[Design] Beauty in the Email UI

[Peter Miller]

Michael Toy wrote:

 > what if chandler's contribution to e-mail was the introduction of
 > beauty into user interface? maybe you would bring in whole new waves of
 > people who have been avoiding e-mail because the space was so ugly?

Michael raises the profound question of form vs. function. Almost every
representation of email usage in movies shows some letter/envelope
flying open to reveal a message. The problem with interfaces like this
is that they get quite tired after a bit. Eye candy and soothing graphics
can often interfere with utility. And like it or not, email is now something
in the realm of (almost) pure utility. And the desire to make Chandler the
central tool that focus much of a person's computing experience will only
make that utility factor grow. More important than graphic or UI beauty
is the other kind of architectural beauty that comes from the internal
coherence of a set of interconnected functions that can be seamlessly
woven together. When doing what you need to do is almost the only
thing that the product will allow you (or guide you) to do. When the
interconnectedness of various components and the objects that
they manage is facilities in such a way that it is unimaginable that
it could be done in any other way.

Peter