[Design] Chandler IMAP folders and the mail-stamp

[Mimi Yin]

On Sep 5, 2007, at 3:42 PM, Philippe Bossut wrote:

> FWIW as a user feedback, I usually do not unstamp the mail-ness as  
> I find the "from/to" addresses useful info (though having contacts  
> in Chandler would make it even more useful... I know, I know...).

I'm not sure about capital-C Contacts as in Address Book / Contacts  
Management. But I do think there are usage scenarios related to  
contacts that we already support today, namely the ability to address  
items and the WHO column in the table view. We can iterate on what we  
have to make these features more useful to people separate from a  
larger conversation about how and when to take on Contacts.

Personally I've been feeling blocked from being able to use the WHO  
column in the table view to list who a particular item/task is  
assigned to in the shared PPD collection as well as my shared Home  
collection.

I'm not sure we need to solve this problem for Preview. I think it  
involves allowing people to change the who column from a column that  
'dynamically displays the most important WHO attribute' to a column  
that only displays the TO field. However, I think we need a  
generalized solution for giving users control over what attributes  
they see in the table. The WHO column is just one place where  
customization would be a huge win... The DATE column is the other  
place where there's been a lot of user requests for more control.  
(This deserves it own, separate proposal and discussion thread.)

In any case, after the last few months of dogfooding, I do think it  
might be worth tweaking the rules we use for calculating which  
attribute goes in the WHO column.

1. When to display ED/UP in the WHO column if the item is a message.

Currently, if someone else edits or updates an item, you see them in  
the WHO column until the next person edits/updates the item.  
Essentially, that means that with the exception of when the message  
item was first created, the byline *always* supercedes the FROM and  
the TO fields in the WHO column. This somehow undermines the 'smart- 
ness' of the WHO column, which should ideally display the 'right'  
attribute depending on whether a message is toMe (inbound) or fromMe  
(outbound).

I propose that we display the byline info (edited-by/updated-by) ONLY  
WHEN AN ITEM HAS BEEN MARKED UNREAD (either because a sharee edited  
the item or because someone else updated the item). However, as soon  
as the user has clicked on the item and the item is now READ, the WHO  
column should return to displaying either FROM or TO depending on  
whether the message is Inbound or Outbound.

Here's an example to illustrate.

I dragged an email in from my email client that was sent to me by a  
friend. She wants me to help her figure out something about a banking  
acct / routing number.

It's useful for me to see my friend's name in the WHO column because  
it reminds me of what the task is. And when the email first appeared  
in my Chandler, that's exactly what I saw in the WHO column. However,  
as soon as somebody else edits that item, I no longer see that the  
email is 'fr my-friend'. Instead, I see 'ed random-subscriber'.  
That's extremely useful when I first see that someone edited the item  
(I want to know who!). But once I've been there and done that, I'd  
prefer to see 'fr my-friend' again, because that's the person I  
associate with this task.

2. What to display in the WHO column when an item is left un-addressed.

Currently, if you stamp an item to address it, but don't fill in any  
of the TO/CC/BCC fields, we display the FROM attribute in the WHO  
column. I propose that instead we put 'to <blank>' in the WHO column,  
leaving it blank to either remind users that they haven't addressed  
the message or as a way to identify the message: 'That's the message  
I haven't addressed yet.'

Looking at it, I feel it's potentially confusing to have a fromMe  
(outbound) message item display 'fr xxx' in the WHO column.

3. How to calculate fromMe versus toMe when editing message.

Currently, if you edit a message item, the item becomes fromMe and  
the WHO column goes from showing who the message is FROM to who the  
item is TO. With the 'drag emails into Chandler via special IMAP  
folders' I think it will be fairly common for people to edit messages  
with no intention of actually re-sending them again.  So I propose  
that simply editing a message item *doesn't* turn it into a fromMe  
message. Instead, messages are fromMe *only if* the user is in the  
FROM/SEND AS/SENT or UPDATED fields.

I'll use the 'bank-account-email-from-my-friend' as an example.  
Again, I find it most useful to see that the message was 'fr my- 
friend' since I mostly see it as a toMe, inbound task request email.  
I edit the message with some questions I need to ask her. I have no  
intention of 'updating' the message. Yet, the message now displays  
'to mimi' in the WHO column because it's considered a fromMe,  
outbound message. When editing, keeping the WHO column 'as is' is  
probably a safer bet.

I realize this is so in the weeds it's pretty much face down in the  
muck. But I am curious as to whether anyone else has tried to use the  
WHO column, particularly in conjunction with Email and Edit/Update  
and what your experiences have been. I realize that Email and Edit/ 
Update aren't usually the first workflows people fall into, but we  
knew going in that the WHO column in particular would be really hard  
to get right and I'm concerned that it is just 'out-of-tune' enough  
to render it a barrier, rather than an aid to using these features.

Mimi


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