[Evolution] Minimal screen width wider than many screens

[Mathias Seuret <mathias seuret com>]

Hello

I don't think that the problem I am going to talk about is a bug. In fact, it is rather a conception default. 
I am using Ubuntu 10.10 on my netbook (the current netbook edition is much slower than the previous ones and 
it uses about 40% more battery...). As you probably know, Evolution, which is usually a great program, is the 
default mail client for Ubuntu, both standard and netbook editions.

Somebody decided that the minimal window width for Evolution should be 1030 pixels. Not 1024, nor 1037, but 
1030. I do not really understand why somebody decided that the minimal window width should be limited, nor 
why such a limit has been chosen. There is probably a very good reason which I do not know.

Unfortunately, many screens are limited to a resolution of 1024x[something]. My netbook, for example, has a 
resolution of 1024x600. Unfortunately, since the window of Evolution is wider, I have two options.

I can maximize it. In that case, a few pixels of the window won't be visible. That's not really a problem. 
Unfortunately, there is another effect which is much more annoying. Every time I click on the window 
(anywhere, on a button, on the menu bar, on the title, ...), it is shifted of these few pixels. On the left 
first, then on the right, then on the left again, ... Since it is shifted before the click is handled, it 
often makes me miss the button or the scrollbar. That is annoying. Sometimes, it also makes me click on the 
wrong button.

And when I do not maximize it, it becomes visible on two workspaces. On the first one, I see most of the 
window, but on the other one, I see only a thin line of pixels. So when I receive a mail and click on it in 
the window list applet, I'm not brought to the correct workspace. Instead, I have to click twice : once to go 
to the correct workspace, a second time to open the window.

That's not really annoying when one does not use often Evolution, but after some time... Knowing that 
Evolution is the default mail client for Ubuntu, I think that such a default is a very bad advertisment. I 
hope that the person who thought that everybody has an horizontal resolution of more than 1030 pixels will 
read it. I also hope that this flaw may be corrected in a futur version of Evolution - until then, I'll use 
another program on my netbook, but since Evolution is really a good program, I'll continue using it on my 
desktop computer, which has a resolution of 1280x1024.

Regards and thanks for spending time reading this
Mathias