[dev] Significant changes

[Michael M Slusarz]

Quoting Jan Schneider <jan at horde.org>:

> Zitat von Michael M Slusarz <slusarz at horde.org>:

>> How?  I'd rather not have a full folder list in a context menu.   
>> And the theoretical advantage now of DIMP - we theoretically don't  
>> need to load the full folder list when logging into DIMP (as  
>> opposed to IMP where we have to because of various folder dropdowns  
>> which need to contain all folders).
>
> Good point. Theoretically the context menu sub-entries could be  
> loaded on demand too. Actually I sometimes miss this functionality  
> too. I find it a bit easier to pick a folder through the context  
> menu, than having to drag and hold the mouse button until the folder  
> opens, loads the sub-folders, and so on. With the context menu you  
> click and can wait until the menu opens, you don't have to hold the  
> mouse button. This is a usability improvement IMO.

But as you just mentioned - how does this help usability?  You will  
still have to wait at each subfolder level for it to load.  And the  
contextmenu code won't work well if the folderlist for any given level  
has too many entries to fit on the screen heightwise.

In other words, this is not an element that could easily be added.   
I'm not against the idea, just giving a fair heads up.

>>> - Only mark messages as seen after opening for a (configurable)  
>>> time period, so that they aren't marked seen if you just navigate  
>>> through the mailbox.
>>>
>>> Jan: Yes, please.
>>
>> I don't feel nearly as strongly about this as Jan or mjr do.  This  
>> is the whole point of the delay when using arrow keys to navigate  
>> through list (maybe this can be increased?).
>>
>> From a technical standpoint, this is a lousy idea.  You would now  
>> need 2 separate AJAX requests for every message viewed - one to  
>> load content, one to set as read.  Setting a flag is not a  
>> tremendously heavy operation, but it isn't trivial either - given  
>> that you need to initiate the whole Horde environment to do this.   
>> You have now effectively doubled the number of requests sent to the  
>> server.
>>
>> I personally have never (or at least very rarely) had a situation  
>> where I have messages I have needed to go back and set to unseen.   
>> But I think this may also be dependant on a user's reading style.
>
> There is a delay? Maybe that's the issue. I don't see a delay, or  
> it's too short to not be triggered nonetheless, if navigating  
> through the list. Maybe it's sufficient to make the length a user  
> preference.

Delay is currently 0.3 seconds (DimpBase.js:144).

>>> - Allow to add custom fields to compose window.
>>
>> What custom fields?  Again, this is difficult because various  
>> javascript would also have to be changed.  I've mentioned before -  
>> by their very nature, AJAX applications are going to be much less  
>> customizable than a pure HTML counterpart simply because there are  
>> several independent components (PHP, HTML, javascript) working  
>> together that can not be altered in a single place.
>
> Is it not the complete form that's being submitted when a message is  
> sent? I.e. do we sent the fields individually as necessary?

Javascript actions are triggered on certain compose fields - i.e.  
resizing of the compose window when elements change size -or- sanity  
checking of input.  This is the kind of stuff that would need to be  
hard-coded in the javascript code.

If we are just talking about adding fields and then allowing a hook to  
be called at send time to potentially alter the sent message based on  
this field, this is an acceptable solution.

michael

-- 
___________________________________
Michael Slusarz [slusarz at horde.org]