MachV/Mozilla: Mail

 

Issues Meeting Summary

Search in Three Pane Mail

 

Author: Jennifer Glick 
Date: 08 August  2001

Attendees: Scott Macgregor, Jennifer Glick, Robin Foster Clark, Laurel Carlson, Kevin Murray, Erik Nierenberg, Navin Gupta

 

Open Issues

  1. TBD, Potentially, some View and Navigation type actions may not be available.
  2. A "contains" search on "Subject" or "Sender" is performed by default.  Using Preferences, users can change the search to "Subject contains:" or "Sender contains:".  The text displayed in the Search Bar should reflect the current setting. Where should this pref be located? "Mail & News" top level panel? Dedicated Mail "Search" panel?
  3. Title tip when hovering over search field.  Robin to provide.

 


Topics

  1. Name of toolbar? Search Bar.
  2. Location of Search Bar. Above the column headers in Thread Pane instead of below Toolbar.
  3. If the account level is selected in the Folder Pane, can a Search on the whole account be done? Or does the Search Toolbar become disabled? With redesign, Search Bar is not visible when an Account is selected.
  4. Type of search?  A -  "contains" search on "subject", "sender" and "body".  B -  "contains" search on "subject" and  "sender" .  Contains Subject or Sender.
  5. Do we want to allow users to type in the +,  -, or  "" notations?  No. No need to complicate. Plus if we allow it here, would advanced search need to allow it as well?
  6. Label text says "Search for:" or "Subject or Sender contains:"? "Subject or Sender contains" by default. Will be a preference to change the search to Subject only or Sender only.  Text displayed should update as appropriate.
  7. The default for Search Bar is open.  
  8. A "contains" search on "Subject" or "Sender" is performed by default.  Using Preferences, users can change the search to "Subject contains:" or "Sender contains:".  The text displayed in the Search Bar should reflect the current setting.
  9. As the user types text into the text field, the Thread Pane updates to display only those headers that match the query. Typing more text in the field refines the search (only searches the remaining items), while deleting characters restores those headers that now match the query.  Clearing all the text from the field restores the full contents of the selected folder.
  10. The search results are displayed using the same sort order that was set by the user before the search occurred. While search results are displayed, the sort order can be changed.
  11. Selecting a different folder, newsgroup or account cancels the search.  For example:
    • Select the Inbox and type "fred" in the search field.
    • Select a different folder. The Thread Pane displays the contents of the selected folder.  
    • Select the Inbox again.  The full contents of the Inbox is displayed.
  12. Once the users starts typing in the text field, no message in the Thread Pane should be selected and the Message Pane should be empty.
  13. If no matching items are found, the text, "No matches found." is displayed in the Status bar.  The Message pane, if open, is empty.
  14. Tabbing in Three Pane Mail works clockwise, so if the search field has focus, a tab will cause the Thread Pane to have focus.
  15. Most all actions available on messages should be available to the search result messages.  For example, double clicking to open the message, drag and drop to move or copy a message, deleting messages, forwarding, replying, etc. should all be available. * TBD, Potentially, some View and Navigation type actions may no be available.
  16.  If the user pulls or receives new messages while search results are being displayed, and any of the new messages match the search criteria, the Thread Pane displaying the matching results is NOT updated.  If the user were to perform the search again, though, the new messages would be displayed.
  17.  Users are able to drag and drop results of the search to other folders. Just like drag and drop in the Three Pane Mail, a Move is preformed.  Accelerator plus drag and drop is a copy.  When drag and dropping newsgroup messages, a copy is always performed.
  18. This feature should work the same in Newsgroups, although it may be a little slower if there are a large number of postings.