What features do you wish Mail.app had?

[Project]

Dont know if its because im using Cage Fighter, but Mail 2 doesnt seem to give any visual indiction of a button in the toolbar being pressed. ie, the shading on the button doesnt change, and there is no activity monitor to indicate anything happening in mail app. There are times I press a button twice because I didnt think the first click registered, and two windows pop up or the process happens twice. Although a small thing, this is pretty bad from a UI point of view.

Ive just noticed that there is a change if you press the text on say, delete, but not on the actual icon itself.

 

[chaos86]

Dont know if its because im using Cage Fighter, but Mail 2 doesnt seem to give any visual indiction of a button in the toolbar being pressed. ie, the shading on the button doesnt change, and there is no activity monitor to indicate anything happening in mail app. There are times I press a button twice because I didnt think the first click registered, and two windows pop up or the process happens twice. Although a small thing, this is pretty bad from a UI point of view.

Ive just noticed that there is a change if you press the text on say, delete, but not on the actual icon itself.

works for me. on mouse over it darkens a bit, then on mousedown it darkens a bit more. as for showing that it's doing something like checking mail, i think we'd all like to see that.

 

[DXoverDY]

Dont know if its because im using Cage Fighter, but Mail 2 doesnt seem to give any visual indiction of a button in the toolbar being pressed. ie, the shading on the button doesnt change, and there is no activity monitor to indicate anything happening in mail app. There are times I press a button twice because I didnt think the first click registered, and two windows pop up or the process happens twice. Although a small thing, this is pretty bad from a UI point of view.

Ive just noticed that there is a change if you press the text on say, delete, but not on the actual icon itself.

yea i'll be implementing a few things for visual indicators. maybe even growl support for those who want it. but i'll do some other stuff, i'm not sure how accurate progress bars would be for this, but i could always implement them to at least give some form of "something is being done." whether it's accurate or not. i haven't started any of this coding yet so i'm not sure if it's possible. but i love hearing your ideas.

1) it gives me an idea of what you like and don't like
2) when you mention a feature it gets me thinking of how it'll fit in the bigger picture, and sometimes new ideas come from it.
3) it helps because i'm thinking about problems before i even encounter them.
4) some people are even giving reference documentation so that helps a lot as well.
5) it's just fun coming up with ideas that might make you all happy.

i've got a lot of work to do, i'm a one man person working on a project where a team of 3 to 4 would be better. but the app will start smaller and grow to have more features. people investing in version 1.0 will be funding the entire progression of the app from "mail.app" replacement to a 2.0 version. i am thinking of giving the first x number of registered users a free upgrade to 2.0. where i'll make the remainder have an upgrade fee (roughly half of the retail price for a new registered user). but those first x number of people are "venture capitalists" in my book, taking a risk and investing in an app for the future. i may in fact give those users free upgrades for life depending on how things go.

these are just some of my ideas, they're just ideas... i can't promise them but that's what i would LIKE to do. as well as student pricing.

i know most people aren't going to want to spend lots of money, so i'm hoping to keep it cheaper. but i can't say for sure how expensive it'll be until after i have seen how much work has been put into it and how much demand there is.

i'm happy to see someone already hyping it in another thread. i'd almost ask to kind of keep that to a minimum but it's cool either way. i just don't know when it'll be released.. i'm hoping for spring next year.

keep the ideas coming. brain storm. i dont' care if they're horrible ideas right now, maybe someone will come up with an idea out of that horrible idea.

 

[Project]

works for me. on mouse over it darkens a bit, then on mousedown it darkens a bit more. as for showing that it's doing something like checking mail, i think we'd all like to see that.

I just removed Cage Fighter and you are right. Buttons are pressed and depressed. However, the Get Mail issue is still valid if you dont have the inbox expanded, as you pointed out. A simple activity/status monitor next to the two buttons at the bottom of the source pane would be nice.

yea i'll be implementing a few things for visual indicators. maybe even growl support for those who want it. but i'll do some other stuff, i'm not sure how accurate progress bars would be for this, but i could always implement them to at least give some form of "something is being done." whether it's accurate or not. i haven't started any of this coding yet so i'm not sure if it's possible. but i love hearing your ideas.

1) it gives me an idea of what you like and don't like
2) when you mention a feature it gets me thinking of how it'll fit in the bigger picture, and sometimes new ideas come from it.
3) it helps because i'm thinking about problems before i even encounter them.
4) some people are even giving reference documentation so that helps a lot as well.
5) it's just fun coming up with ideas that might make you all happy.

i've got a lot of work to do, i'm a one man person working on a project where a team of 3 to 4 would be better. but the app will start smaller and grow to have more features. people investing in version 1.0 will be funding the entire progression of the app from "mail.app" replacement to a 2.0 version. i am thinking of giving the first x number of registered users a free upgrade to 2.0. where i'll make the remainder have an upgrade fee (roughly half of the retail price for a new registered user). but those first x number of people are "venture capitalists" in my book, taking a risk and investing in an app for the future. i may in fact give those users free upgrades for life depending on how things go.

these are just some of my ideas, they're just ideas... i can't promise them but that's what i would LIKE to do. as well as student pricing.

i know most people aren't going to want to spend lots of money, so i'm hoping to keep it cheaper. but i can't say for sure how expensive it'll be until after i have seen how much work has been put into it and how much demand there is.

i'm happy to see someone already hyping it in another thread. i'd almost ask to kind of keep that to a minimum but it's cool either way. i just don't know when it'll be released.. i'm hoping for spring next year.

keep the ideas coming. brain storm. i dont' care if they're horrible ideas right now, maybe someone will come up with an idea out of that horrible idea.

Its a pleasure to be able to just read such a thread. Despite loving Mail, I always look for ways it can be improved. I dont think I will ever be satisfied though.

I think it may be a benefit to ask what exactly people like about Mail though. Because it will be far easier to miss those features out than to implement what its missing.

Some of mine:

Integration with iApps
Uncluttered look
Smart mailboxes
Junk mail detector - after being trained it is surprisingly good.
Threaded/conversation view (this is a must. I refuse to use a Mail client without this feature) Mail.apps integration of it CAN be improved though. Clicking on a conversation should just show the conversation as a whole. It kind of defeats the object of conversation view if I then have to individually select what message I want to read. Especially when all the subjects are the same :-(
The sent sound clip. I love it. lol

What interface will you be using? hopefully the unified platinum look. The likes of Mori show that it is a nice interface to use for source pane heavy items. Cant stand brushed metal for such apps.

 

[Project]

Something I just noticed - theres a spotlight search when you bring up the attack file window. Incredibly fast. Wonderful.

This would be a great feature to include man.

 

[DXoverDY]

I just removed Cage Fighter and you are right. Buttons are pressed and depressed. However, the Get Mail issue is still valid if you dont have the inbox expanded, as you pointed out. A simple activity/status monitor next to the two buttons at the bottom of the source pane would be nice.



Its a pleasure to be able to just read such a thread. Despite loving Mail, I always look for ways it can be improved. I dont think I will ever be satisfied though.

I think it may be a benefit to ask what exactly people like about Mail though. Because it will be far easier to miss those features out than to implement what its missing.

Some of mine:

Integration with iApps
Uncluttered look
Smart mailboxes
Junk mail detector - after being trained it is surprisingly good.
Threaded/conversation view (this is a must. I refuse to use a Mail client without this feature) Mail.apps integration of it CAN be improved though. Clicking on a conversation should just show the conversation as a whole. It kind of defeats the object of conversation view if I then have to individually select what message I want to read. Especially when all the subjects are the same :-(
The sent sound clip. I love it. lol

What interface will you be using? hopefully the unified platinum look. The likes of Mori show that it is a nice interface to use for source pane heavy items. Cant stand brushed metal for such apps.

OSX Integration - check
Uncluttered Look - check
Smart Mailboxes - check
Junk Mail detector - kinda check, not in the initial version probably 1.1
Better Thread Handling - check
Sounds - who knows, possible check

interface will be the unified (same as Mail 2.0 and iTunes), i've not tried it but someone mentioned having the ability to switch between Unified and Brushed Metal, it might be possible, and I may do this with a simple radio button or drop down in the preferences for those who may like BM more.

Of course, i want to hear all feedback. i guess you're right in that it all depends on how you ask the question. I'm looking for all of the following:

1) What do you not like about Mail.app?
2) What do you like about Mail.app?
3) What do you wish Mail.app did that it doesn't do now?

along with any other feedback. I hope it's fun for everyone to contribute, I plan to keep doing this until I launch the product, and even afterwards. I'll be creating a blog down the road within the next month that will give status on the project, and hopefully have many more threads like this here and in other forums around the net. I would love to be open with customers and potential customers about what i am doing.

As for junk mail, i hope to include immediate support for SpamSieve right off the bat. But that will likely be the only form of spam protection until 1.1. My current roadmap doesn't include it in the initial version, that may change. I know it's important, but it'll be a major feature of 1.1, maybe 1.0 it depends on how long it takes to implement the other stuff that will make the product actually sell. Remember, I'm one person, not a team of 3 or 4 and at this point i don't intend to include another developer.

I will be implementing a very VERY neat (at least to me and a few other people) way of doing rules and other combination actions. Somewhat similar to Automator but more specific to mail. I can't get too in depth on this due to it being big feature numero uno. I am looking at this feature as the main selling point of the software combined with minor tweaks and additions like i have talked about in here already.

oh and thanks for pointing me to Mori, that app looks like it could be very useful...

 

[DXoverDY]

Something I just noticed - theres a spotlight search when you bring up the attack file window. Incredibly fast. Wonderful.

This would be a great feature to include man.

that is an excellent idea. added to the list

 

[mkrishnan]

*looks at user status*...well, I guess not too soon?

I haven't integrated the idea of using the spotlight bar in the file requester into my way of doing things yet, but every once in a while, I notice it's there and how great a concept it is.

 

[DXoverDY]

*looks at user status*...well, I guess not too soon?

I haven't integrated the idea of using the spotlight bar in the file requester into my way of doing things yet, but every once in a while, I notice it's there and how great a concept it is.

yea, apparently someone didn't like my comment in the games forum... anyway, i will be moving this thread off into my own forum i'll be creating on my website specifically for this. i'm also thinking of setting up an "announce" list where people can sign up and get occasional emails sent to them about the progress, status, and other important announcements like "i could use your input on this" and point you to a thread on the forum.

is anyone interested in this type of thing?

 

[chaos86]

i just noticed this in entourage on my step dads computer- in the inbox list there are expandable dividers for each day (today, yesturday, then dates). that would be useful to me to visualize the chronology of things when i get to lazy to sort my inbox for a week and it gets to be 3 miles long.

also, what good is indicating messages in the same thread by turning them blue (thread view turned off) if you can't easliy select them all? in fact, what good is thread view if it barely works at all (mails thread algorithm seems to suck for me).

 

[DXoverDY]

i just noticed this in entourage on my step dads computer- in the inbox list there are expandable dividers for each day (today, yesturday, then dates). that would be useful to me to visualize the chronology of things when i get to lazy to sort my inbox for a week and it gets to be 3 miles long.

also, what good is indicating messages in the same thread by turning them blue (thread view turned off) if you can't easliy select them all? in fact, what good is thread view if it barely works at all (mails thread algorithm seems to suck for me).

the calendar idea is cool... i'll just have to see how i can easily implement it without being obtrusive. i'll see what i can do for that one.

threading is a big issue for me too. i will be testing it on some mailing lists i'm on that are quite high traffic so hopefully i can work out the kinks. i'm really frustrated with mail.app's threading inability.

 

[aa...]

Two Words:

ACTIVITY VIEWER

Why on earth would you take that off the primary window?!
As a powerbook user and a graphic designer, it's essential to know at all times the progress of your outgoing emails many of which have attachments.

This annoys me so much that i'd gladly go backwards to 1.0 just for that one feature.