[Tickets #11078] Re: Change the default value for 'mailbox_start' preference

[bugs at horde.org]

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Ticket URL: http://bugs.horde.org/ticket/11078
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  Ticket             | 11078
  Updated By         | vilius at lnk.lt
  Summary            | Change the default value for 'mailbox_start' preference
  Queue              | IMP
  Version            | Git master
  Type               | Enhancement
  State              | Feedback
  Priority           | 1. Low
  Milestone          |
  Patch              | 1
  Owners             |
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vilius at lnk.lt (2012-03-27 19:30) wrote:

> What is the most important thing to a user in a mailbox?  Messages  
> that they have not yet seen.  This is way more useful than loading a  
> mailbox and then having to scroll through all sorts of pages to find  
> the first unseen message.
>
> And this sort is the only option that works as expected with both  
> sort directions.

Except it isn't as my experience with users shows. We often get calls  
with questions "How do I adjust the mailbox so it would show me the  
newest messages on top, just like Gmail does?", or "Why can't I see  
new messages if the sidebar on the left shows that I have a dozen of  
them?". Most users even with IMAP don't use folders and just hangs all  
day in the Inbox view. Getting back to the screenshot I took, it was  
confusing even for me the first time I saw this.

> Viewing the first page with ascending sort isn't all that useful.   
> (Descending sort doesn't make much sense for any mailbox that isn't  
> receiving new mail, so it is a bad choice for the default.)

Technically, ideally, the point of IMAP is to do message sorting  
server side. In that case all mailboxes can and does receive email.  
Even if some mailboxes doesn't receive mail, using that kind of  
sorting on Inbox gives far more advantages than does harm. IMHO  
descending sorting is more...  natural way presenting information. The  
newest and probably most important (until user actually views the  
message) information is always there on screen, and you don't have to  
write some chunky piece of code which would take care of "automatic"  
scrolling to the end, etc.

So my complete proposition would be to make sortdir descending and  
mailbox_start firstpage.