What Leopard Mail Should Look Like

[tuartboy]

I couldn't sleep the other night and I began to think what Mail should look like at this point in the "delicious generation". I'm posting here mainly to see what kind of feedback I can get. What works? What doesn't? I'm spending over an hour a day in Mail and I wouldn't mind a little better user experience.

It was a quick mockup and there are some rough spots, but I'd love to hear your input.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2dee/1331095089/

 

[Cromulent]

Far far far too much wasted space. Why not make the window smaller rather than just putting those pictures of profiles or what have you in the middle. I really hate it when programs decide to clutter up the desktop because they do not use space efficiently enough.

Don't get me wrong it looks good, but needs a little more planning.

 

[TheAnswer]

Ok...I see what you did there. I actually like the "preview corkboard" idea, but I think it might work better as an adjustable window similar to how mail looks now, with the mail showing up underneath.

 

[dejo]

Coverflow, anyone?

 

[The Stig]

Haven't they already show preview of Mail? Won't it look a lot like that?

The Stig

 

[tuartboy]

Far far far too much wasted space. Why not make the window smaller rather than just putting those pictures of profiles or what have you in the middle. I really hate it when programs decide to clutter up the desktop because they do not use space efficiently enough.

Don't get me wrong it looks good, but needs a little more planning.

The pictures would actually be previews of the actual emails and their senders. For all text emails this would not be very helpful, but for more graphical emails it would make for quick recognition. The profile pics from address book would tell you who sent them just by glancing. I agree with you enough that I thought to make a point to add a "switch back to list view" option on the bottom of both panes. I just feel like I can't quickly get an overview of my mailboxes with all that text. It all looks the same if you squint...

Ok...I see what you did there. I actually like the "preview corkboard" idea, but I think it might work better as an adjustable window similar to how mail looks now, with the mail showing up underneath.

It took me a while to get this because I switched to the 3-pane hack long ago on my machines. I personally like the wide layout on my big widescreen displays, but that would be an idea.

Coverflow, anyone?

Maybe it's just me, but I really don't find coverflow all that useful. I never use it in iTunes and it doesn't get used much in leopard either. I like quicklook, so that should definitely be used for both attachments and the mail browser.

 

[tuartboy]

Haven't they already show preview of Mail? Won't it look a lot like that?

The Stig

Yes. http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/features/mail.html

No. It looks nearly the same.