Thunderbird:Menus: Difference between revisions

From MozillaWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
(MINIMALIST ui proposed vs. normal (feature-packed) edition)
(point people to better places)
 
(3 intermediate revisions by one other user not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
The menus are crufty.  They take up about six full screens of text for me as they are below, and that's far too many. One of the big strengths of Firefox is that its UI is minimal. There's less to get in the way when you want to do something, and finding what you want to do is easier because there's only one simpler method to do so.
<div style="border: thin dotted #aaa; padding: 10px;">
'''THIS WIKI DOCUMENT IS PRIMARILY HISTORICAL AND NOT A SUITABLE LOCATION FOR USER REQUESTS AND FEEDBACK. PLEASE DO NOT COMMENT HERE.'''<br>
'''* To get help or to ask a question please visit [https://support.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird Thunderbird Support (SUMO)]. To make a suggestion please [https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=Thunderbird&bug_severity=enhancement file an enhancement request]. To report a bug use [https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=Thunderbird bugzilla].'''</div>


The basic way to fix this is by consolidation and removal.  I haven't looked very much yet because I haven't had time and barely use most of the UI of Thunderbird (as I'm sure most people do).  Consequently, in the initial step below I'm just going to start consolidating.  Because the menus are so large, I'm going to do this in multiple pages, as described below:
''Looking for the [[Thunderbird:Old Menus|old menus page]]?''


# [[Thunderbird:Menus:Menus as of Thunderbird 1.0-ish|Current menus]] (crufty)
== Motivation ==
# [[Thunderbird:Menus:Menus after some consolidation|After some consolidation]] (after item consolidation)
# [[Thunderbird:Menus:Menus after unnecessary item removal|After some item removal]] (with removal explanations)


There are no bugs in Bugzilla for this yet (that I've seen and remember), because this whole project is rather unclear at the moment.  With more time, this can hopefully become clearer.
The current menus are bloated with extra functionality that is undiscoverable and as such becomes useless.  Having much more context relevant actions allows for a cleanup of the menus and better user interactions.


'''Finally,''' why not overhaul the interface altogether, in favor of absolute simplicity?
== Plan ==


E.G., Is there any good reason why we should not introduce a "minimalist," possibly menuless, version of Thunderbird (incorporating suggestions made on [[Thunderbird:UI Reduction]]) alongside an "Expert" (feature-filled) UI,  accessible by menu-activation?
We are designing for the menus we want and such will be removing all other menu items we don't want. For each menu item we don't want it's necessary to evaluate it's functionality role and create a better system for using that feature.


'''If you have suggestions to make, just make the changes on the appropriate page (and associated previous pages) and explain your reasons!'''
== The Menu ==


----
This is somewhat generic at first, then we can expand later to take care of platform issues.  Currently I'm starting with a Linux style menu layout.
:So far, you've neglected context menus, which I think are very important for balancing the various menu options; there currently are some actions available only in a context menu.  How much duplication between the two sorts of menus is appropriate?  (Also, no consideration yet to Compose Window and Address Book menus.) One possible way to deal with this would be to have a <tt>&nbsp;File&nbsp;|&nbsp;<item>&nbsp;</tt> menu (where <tt>&nbsp;<item>&nbsp;</tt> is "Account" "Folder" or "Message" depending on what's selected) and put some or all of the context-menu items as a submenu to that top-level item. However, this does prevent (some) operations on one type of item when the focus is on another.


:Keyboard shortcuts are displayed in the top-level menus; while you could eliminate menu items in favor of shortcuts, I don't think that would prove to be popular.
* File
** New Tab
** &mdash;
** Page Setup
** Print Preview
** Print...
** &mdash;
** Import...
** &mdash;
** [ ] Work Offline
** &mdash;
** Quit


:How do toolbar(s) enter into the equation?  Is it acceptable to have a toolbar button that is the only place to perform a particular function?  I don't think so, myself&mdash;I think every item on the main toolbar should be duplicated in the '''top-level''' menus&mdash;even those actions that clearly belong in a context menu.


:What about adding additional toolbars, such as a message-display toolbar (controlling things like Inline Attachments, Message Body As, etc.).  Making a change on this toolbar ideally would be used only for the current message, resetting to the default when the next message is selected; but the defaults could be moved into the Options dialog, with the associated View menu items stripped out.
* Edit
** Undo
** Redo
** &mdash;
** Cut
** Copy
** Paste
** Delete
** &mdash;
** Select All
** &mdash;
** Preferences


:--[[User:Mcow|mcow]]
 
* View
** Toolbars ->
*** [x] Mail Toolbar
** [x] Status Bar
** [ ] Show Today Pane
** &mdash;
** Text Size
*** Increase
*** Decrease
*** Reset
 
 
* Messages
** New Message
** Open Message from file
** &mdash;
** Go to Mail
 
 
* Events and Tasks
** New Event
** New Task
** Open Calendar from file
** &mdash;
** Go to Calendar
** Go to Tasks
** &mdash;
** [ ] Show Mini Month
 
 
* Tools
** Go to Address Book
** Add-ons
** Error Console
 
 
* Help
** Help Contents
** Release Notes
** &mdash;
** Check for updates...
** &mdash;
** About
 
== Orphaned Menu Items ==
 
Here is the list of menu items we've removed with bugs that handle the conversion of their functionality from a menu item to a context relative action.

Latest revision as of 16:43, 12 December 2016

THIS WIKI DOCUMENT IS PRIMARILY HISTORICAL AND NOT A SUITABLE LOCATION FOR USER REQUESTS AND FEEDBACK. PLEASE DO NOT COMMENT HERE.

* To get help or to ask a question please visit Thunderbird Support (SUMO). To make a suggestion please file an enhancement request. To report a bug use bugzilla.

Looking for the old menus page?

Motivation

The current menus are bloated with extra functionality that is undiscoverable and as such becomes useless. Having much more context relevant actions allows for a cleanup of the menus and better user interactions.

Plan

We are designing for the menus we want and such will be removing all other menu items we don't want. For each menu item we don't want it's necessary to evaluate it's functionality role and create a better system for using that feature.

The Menu

This is somewhat generic at first, then we can expand later to take care of platform issues. Currently I'm starting with a Linux style menu layout.

  • File
    • New Tab
    • —
    • Page Setup
    • Print Preview
    • Print...
    • —
    • Import...
    • —
    • [ ] Work Offline
    • —
    • Quit


  • Edit
    • Undo
    • Redo
    • —
    • Cut
    • Copy
    • Paste
    • Delete
    • —
    • Select All
    • —
    • Preferences


  • View
    • Toolbars ->
      • [x] Mail Toolbar
    • [x] Status Bar
    • [ ] Show Today Pane
    • —
    • Text Size
      • Increase
      • Decrease
      • Reset


  • Messages
    • New Message
    • Open Message from file
    • —
    • Go to Mail


  • Events and Tasks
    • New Event
    • New Task
    • Open Calendar from file
    • —
    • Go to Calendar
    • Go to Tasks
    • —
    • [ ] Show Mini Month


  • Tools
    • Go to Address Book
    • Add-ons
    • Error Console


  • Help
    • Help Contents
    • Release Notes
    • —
    • Check for updates...
    • —
    • About

Orphaned Menu Items

Here is the list of menu items we've removed with bugs that handle the conversion of their functionality from a menu item to a context relative action.

Retrieved from "https://wiki.mozilla.org/index.php?title=Thunderbird:Menus&oldid=1156854"