Metallic iMail for 10.4?

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
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.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 26
    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.



  • Reply 2 of 26
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    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.



    (One could make a case that mailboxes are collections, and therefore a UI change would be justified... *MAYBE*. I think it'd be clunky.)
  • Reply 3 of 26
    Quote:

    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.
  • Reply 4 of 26
    Quote:

    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.
  • Reply 5 of 26
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Quote:

    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.



    Quote:

    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.
  • Reply 6 of 26
    chris cuillachris cuilla Posts: 4,825member
    Not sure about the metal interface for Mail, BUT some iPhoto, iTunes-esque feature I would love to see in Mail would be: "Smart Mail Folders"



    Address Book might also benefit from "Smart Groups".
  • Reply 7 of 26
    jwilljwill Posts: 209member
    Mail looks fine as it is....I definetely DON'T want it to get a name change.



    The metal...errr...could possibly get used to it, I never know.
  • Reply 8 of 26
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    I'd be willing to entertain a metallized metadata/collections mail client, to be honest, the more I think about it it could be pretty sweet.



    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. :/
  • Reply 9 of 26
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    can't believe that people don't realize that the "metal" look is going to soon take over the ENTIRE pro feature gui. seriously. i mean, it's just a theory on my part, but...



    ...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).
  • Reply 10 of 26
    kim kap solkim kap sol Posts: 2,987member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by rmendis



    Mail.app interface is tired.




    No, you are. Go to bed.
  • Reply 11 of 26
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    Quote:

    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.
  • Reply 12 of 26
    rmendisrmendis Posts: 71member
    Quote:

    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...
  • Reply 13 of 26
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    Quote:

    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.
  • Reply 14 of 26
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    I have to admit, I'm not sure what you mean either by the mailboxes/bookmarks comment.



    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.
  • Reply 15 of 26
    buonrottobuonrotto Posts: 6,368member
    I actually think Mail is >this< close to being a metal app -- easily used as a single-window app, could use the smart folders and such that Kickaha mentions in a source view instead of a drawer (I always leave the drawer open anyway), and, to me, the one real distinguishing feature of metal apps is or rather should be the source view and database organization of its content.*



    *exceptions being iDVD, iMovie and Garage Band which don't have source views per se but seem to fit a common idea.
  • Reply 16 of 26
    chrisgchrisg Posts: 239member
    Ok, I'm going to ask a little question. Why are the mailboxes in a drawer? I never saw that point in it. Since it is something that you will keep out 99% of the time. I can't think of one single time I have closed the drawer.



    I though the use of a drawer was sort of a connected palette.
  • Reply 17 of 26
    kanekane Posts: 392member
    I don't want to be a bastard by bringing this up at every party I attend but I just couldn't keep myself from doing it this time either. So here it goes:



    I >HATE< THE METAL APPEARANCE!!1!!!11!!!! It's dark and gloomy and everytime I see it I just want to kill myself!!!!
  • Reply 18 of 26
    dfilerdfiler Posts: 3,420member
    Funny... no one has discussed which skin works better for the app in question. A discussion of interface on an Apple board without any mention of useability? What has become of us.



    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?
  • Reply 19 of 26
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    A skin that doesn't alter the UI otherwise is just eye-candy, and as far as I'm concerned, doesn't alter usability one way or another in any appreciable way.
  • Reply 20 of 26
    dfilerdfiler Posts: 3,420member
    Contrast levels between interface elements greatly affect saccade efficiency among many other things.



    While we'll never come close to a consensus on whether metal or aqua is 'better', each has discernable effects on usability.
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