Version: 1.6.2 (using KDE 3.2.2, compiled sources) Compiler: gcc version 3.2.2 (Mandrake Linux 9.1 3.2.2-3mdk) OS: Linux (i686) release 2.4.21-0.25mdkenterprise Suggest new option to enable double-click for opening messages in the message preview pane. As it is, when a user single-clicks a message from the message list, the message is immediately opened in the preview pane below. In a perfect world, this might not be a problem, but with the flood of graphic and offensive spam, many people are unwittingly being exposed to the very email that they may be trying to delete and avoid such exposure. Troublesome real world scenario: - Grandma is reading mail; receives offensive spam - Grandma highlights unwanted message for deletion - Offensive message immediately displays in preview pane - Toddler grandchild, sitting on Grandma's loving lap, is also exposed to the objectionable material - Grandma turns red and tries desperately to explain - Grandma immediately calls son-in-law to replace KMail with that-good-old-windows-program-that-didn't-do-this! Just as a matter of good taste and in keeping with the high standards and class of KDE as a whole this problem (IMHO) should not be dismissed as a non-issue on the argument that virtually all modern email clients have this same problem. After all, who is leading and who's following here.... ;)
I would like to voice my opinion against this wish as described for the following reasons: 1. It is not what people expect, all othe rmajor mail clients ( Outlook, Outlook Express, Evolution, Thunderbird, etc ) load the preview pane on one click. ( BTW, this means the part of "Troublesome real-world scenario" where "Grandma immediately calls son-in-law to replace KMail with that-good-old-windows-program-that-didn't-do-this" makes no sense ). If they click on the message and nothing happens they may just assume KMail is broken. 2. It is trivial to disable the preview pane, and have double click open messages in a window. 3. It would not follow the KDE style guide since KMail would not be following the user's single click / double click preference anymore. If this wish is fufilled, IMO it must be an option and it must not be enabled by default. However, I *am* of the opinion that if you right click a message, it should not load in the preview pane. You should be able to right click -> delete a message without t ever loading. I am going to file a bug to this effect.
Since KMail 1.6 you can disable the preview pane in the configuration dialog. Double-click then opens a message in a new window. I guess that solves the issue? Till -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFAqlejtrsWGirveVsRAoD/AKCCCBZLl6X6a9XIRFl4ssvL04NOPgCghIsZ LHmpIndwcBgcU0DqGkLZJbg= =eSIm -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Jason, I actually expected this response. Hence my final paragraph. :) Nevertheless.... 1. It is not true that "all" major email clients do this. Only those that use this GUI style (which I agree are many/most). Eudora is one very popular email client that comes to mind which uses a different style. On the issue that user will think it's broke if the message doesn't immediately display, I would argue that most users are quite conditioned to double-click when faced with such a situation. :) As to the real-world scenario - all I can say is that after switching my wife to KMail she was very anxious to get back to her favorite windows client for various reasons - this high among them. 2. Why should one give up the convenience of the preview pane to avoid exposure to objectionable email? 3. As far as I can tell, KMail already doesn't follow my click preferences. I've set them to double-click, yet KMail previews on a single click. These arguments aside, the real world scenario is very real. I use both Thunderbird and KMail and am constantly having unwanted spam being displayed in the process of trying to remove it. That just shouldn't be! Your right-click suggestion is a good one and probably could suffice.
Till, What if a user prefers to use the preview pane, but doesn't want to be exposed to unwanted email during the simple process of trying to remove them???? :) -Fred
On May 18, 2004 03:39 pm, Fred Wells wrote: > 1. It is not true that "all" major email clients do this. Only those that > use this GUI style (which I agree are many/most). Exactly. > 2. Why should one give up the convenience of the preview pane to avoid > exposure to objectionable email? Hence why bug 76385 ( http://bugs.kde.org/votes.cgi?action=show_bug&bug_id=76385 ) should be fixed. Doesn't require a double click on the preview pane at all. > 3. As far as I can tell, KMail already doesn't follow my click preferences. > I've set them to double-click, yet KMail previews on a single click. Then this is a bug that should definitly be fixed.
Jason, It appears that we're not really arguing against each other. We both wish to maintain the ease-of-use of kmail and *not let the spam win*. How to do it??? I think your right-click idea is one viable solution. I also think I'll follow your suggestion and open a separate bug on the single vs. double click issue. Afterall, solving that will also solve this one quite nicely. -Fred
On second thought... the right-click solution doesn't totally solve the problem. Scenario: - User opens KMail with previews and auto-retrieve enabled - KMail opens with preview pane displaying newly received, potentially objectionable spam. No opportunity for user to avoid this. Wouldn't my original suggestion solve this?
On May 18, 2004 04:10 pm, Fred Wells wrote: > Scenario: > - User opens KMail with previews and auto-retrieve enabled > - KMail opens with preview pane displaying newly received, potentially > objectionable spam. No opportunity for user to avoid this. > > Wouldn't my original suggestion solve this? No, since the auto-preview would cause it to load anyway. Auto preview doesn't mean "Auto preview only when in single click mode"
You're right. So, how do we solve this? My original suggestion + an option to disable auto-preview seems reasonable. Why not??
I agree that there are 2 problems here: 1) Auto-preview -- It would be nice to be able to turn off the auto-preview while still using the preview pane. Personally, I like the preview pane because I hate having a million windows open in the task bar, but I also hate the auto-preview feature and would love to be able to turn it off. 2) Single-click both selects & opens in the preview pane -- It would be nice to be able to set it so that single-click selects the message, but double-click opens in the preview pane (rather than double-click opens a whole new window) These don't need to be default features, so people used to the single-click behavior won't get confused, but it's something that -should- be configurable.
As the reporter, I'm closing this bug due to its age and the obvious lack of interest by kmail developers in addressing this or, for that matter, even acknowledging it.