Latest revision as of 06:20, 8 April 2010

Goal

Be a simple, easy, and fast way for people to configure Thunderbird against their email server.

We are competing with web mail which will give you a new email address if you give them your Name, Email (desired account name), and Password. Our goal is to be that simple and only require that information from most people.

Secondary Goal

Offer a "Sport Manual" way of setting up an account with assistance by probing the host for ports and checking that a given configuration will work. This option should be available from the beginning.

The File/New/Mail Account Dialog

These are the steps that the average user would go through.

Initial View

Pros
- Very simple and obvious
Cons
- Bland and boring with a layout that feels odd

Auto-Configuring

This is after entering information.

Auto-Configured

This displays a configuration that was found and possible options between either IMAP or POP for downloading messages.

Alternate Versions

Sport Manual Configuration

If the email settings are not available and cannot be auto-detected we can default to helping people probe for the correct data.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-= UI =
+= Goal =
-<pre>
+: Be a simple, easy, and fast way for people to configure Thunderbird against their email server.
-+--------------------------------------------------+
-| *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 ]  |
-+--------------------------------------------------+
-</pre>
-(unchecked Manual config means auto config; network call status at bottom, left of Cancel button)
+We are competing with web mail which will give you a new email address if you give them your Name, Email (desired account name), and Password.  Our goal is to be that simple and only require that information from most people.
-or:
-<pre>
+== Secondary Goal ==
-+--------------------------------------------------+
-| *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:
+Offer a "Sport Manual" way of setting up an account with assistance by probing the host for ports and checking that a given configuration will work.  This option should be available from the beginning.
-.  Fill-in the fields above
-.  Searching...
-a. Completed (found configuration)
-b. Failed (use manual configuration)
-</pre>
+= The File/New/Mail Account Dialog =
-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.
+These are the steps that the average user would go through.
-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.
+== Initial View ==
-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.
+* Pros
+** Very simple and obvious
+* Cons
+** Bland and boring with a layout that feels odd
-== Extra fields ==
+[[File:Thunderbird-Autoconfiguration-Initial View.png]]
-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..
+== Auto-Configuring ==
-<pre>
+This is after entering information.
-+--------------------------------------------------+
-| *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 ]  |
-+--------------------------------------------------+
-</pre>
-This screen can have up to 4-5 fields, depending on how many <userinput> fields are in the config file.
+[[File:Thunderbird-Autoconfiguration-Auto-Configurating.png]]
-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.
+== Auto-Configured ==
+This displays a configuration that was found and possible options between either IMAP or POP for downloading messages.
+[[File:Thunderbird-Autoconfiguration-Auto-Configured.png]]
+=== Alternate Versions ===
+{|
+| [[File:Thunderbird-Autoconfiguration-Boxless Config (imap).png|thumb]]
+| [[File:Thunderbird-Autoconfiguration-Boxless Config (pop).png|thumb]]
+| [[File:Thunderbird-Autoconfig-side-by-side.png|thumb]]
+| [[File:Thunderbird-Autoconfig-smtp-radio-button.png|thumb]]
+|}
+== Sport Manual Configuration ==
+If the email settings are not available and cannot be auto-detected we can default to helping people probe for the correct data.
+[[File:Thunderbird-Autoconfiguration-Sport Configuring.png]]

Thunderbird:Autoconfiguration:UI: Difference between revisions