49378 - UI: Feedback when saving a Draft message

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(SeaMonkey :: MailNews: Message Display, defect, P2)

Description

[jglick]

Per Multiple Mail accounts usability testing.  6 of 7 users mentioned they would
like feedback when saving a message as a Draft.

1. User clicks "New Msg" and type a new mail message.
2. Users clicks on "Save" button.  Message is saved but it is not apparent to
the user that this has occurred.  Especially since the original mail message is
still opened. Nothing visual has changed on the screen.

Additionally, it was not clear to users how to later find WHERE the Draft
message was saved.

Most users suggested they would like to see a dialog that informed them that the
message was saved and indicated WHERE the message was saved.

While this is an important issue, I don't see it as a must fix issue, but a nice
to have issue.  I believe this is something that users encounter often when they
are first using a product.  Once users are comfortable with how this feature
works, they often no longer want/need to see a confirmation.

Recommendation: I would recommend displaying a dialog "Your message has been
saved to the Drafts folder on <accountname>.  With an "OK" button and a "Do not
show me this dialog again" check box.  This allows new users to have the crutch
while they are getting comfortable with the product, but allows more experienced
users to avoid the dialog.

Comment 1

[jglick]

Add [usability] to status whiteboard per mail leads.

Comment 2

[lchiang]

+, P4 per mail triage and reassign to ducarroz
Also, M21 for SusEng to help us with this bug.

Comment 3

[leger]

PDT downgrading to [nsbeta3-]

Comment 4

[scottputterman]

sorry for the extra email. Removing mail2 keyword.

Comment 5

[jglick]

Nominate as mail3 for consideration for 6.5.

Comment 6

[scottputterman]

marking nsbeta1+

Comment 7

[scottputterman]

moving to mozilla0.8 milestone.

Comment 8

[scottputterman]

moving to mozilla0.9

Comment 9

[varada]

Re-assigning bugs to varada.

Comment 10

[jglick]

Ok, adding attachments of what this should look like. Note: template stuff is 
another bug!

Comment 11

[jglick]

Attachment: Save As Draft

Comment 12

[jglick]

Attachment: Prefs to get dialog back if desired

Comment 13

[jglick]

Robin, please ok the wording.

Comment 14

[robinf]

Wording looks good to me.

Comment 15

[timeless]

For some reason Sent in POP Account seems to make more sense to me.
(yes Sent on IMAP Account makes sense, but i'm worried about POP which is 
really local storage)

Comment 16

[jglick]

timesless, the wording on the menu buttons on this dialog is probably a 
different bug. Recommend filing a new bug and cc'ing robinf if you'd like.

Send on/in <accountname>
Drafts on/in <accountname>
Templates on/in <accountname>

Comment 17

[jglick]

Just spoke with Varada.  The wording of the dialog will be  "Your message has 
been saved to the folder <folder> on <accountname>."  Title of dialog "Save 
Message".  So dialog can be reused for Templates also.

Comment 18

[varada]

Marking as Fixed.

Comment 19

[Matthew T (active 1999-2002)]

Someone who can run Mozilla and verify that the following bugs exist (stephend?), 
please file them. In ascending order of difficulty:

*   A bug to change the alert checkbox to `Always confirm when I save a draft or
    template', and the prefs checkbox to `Confirm when I save a draft or
    template'.
    -   Makes the alert follow the rule that a checkbox determines whether
        something is on, not whether something is off.
    -   Makes the alert checkbox and the prefs checkbox share state -- if one is
        checked, the other is checked.
    -   Makes the alert checkbox and the prefs checkbox more obviously related,
        by using (nearly) identical wording.
    -   Removes the somewhat useless distinction between saving drafts and saving
        templates -- why should I be any more interested that drafts have
        finished saving than that templates have finished saving, or vice versa?

*   A bug to make the preference global, not per-account.
    -   Why should I be more or less interested in the progress of saving of
        drafts/templates for one account, than I am in the progress of saving of
        drafts/templates for any other account?

*   Bugs to make the alert unnecessary. (If it's such a great idea, why don't
    other apps -- word processors, spreadsheets, text editors, paint programs --
    do it when you save an existing document?)
    -   Is the progress meter shown in the status bar during times other than the
        saving of the message? It shouldn't be.
    -   Is determinate progress in the progress bar of the Modern theme (with
        which I assume the tests were done) relatively high-contrast? It should
        be, but I suspect it isn't.
    -   When you save a message, does the status bar read `Message has been saved
        in “Drafts” folder.'? It should.
    -   When a save is complete, does the 100-percent-complete progress meter
        remain visible for one second before disappearing, like the
        100-percent-complete download progress window does? It should.

Adding additional alerts is unfortunately one of the most obvious ways of solving 
UI problems. I say unfortunately, because it should really be the method of last 
resort.

Comment 20

[scottputterman]

I think mpt's second point is valid. I think we should create a bug for moving
this to global prefs. I don't think people will want to set/unset this per account.

Thanks for pointing out the obvious and unfortunate UI design. It's appreciated.

Comment 21

[robinf]

I think the new setting in Copy and Folder prefs "Show Confirmation dialog when
messages are saved" should be on by default. I'm using build 2001032104, and
this option is unchecked by default.

Comment 22

[robinf]

1. The dialog box that appears when I click Save is titled "Save Message" but I
think it should be titled "Save as Draft" as the attachment of the proposed
dialog box suggests. 

2.Instead of the account name appearing in the dialog box, the mail server name
is displayed. I see "Your message has been saved to the folder Drafts on
nsmail-1.netscape.com." The actual name of my account is "Mail for
[e-mail]".

Comment 23

[jglick]

yeah, should be on by default so the user gets the dialog the first time.

Comment 24

[[e-mail] (gone - use [e-mail] instead)]

Jennifer, Robin, is it alright if I change the wording as MPT suggests in his
first point?

Comment 25

[[e-mail] (gone - use [e-mail] instead)]

Attachment: Patch, changes wording *only*, backend-code would need to be re-written.

Comment 26

[[e-mail] (gone - use [e-mail] instead)]

Attachment: Improved patch.

Comment 27

[jglick]

>From [e-mail] 2001-04-02 11:40 -------
>Jennifer, Robin, is it alright if I change the wording as MPT suggests in his
first point?

Fine by me.

Comment 28

[[e-mail] (gone - use [e-mail] instead)]

Varada, the wording changes are all set to go.  I think you'd just have to
reverse the value of the code.

Comment 29

[timeless]

+<!ENTITY saveMessageDlg.label "Confirm when I save a draft or template.">
\ No newline at end of file

please get rid of that pesky warning.

Comment 30

[[e-mail] (gone - use [e-mail] instead)]

Attachment: Ok

Comment 31

[[e-mail] (gone - use [e-mail] instead)]

What's the rule on periods?  Do they go in one kind of window/dialog but not
another? See my patch, looks like I made a mistake by adding a period in
am-copies.dtd

Comment 32

[jglick]

This is a checkbox in the Copies and Folders pref panel correct?  No period 
needed for a checkbox followed by a one line phrase.

Comment 33

[varada]

r=varada

Comment 34

[[e-mail] (gone - use [e-mail] instead)]

Varada, if this patch gets checked in, it would need to be accompanied by a
value reverse of whatever controls the state of bringing up the feedback dialog,
because of the wording here:

-CheckMsg=Do not show me this dialog box again.
+CheckMsg=Always confirm when I save a draft or template.

So, if you can do back end code for that, we can get this sr=ed and checked in.
 Thanks.

Comment 35

[[e-mail] (gone - use [e-mail] instead)]

Checking in this patch would make us inconsistent with the Add Bookmark window,
which would be a Bad Thing.  Marking wontfix.  

Comment 36

[Matthew T (active 1999-2002)]

... And that checkbox was removed, because Ben Goodger implemented a design 
which didn't make the existence of the dialog a checkboxable pref. Reopening. 
(If there are any other `Don't show me this again' checkboxes in Mozilla, they 
should be filed as separate bugs.)

> What's the rule on periods?

Checkboxes (and radio buttons, and push buttons, and menu items) should never 
end with periods. Which means you need a new patch, sorry. :-]

For the record, I still think the fact that this problem was solved using an 
alert at all, rather than better non-intrusive feedback, is extremely 
unfortunate. I'll file a bug later for getting rid of the alert, dependent on 
bugs for more pleasant ways to make at least 6 out of 7 users understand where 
their draft message has gone. But for as long as the alert remains in Mozilla, 
the checkbox in it should at least be correct.

Comment 37

[scottputterman]

You reopened this because of a '.'?

Comment 38

[Asa Dotzler [:asa]]

It looks like this was fixed and reopened without resetting the Target
Milestone. Are you still shooting for 0.9 on this? If so please email
[e-mail] with a status on you progress. If not please retarget
against a later Milestone. Thanks.

Comment 39

[scottputterman]

Assuming this was reopened only for removing the '.' then I'm moving this to the
future milestone and removing the nsbeta1 markings.  Removing a '.' is pretty
easy so someone feel free to do this.

Comment 40

[[e-mail] (gone - use [e-mail] instead)]

Putterman, no he reopened because his suggestion is to change the wording of the 
checkbox itself (what my patch does) and along with that would have have the 
code changed (Varada would have to do this.).  I'll attach my new wording patch.

Comment 41

[[e-mail] (gone - use [e-mail] instead)]

Attachment: Patch, my part of this bug.

Comment 42

[scottputterman]

ok, my misunderstanding.  Still keeping with new milestone and nsbeta1 markings,
but I imagine it's pretty easy to change the code to work correctly with this
new wording.

Comment 43

[robinf]

r=robinf on the wording change in stephend's patch ;-)

Comment 44

[[e-mail] (gone - use [e-mail] instead)]

If you tell me what needs to be changed, you might be able to re-assign this to
me and have me fix it ;-)

Comment 45

[Håkan Waara]

mpt, pointed me here.  Stephend, if you want to change the checkbox's
functionality to match the wording, then I think this is what you want to do.

Let ducarroz review it to be sure.

Index: mailnews/compose/resources/content/MsgComposeCommands.js
===================================================================
RCS file:
/cvsroot/mozilla/mailnews/compose/resources/content/MsgComposeCommands.js,v
retrieving revision 1.176
diff -u -w -r1.176 MsgComposeCommands.js
--- MsgComposeCommands.js	2001/05/05 07:42:28	1.176
+++ MsgComposeCommands.js	2001/05/06 13:59:14
@@ -1973,7 +1973,7 @@
     else
       window.alert(dlgMsg);
     try {
-          currentIdentity.showSaveMsgDlg = !checkbox.value;
+          currentIdentity.showSaveMsgDlg = checkbox.value;
     }//try
     catch (e) {
     return;

Comment 46

[[e-mail] (gone - use [e-mail] instead)]

Apparently that doesn't do the trick.  Now, I don't ever get a dialog ;-(.

Comment 47

[timeless]

for my sanity: stephend filed bug 70936

Comment 48

[(not reading, please use [e-mail] instead)]

taking all of varada's bugs.

Comment 49

[Daniel Wang]

don't see any reason why this bug stays reopened now that we have bug 70936 -> fixed