Oops. I keep forgetting re-enter the dev email addy. Sorry!
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: Re: We've been slashdotted! Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 19:47:11 +0100 From: Geoffrey McCaleb geoffrey@tabasco.net To: tank@galleywinter.com
Which ones would those be? Program-based mail packages usually come with a preview function as default, so all the user knows is if they want to 'view' a message, a single click will do.
People say design should follow expectation for a good reason. Why is the ipod so popular? A lot of reasons, but one of the biggest was because the UI simply just made sense. Pick up an Archos, or a Sony MD...you actually needed to read the instructions to know what to do. Im a male, I'd rather ask directions from my mother-in-law than read instructions.
Don't get me wrong, RoundCube is the most beautifuly designed software apps I have probably ever seen (well, ERoom is pretty slick). But it should conform to user expectation, not the other way around. Change is good, but only when there are clear benefits for change. Double/Triple clicking just for the sake of highligting a message is not really a benefit imho. For example, couldn't we specify an area on each message row where a single click would highlight the message? Most, if not all webmail packages cater for checkboxes so you can multi-select items. Having this position available to select a message (but not open it), again imho, would make sense to a user because most people who have used apps like Hotmail, Gmail, Horde, etc. are used to using that location for select/multi-select purposes.
Again, this is really not a criticism of RoundCube. This application, is an alph in RC or beta clothing. I'm just an opinionated guy and I'm a bit anal when it comes to usability.
My 2 euro-cents (exc VAT)
Geoffrey
On Thu, 13 Oct 2005 13:10:11 -0500, Tank tank@galleywinter.com wrote:
Which is interesting because you actually don't need to triple click. You can double click straight on a message to open just like most program bases mail clients. The tripple click comes into play when assuming you ar dealing with some other web based email program. Granted that most people say design should follow what people know.. but someone has to lead the charge to change.
On Thu, 13 Oct 2005 18:53:45 +0100, Geoffrey McCaleb geoffrey@tabasco.net wrote:
Ahh yes, not a lot of people happy with the confusing triple click when opening an email. :)
Overall, good write-up's from a notoriously cranky audience.
Geoffrey
On Thu, 13 Oct 2005 10:20:37 -0500, wolf@domojo.com wrote:
http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/13/1323214&tid=169&a...