Thunderbird:Autoconfiguration:UI
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UI [edit]
+--------------------------------------------------+ | *Account Setup* | |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| | (o) E-Mail account | | | | Full name: [ ] | | E-Mail address: [ ] | | Password: [ ] | | | | [ ] Manual configuration | | | | ( ) RSS News Feeds and Blogs | | ( ) Newsgroup account | | ( ) Calendar | | | | [ Cancel ] [ Next/Done ] | +--------------------------------------------------+
(unchecked Manual config means auto config; network call status at bottom, left of Cancel button) or:
+--------------------------------------------------+
| *Account Setup* |
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| (o) E-Mail account |
| |
| Full name: [ ] |
| E-Mail address: [ ] |
| Password: [ ] |
| |
| (o) Auto-detect: Status here(*) |
| ( ) Manual configuration |
| |
| ( ) RSS News Feeds and Blogs |
| ( ) Newsgroup account |
| ( ) Calendar |
| |
| [ Cancel ] [ Next/Done ] |
+--------------------------------------------------+
(*) Auto-detect status text:
1. Fill-in the fields above
2. Searching...
3a. Completed (found configuration)
3b. Failed (use manual configuration)
If the user finished (onblur) the email address text field (e.g. while he enters the password), the wizard makes network requests to try to find the configuration. The network activity is indicated by a spinner next to the "Searching..." text.
If we found a configuration, the spinner is removed and the "Next" button turns into "Done". In that case, there is no second page, not even the summary screen. The user ends up directly in his inbox, which was the goal.
If the user checks the [x] manual configuration option, the "Done" button turns into "Next" again. The server names etc. from the autoconfig file are still used in this case, but only to pre-fill the UI fields. That way, an advanced user can see, check and alter the values, but still takes advantage of autoconfig when possible. Open question: What about settings that are in the config file, but not exposed in the wizard? Used or not? May be important, but user can't check them before use.
Extra fields [edit]
Step 4: If the config file contains values to be filled in by the user, we need to add them. Either we do that on the same page, or we insert a second screen that provides fields for this. The field label is provided by the config file, because providers use different terminology for usernames, like "username", "login name", "email account name", "AOL screen name" etc..
+--------------------------------------------------+ | *Account Setup* | |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| | Please fill in the following information | | for your email account. Your email provider | | should have provided this information on the | | page where you were notified about your | | email password. | | | | Username: [ ] | | | | | | | | [ Cancel ] [ Next/Done ] | +--------------------------------------------------+
This screen can have up to 4-5 fields, depending on how many <userinput> fields are in the config file. Often, this is not needed at all, when the username is the same as or contructed from the email address. If needed, normally only one value should be needed, namely the username, and it's probably the same for POP/IMAP and SMTP.
