Hello Mark and other TBTECHS,
On Thursday, February 08, 2001 at 19:36:33 GMT -0500 Mark Knipfer wrote (in
TBUDL) on "! 1.49:Message Column Lists moves to the right, message threading":
>> I would very much like to learn, what you think could be a
>> better solution.
MK> This question alone shows the lack of experience you have with other
MK> e-mail clients.
Apart from all question of my experience with e-mail clients: What is the issue
here is, strictly speaking, not experience - but logic.
>> IMHO, it is better to think of the threading-possibilities in the list-view
>> as a generous bonus - and then do serious thread-reading in the folder-view.
MK> Huh?
It is not quite clear to me which part of the above your exclamation refers to.
I assume it is the distinction "List View"/"Folder View". I happily admit that I
am not quite sure of the correct descriptions. Perhaps "Main browser" and
"Folder Browser" would be better. What "Main browser" would mean should be
obvious: it is the three-panel view that meets us when we open TB. "Folder
Browser" is accessed by either double-clicking a message or by highlighting a
folder and choosing "Browse folder".
>> As you probably know, the news reader Agent solves all these problems by
>>
>> 1) putting a limit on how many follow up-levels there can be in a thread
>>
>> and
>>
>> 2) allowing control of the degree of indentation of the follow-ups
MK> There is no maximum per se, but there is a maximum threading level where
MK> it will display messages in a thread. In Agent 1.8 if you set the
MK> 'Follow-Up Indentation:' to 3 and 'Maximum Follow-Up Level:' to 15, this
MK> helps makes more messages properly thread. However, the limitation to
MK> message threading still exists.
MK> **************************************************************************
>> In my opinion, 1) is a very poor solution and is one of the main
>> reasons, I gave up Agent as an e-mail reader (and became a TB-user :-)).
>> Is it really something like this, that you want for TB?
MK> You did not understand my problem in my message. I am not suggesting any
MK> threading limitations or such implementations.
I am almost certain that I have understood your problem. You are complaining
about the fact that the column that is used for threading expands as the thread
expands and, thus, moves the other columns of the message list. I never assumed
that you *wanted* to limit the threading-possibilities (why should you?). I was
trying to point out that Agent, in my opinion, is not quite as marvellous in
this respect as some would have, since the Agent-model *presupposes* such
limitations. An implementation of the Agent-model without the "Maximum Follow-Up
Level"-part would only save the space resulting from not using a "To"-column.
Without the limitation on the maximum follow-up level, columns would again be
moving when the thread were expanding across the width of the subject-column.
Unless, of course, the width of the subject-column was fixed and you had to move
it to follow the expanded thread - but then we would be back where it all
began...
Strangely, though, this seems to what you are referring to in the following:
MK> If you use Netscape Communicator 4.x and other threading e-mail clients that
MK> do threading on References and Message-ID's, you will see what I am
MK> referring to. Message threading itself in TB! is good, however, the constant
MK> adjusting of the Subject message column is not.
I have on my system the following threading e-mail clients (not counting TB and
Agent): Outlook Express, Netscape 6 and Becky! All of these solves the problem
in the way described above: by letting the subject-column (the only column
allowed for threading) be fixed and, thus, forcing the user to widen the column
in order to follow the thread. If this is what you look for, I assume the
advantage you see in this is that all messing with columns is up to the user. I
can see that this could be preferred, but - in my opinion - the current
TB-solution is more attractive. In the fixed-"subject"-column solution you
*have* to adjust the subject column as the thread expands. In TB, as it is, you
can
1) gain space by turning of some of the columns not necessary for the particular
folder - which need only be done once
or
2) scroll with left- and right-arrow as the need arises - which is a) adjusting
by short-cut rather than the mouse-adjustement of the subject-column
necessitated by the other solution, b) an adjustment not called for as often as
the adjustement of the subject-column would be.
All in my opinion.
--
Best regards,
Jannik Lindquist
The Bat! Ver. 1.49
Windows 98 4 10 2222 A
--
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