I don't use it myself). He
> configured it without a hitch. But when I came back to check on him,
> though
> he had successfully sent and received his mail, he couldn't seem to
> display
> any of them on screen. I clicked the Inbox button. No list of his emails
> appeared. I wrote a draft and saved it. When I clicked the draft button,
> no
> draft item appeared. Just a white box where it seemed a list of emails
> should be.
>
> Things were frustrating until I realized he had accidentally pulled the
> frame divider between the mail list and view frames to the top, where it
> covered the From/Subject/Date list and blended perfectly with the top
> panel.
> The only hint to the presence of another frame was the tiny perforated
> "grip" in the middle of the divider -- very missable.
>
> This issue probably doesn't happen very often. Nevertheless, to prevent
> this
> from making the interface mysteriously unusable, when the user navigates
> to
> a new section (Inbox, Drafts, Junk, etc) and the divider is all the way
> up,
> the divider should shift down a little. The rationale behind this is: if a
> user is looking for new mail, they're no longer reading the current mail
> in
> the viewer and won't be disturbed by the reappearance of the mail list
> (which they need to see anyway). Either that or make the panel more
> visible,
> which would annoy experienced users.
>
> In any case, I hope you can do something, because while it really is a
> stupid problem (I have no idea why my friend pulled the divider up that
> far;
> and why did he forget?), an aim of evolution is high usability... right?
> Thanks.

I like this suggestion.  I have to add to this (perhaps if you're filing an
enhancement request, you can include mine if you agree with it):

Have a setting where the left and right panes can be adjusted separately for
the mail page and for the calendar page.  I'd like to eliminate the left
pane on the calendar page to give the calendar more room to show items in
the Month view (otherwise the boxes for each day shrink and the events are
unreadable because there's not enough room for all the text to display), but
if I do that, then it also goes away on the Mail page, where I need it to
see my mailboxes.  Also, I'd like the Tasks pane on the right to be visible
on the mail page, but not on the calendar page.  In general, I find that
Evolution can improve in efficiency of screen real estate, especially on the
Calendar.  For example, the window borders are thicker than in Thunderbird,
which takes pixels away from the calendar.  I think these borders are to
hold the scroll bar, but even if a scroll bar is not needed, that space is
reserved.  In a nutshell, I find the formatting of the Calendar page to be
inefficient, making it difficult to read calendar events without mousing
over individual events to allow reading of the entire event text.

I'd appreciate if there are any workarounds to my comments, that someone
posts here for all to see.

Regards.
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