Version: (using KDE KDE 3.1.93) Compiler: gcc 3.3 OS: Linux After upgrading from KDE 3.1.4 to 3.1.93, kmail automatically scrolls the message list when the selected message is changed with the keyboard by deleting the current message or using the arrow keys, centering the new message. This happens even if the message would be visible without scrolling, and makes it very difficult to go though a large number of messages; I check the subject to see if I should delete the message or read it, and it's difficult to watch the subjects when the list keeps jumping around. The message list should not be scrolled automatically if the new message is already visible.
This was specifically changed because else one doesn't see which message comes next if the last (or first) visible message is selected. No developer objected against this change, so we won't change it back. Feel free to change the source if you don't like this behavior. Simply delete the ensureCurrentItemVisible(); in KMHeaders::nextMessage() and KMHeaders::prevMessage() in kmheaders.cpp.
This is not intuitive. There are a lot of bug reports on this (24355, 42543, 21256, 41681, 33994, 34375, 67459, 17240), and I (and probably many others) was about to send one before I saw that this was intended, and I should use right+left. User interface should be intuitive and consistent. Users go to the help when they don't know how to do something, not when the user interface doesn't function the way the expect it to. I agree that the current key binding are very nice if you know them, but I think most users will never learn about them, and stay annoyed. What should be done is this: add an *option* to set this binding. This way, normal users will get the expected, even if not the most comfortable, key binding. Advanced users will go over the settings window looking for things which could make their life easier, find this, and say, "Wow! Cool!".