[Evolution] Evolution display / usability issues

[Wobbly_hs <wobbly happysheep me uk>]

I'm trying to get to grips with workflows dealing with large volumes of
emails and have some comments to offer:

1) message list: a minor niggle, but when the message list loses focus,
it isn't easy to see which item in the list is current - the visual
effect becomes too subtle (I have normal colour vision).

2) labelling:  this feature is useful in that you can tag what needs to
be done using a range of labels and colours, e.g.
   evaluate / discuss / reply / keep 6months (filter cleans up) / keep
forever
Also, my wife and I both use the same login and share some email
accounts, so it helps if we can label messages for who has to deal with
each, e.g.
   his / hers / both
..but either way we've found the labelling usability suffers for a
couple of reasons.
First of all, clicks:
â changing label from one to another requires going through the menus
twice, since as soon as a label is applied the dialog disappears, and
â getting to the labels requires lots of clicks (or three key presses),
inline access from a field in the message list would be quicker, as
would direct access to the label list via the message window
Secondly, colours:
â priority marking overrides black base colour with dark red, but other
colours remain unchanged when priority marking applied - inconsistent
behaviour.
â when you select a message in the message list, the colour ceases to be
visible
â colours only work with single labels, apply more than one label and
the colour reverts to black.  It might be better if the latest label
colour won through?  Or if you could change the settings so only the
latest label applied and earlier ones were automatically dis-applied?

3) Flags
â again, lots of clicks required - would prefer inline editing via
message list
â can't change flag colours, and colours available are too similar to be
easy to distinguish

I'm not sure whether to put these in as separate or joint enhancement
bugs.  Particularly as bugs I've filed before to do with usability seem
to not progress much:
510585 Evolution mailer â Users should be able to delete attachments /
detach attachments
   http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=205927
557391 - threading order
   http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=557391
On this latter one I note that Thunderbird 3 now proposes to include a
conversation view!  Wonder how long it'll be before Evolution catches up
too?

Thanks
Jacek