I think it is about time iMail was made metallic ala Finder and Safari.
Then as the iLife apps were bundled together, iMail, AddressBook, iCal, iSync should be bundled together (perhaps with .Mac) to be an alternative to Entourage. Still free of course.
Comments
Mail is not
1) a single-window app
2) an app that emulates a physical device
3) an organizational app with collections
therefore, it doesn't meet any of the criteria for a metallized app.
(One could make a case that mailboxes are collections, and therefore a UI change would be justified... *MAYBE*. I think it'd be clunky.)
Originally posted by Brad
Why?? There's no reason at all for Mail to be metal, no reason for its name to be changed, and certainly no reason for it to be included as part of the digital hub.
Mail interface can do with simplification.
It's pretty old to be honest (I used NeXT Mail for years and loved it...but it's not changed much). Metallic interfaces are much slicker and simpler.
And no, not bundled as part of iLife.
Instead bundled in a new bundle: iMail, AddressBook, iSync and iCal (& iNote?!) as something comparable to Entourage. The bundle would be something that integrated with the iPod more closely, though. In that respect pehaps it would be a suppliment to iLife.
Originally posted by Kickaha
Disagree.
Mail is not
1) a single-window app
2) an app that emulates a physical device
3) an organizational app with collections
therefore, it doesn't meet any of the criteria for a metallized app.
Nor was the Finder.
In fact, I initially thought a metallic Finder would be a terrible thing, but i've got used to it and like it.
Mail.app interface is tired.
Originally posted by rmendis
Nor was the Finder.
In fact, I initially thought a metallic Finder would be a terrible thing, but i've got used to it and like it.
It won't really work until metadata collections become possible. Until then it's a kludge, and a hack.
Mail.app interface is tired.
Changing things just for the sake of changing them without creating a demonstrably better user experience is a waste of resources. And yes, I'm still not convinced about the Finder being metallized. It's *kinda* there, but not yet.
I think we're being trained for metadata, to be honest, in nice little baby steps... and that's the only justification I can see for the metallized Finder. Otherwise you're right, it doesn't fit the criteria, and it *is* quite clunky in comparison to other metal apps that organize data.
Mail *could* be rethought into a metadata-collection interface, and personally I think that'd be pretty spiffy... but the interface *as is* wouldn't benefit from metal any more than XP benefitted from Luna. :P Just changing a skin doesn't help an app's UI, ever.
Address Book might also benefit from "Smart Groups".
The metal...errr...could possibly get used to it, I never know.
You know Microsoft's new Project Manager thingamabob in Entourage? How about one system wide? Mail, contacts, documents, chats, they all get metadata enabled and sortable by smart collections accessible in productivity apps. Trump.
OTOH, *just* metallizing the app for no good reason makes little sense.
...remember "simple finder"? there will be a consumer-level "don't hurt yourself" mode in a future os in similar fashion, and everything will be rendered in the plastic and colored "aqua," to go along with the white and plastic consumer level machines (though you could always switch between the gui's). this smacks of windows xp-ism, but i see it coming as a mode for mac os.
the "pro" looking os, however, with toggle buttons for everything and all features enabled, will be 100% metal to go along with the g5/powerbook look of the pros (though you could always switch back to the "aqua" version, though you would lose access to features).
i want to be in the keynote when steve previews THAT (perhaps protected with front-row gallagher-esque plastic sheeting to shield me from the fruit and veggies that will be thrown at the stage).
Originally posted by rmendis
Mail.app interface is tired.
No, you are. Go to bed.
Originally posted by rmendis
Nor was the Finder.
In fact, I initially thought a metallic Finder would be a terrible thing, but i've got used to it and like it.
Mail.app interface is tired.
You just want an appearance change? You can do that by editing the nib files for mail. YOu haven't suggested a single thing that would be improved by changing it.
Originally posted by torifile
You just want an appearance change? You can do that by editing the nib files for mail. YOu haven't suggested a single thing that would be improved by changing it.
Well one thing I would like to see is better organisation of mailboxes.
In fact Mailboxes interfaced like Safari Bookmarks.
When I used NeXT Mail in the 90s, I used loads of mailboxes to organise my email. I don't anymore because the interfaces of Entourage and to some extent Mail are a little clumsy. If it was organised the way say bookmarks are in Safari, then maybe...
Originally posted by rmendis
Well one thing I would like to see is better organisation of mailboxes.
In fact Mailboxes interfaced like Safari Bookmarks.
When I used NeXT Mail in the 90s, I used loads of mailboxes to organise my email. I don't anymore because the interfaces of Entourage and to some extent Mail are a little clumsy. If it was organised the way say bookmarks are in Safari, then maybe...
And this would be facilitated by having a metal interface, how?
Of course I'm entirely unclear on what you mean by having mailboxes act like bookmarks. The analogy is completely different. Mailboxes hold *stuff* bookmarks don't. I have probably 20 mailboxes that all seems to be doing fine. Some are sub-mailboxes of others, etc. And none of them need to be metal to work.
Maybe you could post a screen shot or mock-up of what you're talking about so we can see what you mean.
Bookmarks in Safari are:
Hierarchical
Movable
Mailboxes in Mail are:
Hierarchical
Movable
The editing procedure is different, is that what you mean?
Personally, I think they're both wonky. I'd like to have smart folders in Mail, such that I don't have to choose *which* folder to put certain things in, say mail from my advisor that concerns my dissertation, versus mail from him that concerns other projects. Worse are ones that deal with both.
Mail would be capable of handling this if it had smart folders. "Stotts & SPQR" vs "Stotts & FaceTop" vs "Stotts"... it'd just *be* there.
Kinda like iTunes/iPhoto... at which point, Mail would indeed be metal-ready as a metadata collection organizational tool.
*exceptions being iDVD, iMovie and Garage Band which don't have source views per se but seem to fit a common idea.
I though the use of a drawer was sort of a connected palette.
I >HATE< THE METAL APPEARANCE!!1!!!11!!!! It's dark and gloomy and everytime I see it I just want to kill myself!!!!
But seriously, skin choice effects perception of 'white space', and visual grouping, and many other things.
These effects are hard to abstract or codify into hard and fast rules about when to use aqua and when to use metal. However, it is possible to get down to specifics when discussing a single application... any takers?
While we'll never come close to a consensus on whether metal or aqua is 'better', each has discernable effects on usability.