## @all: This bug is a regression, not an RFE. ## Dear friends of Thunderbird, I think it's worth noting that **this bug is not a feature request, it's a *regression.*** I cannot believe that we're having this discussion, but let's have it since ideas of ux-efficiency seem to vary widely. ## `Double-click/Enter` to trigger the default action of a list item (TB91: `Edit contact`) ## **For decades, Thunderbird users have been able to edit their contacts by a simple `double-click` on the contact (regardless of its selection state) or by pressing `Enter` on a selected contact, to trigger the contact's *default action*, `Edit contact`. We should not rush to remove such basic ux-efficiency workflows, which has a high risk of backfiring** - please have a look at bug 1685007 (currently at comment 115) to understand the fireworks of user frustration and anger when forcing users into extra clicks which could be avoided one way or the other. Imho, this bug falls into the same category. ## `Alt+Enter`/`Ctrl/Cmd+I`: OS default shortcuts for *item properties* (TB 91: `Edit contact`) ## Similarly, **Thunderbird currently supports the following universal OS default shortcuts on a single selected contact** for the more technical, traditional notion of **item properties** (because whenever editing a contact, you'll actually edit its properties): - `Alt+Enter` on Windows/Linux (on Windows, this will open the properties of virtually any item, try it in Explorer) - `Cmd+I` on Mac (this is the official Mac shortcut for item properties) - `Ctrl+I` on all OS for cross-OS consistency and easier support (this is courtesy of Thunderbird) I don't think we could or should ever use these shortcuts for anything else on a single selected contact, because that would violate ux-consistency with the OS platforms, which may be unexpected for users. `Ctrl/Cmd+I` is a bit tricky as in the main window, we're using that for `New Event`. I would be ok with postponing `Ctrl/Cmd+I` pending further exploration. Also, restoring these shortcuts is pretty independent of the *default action* issue. ## Default action on items in lists: The ux-efficiency booster in Thunderbird and elsewhere (via `Double-click/Enter`) ## The whole point of pre-defining a default action from many possible actions on a given item from a list is to boost ux-efficiency. Imagine if you had to go through `Context menu > Open` every time you open a file from your OS file manager - that would suck, right? Indeed. Same here. It is **universally accepted practice that the default item action will be triggered by a `double-click` on an item** (regardless if it was selected before or not, so you can directly double-click on an item without prior selection). **The keyboard equivalent is pressing `Enter`** on a selected item. So for many lists of items, **`single-click` selects, and `double-click` (or `Enter`) triggers default action. Which is extremely efficient**, and we all benefit from this every day. As Henry has correctly pointed out, **Thunderbird makes extensive use of the *default action* concept:** - double-click on a message from message list triggers `Open message` default action (and you can finetune how it should be opened) - double-click on an attachment from attachments list triggers `Open attachment` default action (and you can tweak and change that in several ways) - double-click on a filter from filter list triggers `Open/Edit filter` default action - double-click on a contact from contacts list triggers `Open/Edit contact` default action. All versions of TB up to and including TB 91. **All of these are part of the ux-efficiency design which makes users love and prefer Thunderbird over webmail.** ## Thunderbird 102 introduces new actions for AB contacts - why should `Edit contact` remain the default action for `Double-click/Enter`? ## That's a fair question. I've explored this already in my Bug 1752013 Comment 7. Let's go through the possible actions one by one and see if they are suitable default actions (under the premise that we're not offering the user to choose the default action). It's worth noting that default actions are not *only* about usage frequency. Different users have different needs, so absolute frequency of actions may very and is hard to predict. Maybe you only ever use your file manager to delete or rename files, but would you ever want deleting or renaming as your *default action* on files? Double-click to delete? Double-click to rename? Moreover, would you find it acceptable if your OS would choose deleting or renaming as a default action for files? We have a somewhat similar situation here. It's not just about absolute frequency, it's also about universal acceptance. **Default actions should be safe and work reasonably well (without much surprise) for *all* types of users.** **Note 1: Triggering default action via `Double-click/Enter` must be limited to a single (selected) contact** - Double-click on multiple selected items will typically deselect all items except the one you double-clicked on. - Enter on multiple selected items should be disabled (sometimes works, e.g. on multiple selected files in Windows Explorer) **Note 2: After a selecting a contact (with single left click or navigation keys), the inherent default action is `View contact`. Fixing this regression will not change that!** - `Write`: At first sight this may look like a good default action, and certainly possible *if* we'd allow the user to choose the default action. Otoh, do we really want to *promote* to start writing messages from AB? My take: No need to promote and give high-efficiency access to Write from AB because it probably makes more sense to just use *recipient autocomplete* or *Contacts Sidebar* for that (which has an incompletely realized default action of Write, because it lives in a composition context, where writing would appear the most likely action). Why Write and not Chat? Last but not least, this could be easily realized through `Ctrl+M` (bug 1752028). - `Chat`: Not possible as a default, as many users may not even have this set up. Why Chat and not Write? - `Event`: Certainly very useful, but will this be a safe and useful default for all kinds of users? What if they don't have a calendar set up or they are not using it for invites? Why not Write? - `Search`: Certainly very useful, but will this be a useful default for all kinds of users? - `Edit`: **Given that `Open for viewing` is covered by selecting the item(s), this is a safe default for all kinds of users from Grandma to power user. No surprises. Double-click a contact in your address book, and it will open for editing.** Everyone can understand that, no one can blame us. **This is how things have worked since Thunderbird 1.0, and it's a known concept inside and outside Thunderbird (like you open any other data file for editing).** Nobody has ever requested to change the default. **All users (including enterprise!) who need to edit contacts more than once in a while will love the efficiency**. Remove this, and they will hate us. Editing contacts may also happen pretty frequently e.g. for contacts automatically collected from sending. ## Way forward ## - I strongly believe that removing an every day ux-efficiency feature which has existed forever in Thunderbird should require utmost caution and consideration, and there would have to be strong arguments in favor of removing it, more so given that nobody ever complained. - While Henry has raised some doubts on this, I'm not seeing that he has already positioned himself explicitly against fixing this regression. Let's not misread some of his statements like this one: > However, in our case we already "open" the row on selection, so we have no need to do this on "Enter". Iiuc, this statement is *not* against restoring `Edit contact` as a default action, but simply says that there's no need to make `Open for *viewing*` the default action (via `double-click/Enter`) because we already do that automatically when the user selects a contact (via `single-click`/`keyboard navigation`). Which in turn would allow us to keep `Open for editing` aka `Edit contact` as a default action, exactly as in TB 91. - Iiuc, **what Henry and Alex have said so far boils down to *not having any default action at all***, i.e. make `double-click` and `Enter` on a contact do nothing. As usual (and it's not the first time I'm having such discussions), **I'm failing to see how doing nothing on well-known shortcuts can be better than doing something useful**, for those users who know these universal usage patterns and want to benefit from them. - Fixing this regression will not have any disadvantages for anyone else. **In almost 20 years, nobody has ever complained the status quo. This is *not* a case of ux-error-prevention (for details, see my comment 7)**; if it were, please write to Microsoft and ask them to remove double-click to open files, and make sure you can handle the shit storm that would follow if they did. In fact, iirc, they once tried opening files on single-click in an attempt to ride on the browser hype, but looks like that feature has come and gone fast because nobody wanted that. - If we really believe that users will have strong feelings about making one of the *new* actions their personal default action, **fixing this regression will *not* stop us from implementing a pref allowing users to choose their favorite default action** in the future (definitely too much work for now). ## Yes, but... ## Feel free to disagree with decades of universal ux-efficiency in Thunderbird. If you do, kindly answer all of the following questions: 1. **Why has Thunderbird implemented a default action for other important lists like the message list? Would you advocate for removing those default actions as well?** 2. **What are your specific arguments in favor of removing this long-standing ux-efficiency feature** (especially removing `Edit contact` as a default action, but also removing `Alt+Enter` shortcut for the majority of Windows users)? More so given that nobody ever complained or asked to change it? 3. **What's your answer to enterprise users who may need to edit dozens of contacts every day**, and who have reported to us on countless bugs that every click counts and ux-efficiency matters? 4. If you're proposing to have no default action at all on contacts: **How is doing nothing on well-known shortcuts (`double-click`/`Enter`) better than doing something useful**, for those users who know these universal usage patterns and want to benefit from them? I rest my case. Sorry for wall of text, but tbh I find this outrageous and I'm shocked how some of us are willing to break long-standing basic ux-efficiency willy-nilly, whereas ux-efficiency is part of the brand core of Thunderbird.
Bug 1752013 Comment 12 Edit History
Note: The actual edited comment in the bug view page will always show the original commenter’s name and original timestamp.
## @all: This bug is a regression, not an RFE. ## Dear friends of Thunderbird, I think it's worth noting that **this bug is not a feature request, it's a *regression.*** I cannot believe that we're having this discussion, but let's have it since ideas of ux-efficiency seem to vary widely. ## `Double-click/Enter` to trigger the default action of a list item (TB91: `Edit contact`) ## **For decades, Thunderbird users have been able to edit their contacts by a simple `double-click` on the contact (regardless of its selection state) or by pressing `Enter` on a selected contact, to trigger the contact's *default action*, `Edit contact`. We should not rush to remove such basic ux-efficiency workflows, which has a high risk of backfiring** - please have a look at bug 1685007 (currently at comment 115) to understand the fireworks of user frustration and anger when forcing users into extra clicks which could be avoided one way or the other. Imho, this bug falls into the same category. ## `Alt+Enter`/`Ctrl/Cmd+I`: OS default shortcuts for *item properties* (TB 91: `Edit contact`) ## Similarly, **Thunderbird currently supports the following universal OS default shortcuts on a single selected contact** for the more technical, traditional notion of **item properties** (because whenever editing a contact, you'll actually edit its properties): - `Alt+Enter` on Windows/Linux (on Windows, this will open the properties of virtually any item, try it in Explorer) - `Cmd+I` on Mac (this is the official Mac shortcut for item properties) - `Ctrl+I` on all OS for cross-OS consistency and easier support (this is courtesy of Thunderbird) I don't think we could or should ever use these shortcuts for anything else on a single selected contact, because that would violate ux-consistency with the OS platforms, which may be unexpected for users. `Ctrl/Cmd+I` is a bit tricky as in the main window, we're using that for `New Event`. I would be ok with postponing `Ctrl/Cmd+I` pending further exploration. Also, restoring these shortcuts is pretty independent of the *default action* issue. ## Default action on items in lists: The ux-efficiency booster in Thunderbird and elsewhere (via `Double-click/Enter`) ## The whole point of pre-defining a default action from many possible actions on a given item from a list is to boost ux-efficiency. Imagine if you had to go through `Context menu > Open` every time you open a file from your OS file manager - that would suck, right? Indeed. Same here. It is **universally accepted practice that the default item action will be triggered by a `double-click` on an item** (regardless if it was selected before or not, so you can directly double-click on an item without prior selection). **The keyboard equivalent is pressing `Enter`** on a selected item. So for many lists of items, **`single-click` selects, and `double-click` (or `Enter`) triggers default action. Which is extremely efficient**, and we all benefit from this every day. As Henry has correctly pointed out, **Thunderbird makes extensive use of the *default action* concept:** - double-click on a message from message list triggers `Open message` default action (and you can finetune how it should be opened) - double-click on an attachment from attachments list typically triggers `Open attachment` default action (and you can tweak and change that in several ways) - double-click on a filter from filter list triggers `Open/Edit filter` default action - double-click on a contact from contacts list triggers `Open/Edit contact` default action. All versions of TB up to and including TB 91. **All of these are part of the ux-efficiency design which makes users love and prefer Thunderbird over webmail.** ## Thunderbird 102 introduces new actions for AB contacts - why should `Edit contact` remain the default action for `Double-click/Enter`? ## That's a fair question. I've explored this already in my Bug 1752013 Comment 7. Let's go through the possible actions one by one and see if they are suitable default actions (under the premise that we're not offering the user to choose the default action). It's worth noting that default actions are not *only* about usage frequency. Different users have different needs, so absolute frequency of actions may very and is hard to predict. Maybe you only ever use your file manager to delete or rename files, but would you ever want deleting or renaming as your *default action* on files? Double-click to delete? Double-click to rename? Moreover, would you find it acceptable if your OS would choose deleting or renaming as a default action for files? We have a somewhat similar situation here. It's not just about absolute frequency, it's also about universal acceptance. **Default actions should be safe and work reasonably well (without much surprise) for *all* types of users.** **Note 1: Triggering default action via `Double-click/Enter` must be limited to a single (selected) contact** - Double-click on multiple selected items will typically deselect all items except the one you double-clicked on. - Enter on multiple selected items should be disabled (sometimes works, e.g. on multiple selected files in Windows Explorer) **Note 2: After a selecting a contact (with single left click or navigation keys), the inherent default action is `View contact`. Fixing this regression will not change that!** - `Write`: At first sight this may look like a good default action, and certainly possible *if* we'd allow the user to choose the default action. Otoh, do we really want to *promote* to start writing messages from AB? My take: No need to promote and give high-efficiency access to Write from AB because it probably makes more sense to just use *recipient autocomplete* or *Contacts Sidebar* for that (which has an incompletely realized default action of Write, because it lives in a composition context, where writing would appear the most likely action). Why Write and not Chat? Last but not least, this could be easily realized through `Ctrl+M` (bug 1752028). - `Chat`: Not possible as a default, as many users may not even have this set up. Why Chat and not Write? - `Event`: Certainly very useful, but will this be a safe and useful default for all kinds of users? What if they don't have a calendar set up or they are not using it for invites? Why not Write? - `Search`: Certainly very useful, but will this be a useful default for all kinds of users? - `Edit`: **Given that `Open for viewing` is covered by selecting the item(s), this is a safe default for all kinds of users from Grandma to power user. No surprises. Double-click a contact in your address book, and it will open for editing.** Everyone can understand that, no one can blame us. **This is how things have worked since Thunderbird 1.0, and it's a known concept inside and outside Thunderbird (like you open any other data file for editing).** Nobody has ever requested to change the default. **All users (including enterprise!) who need to edit contacts more than once in a while will love the efficiency**. Remove this, and they will hate us. Editing contacts may also happen pretty frequently e.g. for contacts automatically collected from sending. ## Way forward ## - I strongly believe that removing an every day ux-efficiency feature which has existed forever in Thunderbird should require utmost caution and consideration, and there would have to be strong arguments in favor of removing it, more so given that nobody ever complained. - While Henry has raised some doubts on this, I'm not seeing that he has already positioned himself explicitly against fixing this regression. Let's not misread some of his statements like this one: > However, in our case we already "open" the row on selection, so we have no need to do this on "Enter". Iiuc, this statement is *not* against restoring `Edit contact` as a default action, but simply says that there's no need to make `Open for *viewing*` the default action (via `double-click/Enter`) because we already do that automatically when the user selects a contact (via `single-click`/`keyboard navigation`). Which in turn would allow us to keep `Open for editing` aka `Edit contact` as a default action, exactly as in TB 91. - Iiuc, **what Henry and Alex have said so far boils down to *not having any default action at all***, i.e. make `double-click` and `Enter` on a contact do nothing. As usual (and it's not the first time I'm having such discussions), **I'm failing to see how doing nothing on well-known shortcuts can be better than doing something useful**, for those users who know these universal usage patterns and want to benefit from them. - Fixing this regression will not have any disadvantages for anyone else. **In almost 20 years, nobody has ever complained the status quo. This is *not* a case of ux-error-prevention (for details, see my comment 7)**; if it were, please write to Microsoft and ask them to remove double-click to open files, and make sure you can handle the shit storm that would follow if they did. In fact, iirc, they once tried opening files on single-click in an attempt to ride on the browser hype, but looks like that feature has come and gone fast because nobody wanted that. - If we really believe that users will have strong feelings about making one of the *new* actions their personal default action, **fixing this regression will *not* stop us from implementing a pref allowing users to choose their favorite default action** in the future (definitely too much work for now). ## Yes, but... ## Feel free to disagree with decades of universal ux-efficiency in Thunderbird. If you do, kindly answer all of the following questions: 1. **Why has Thunderbird implemented a default action for other important lists like the message list? Would you advocate for removing those default actions as well?** 2. **What are your specific arguments in favor of removing this long-standing ux-efficiency feature** (especially removing `Edit contact` as a default action, but also removing `Alt+Enter` shortcut for the majority of Windows users)? More so given that nobody ever complained or asked to change it? 3. **What's your answer to enterprise users who may need to edit dozens of contacts every day**, and who have reported to us on countless bugs that every click counts and ux-efficiency matters? 4. If you're proposing to have no default action at all on contacts: **How is doing nothing on well-known shortcuts (`double-click`/`Enter`) better than doing something useful**, for those users who know these universal usage patterns and want to benefit from them? I rest my case. Sorry for wall of text, but tbh I find this outrageous and I'm shocked how some of us are willing to break long-standing basic ux-efficiency willy-nilly, whereas ux-efficiency is part of the brand core of Thunderbird.
## @all: This bug is a regression, not an RFE. ## Dear friends of Thunderbird, I think it's worth noting that **this bug is not a feature request, it's a *regression.*** I cannot believe that we're having this discussion, but let's have it since ideas of ux-efficiency seem to vary widely. ## `Double-click/Enter` to trigger the default action of a list item (up to TB 91: `Edit contact`) ## **For decades, Thunderbird users have been able to edit their contacts by a simple `double-click` on the contact (regardless of its selection state) or by pressing `Enter` on a selected contact, to trigger the contact's *default action*, `Edit contact`. We should not rush to remove such basic ux-efficiency workflows, which has a high risk of backfiring** - please have a look at bug 1685007 (currently at comment 115) to understand the fireworks of user frustration and anger when forcing users into extra clicks which could be avoided one way or the other. Imho, this bug falls into the same category. ## `Alt+Enter`/`Ctrl/Cmd+I`: OS default shortcuts for *item properties* (up to TB 91: `Edit contact`) ## Similarly, **Thunderbird currently supports the following universal OS default shortcuts on a single selected contact** for the more technical, traditional notion of **item properties** (because whenever editing a contact, you'll actually edit its properties): - `Alt+Enter` on Windows/Linux (on Windows, this will open the properties of virtually any item, try it in Explorer) - `Cmd+I` on Mac (this is the official Mac shortcut for item properties) - `Ctrl+I` on all OS for cross-OS consistency and easier support (this is courtesy of Thunderbird) I don't think we could or should ever use these shortcuts for anything else on a single selected contact, because that would violate ux-consistency with the OS platforms, which may be unexpected for users. `Ctrl/Cmd+I` is a bit tricky as in the main window, we're using that for `New Event`. I would be ok with postponing `Ctrl/Cmd+I` pending further exploration. Also, restoring these shortcuts is pretty independent of the *default action* issue. ## Default action on items in lists: The ux-efficiency booster in Thunderbird and elsewhere (via `Double-click/Enter`) ## The whole point of pre-defining a default action from many possible actions on a given item from a list is to boost ux-efficiency. Imagine if you had to go through `Context menu > Open` every time you open a file from your OS file manager - that would suck, right? Indeed. Same here. It is **universally accepted practice that the default item action will be triggered by a `double-click` on an item** (regardless if it was selected before or not, so you can directly double-click on an item without prior selection). **The keyboard equivalent is pressing `Enter`** on a selected item. So for many lists of items, **`single-click` selects, and `double-click` (or `Enter`) triggers default action. Which is extremely efficient**, and we all benefit from this every day. As Henry has correctly pointed out, **Thunderbird makes extensive use of the *default action* concept:** - double-click on a message from message list triggers `Open message` default action (and you can finetune how it should be opened) - double-click on an attachment from attachments list typically triggers `Open attachment` default action (and you can tweak and change that in several ways) - double-click on a filter from filter list triggers `Open/Edit filter` default action - double-click on a contact from contacts list triggers `Open/Edit contact` default action. All versions of TB up to and including TB 91. **All of these are part of the ux-efficiency design which makes users love and prefer Thunderbird over webmail.** ## Thunderbird 102 introduces new actions for AB contacts - why should `Edit contact` remain the default action for `Double-click/Enter`? ## That's a fair question. I've explored this already in my Bug 1752013 Comment 7. Let's go through the possible actions one by one and see if they are suitable default actions (under the premise that we're not offering the user to choose the default action). It's worth noting that default actions are not *only* about usage frequency. Different users have different needs, so absolute frequency of actions may very and is hard to predict. Maybe you only ever use your file manager to delete or rename files, but would you ever want deleting or renaming as your *default action* on files? Double-click to delete? Double-click to rename? Moreover, would you find it acceptable if your OS would choose deleting or renaming as a default action for files? We have a somewhat similar situation here. It's not just about absolute frequency, it's also about universal acceptance. **Default actions should be safe and work reasonably well (without much surprise) for *all* types of users.** **Note 1: Triggering default action via `Double-click/Enter` must be limited to a single (selected) contact** - Double-click on multiple selected items will typically deselect all items except the one you double-clicked on. - Enter on multiple selected items should be disabled (sometimes works, e.g. on multiple selected files in Windows Explorer) **Note 2: After a selecting a contact (with single left click or navigation keys), the inherent default action is `View contact`. Fixing this regression will not change that!** - `Write`: At first sight this may look like a good default action, and certainly possible *if* we'd allow the user to choose the default action. Otoh, do we really want to *promote* to start writing messages from AB? My take: No need to promote and give high-efficiency access to Write from AB because it probably makes more sense to just use *recipient autocomplete* or *Contacts Sidebar* for that (which has an incompletely realized default action of Write, because it lives in a composition context, where writing would appear the most likely action). Why Write and not Chat? Last but not least, this could be easily realized through `Ctrl+M` (bug 1752028). - `Chat`: Not possible as a default, as many users may not even have this set up. Why Chat and not Write? - `Event`: Certainly very useful, but will this be a safe and useful default for all kinds of users? What if they don't have a calendar set up or they are not using it for invites? Why not Write? - `Search`: Certainly very useful, but will this be a useful default for all kinds of users? - `Edit`: **Given that `Open for viewing` is covered by selecting the item(s), this is a safe default for all kinds of users from Grandma to power user. No surprises. Double-click a contact in your address book, and it will open for editing.** Everyone can understand that, no one can blame us. **This is how things have worked since Thunderbird 1.0, and it's a known concept inside and outside Thunderbird (like you open any other data file for editing).** Nobody has ever requested to change the default. **All users (including enterprise!) who need to edit contacts more than once in a while will love the efficiency**. Remove this, and they will hate us. Editing contacts may also happen pretty frequently e.g. for contacts automatically collected from sending. ## Way forward ## - I strongly believe that removing an every day ux-efficiency feature which has existed forever in Thunderbird should require utmost caution and consideration, and there would have to be strong arguments in favor of removing it, more so given that nobody ever complained. - While Henry has raised some doubts on this, I'm not seeing that he has already positioned himself explicitly against fixing this regression. Let's not misread some of his statements like this one: > However, in our case we already "open" the row on selection, so we have no need to do this on "Enter". Iiuc, this statement is *not* against restoring `Edit contact` as a default action, but simply says that there's no need to make `Open for *viewing*` the default action (via `double-click/Enter`) because we already do that automatically when the user selects a contact (via `single-click`/`keyboard navigation`). Which in turn would allow us to keep `Open for editing` aka `Edit contact` as a default action, exactly as in TB 91. - Iiuc, **what Henry and Alex have said so far boils down to *not having any default action at all***, i.e. make `double-click` and `Enter` on a contact do nothing. As usual (and it's not the first time I'm having such discussions), **I'm failing to see how doing nothing on well-known shortcuts can be better than doing something useful**, for those users who know these universal usage patterns and want to benefit from them. - Fixing this regression will not have any disadvantages for anyone else. **In almost 20 years, nobody has ever complained the status quo. This is *not* a case of ux-error-prevention (for details, see my comment 7)**; if it were, please write to Microsoft and ask them to remove double-click to open files, and make sure you can handle the shit storm that would follow if they did. In fact, iirc, they once tried opening files on single-click in an attempt to ride on the browser hype, but looks like that feature has come and gone fast because nobody wanted that. - If we really believe that users will have strong feelings about making one of the *new* actions their personal default action, **fixing this regression will *not* stop us from implementing a pref allowing users to choose their favorite default action** in the future (definitely too much work for now). ## Yes, but... ## Feel free to disagree with decades of universal ux-efficiency in Thunderbird. If you do, kindly answer all of the following questions: 1. **Why has Thunderbird implemented a default action for other important lists like the message list? Would you advocate for removing those default actions as well?** 2. **What are your specific arguments in favor of removing this long-standing ux-efficiency feature** (especially removing `Edit contact` as a default action, but also removing `Alt+Enter` shortcut for the majority of Windows users)? More so given that nobody ever complained or asked to change it? 3. **What's your answer to enterprise users who may need to edit dozens of contacts every day**, and who have reported to us on countless bugs that every click counts and ux-efficiency matters? 4. If you're proposing to have no default action at all on contacts: **How is doing nothing on well-known shortcuts (`double-click`/`Enter`) better than doing something useful**, for those users who know these universal usage patterns and want to benefit from them? I rest my case. Sorry for wall of text, but tbh I find this outrageous and I'm shocked how some of us are willing to break long-standing basic ux-efficiency willy-nilly, whereas ux-efficiency is part of the brand core of Thunderbird.
## @all: This bug is a regression, not an RFE. ## Dear friends of Thunderbird, I think it's worth noting that **this bug is not a feature request, it's a *regression.*** I cannot believe that we're having this discussion, but let's have it since ideas of ux-efficiency seem to vary widely. ## `Double-click/Enter` to trigger the default action of a list item (up to TB 91: `Edit contact`) ## **For decades, Thunderbird users have been able to edit their contacts by a simple `double-click` on the contact (regardless of its selection state) or by pressing `Enter` on a selected contact, to trigger the contact's *default action*, `Edit contact`. We should not rush to remove such basic ux-efficiency workflows, which has a high risk of backfiring** - please have a look at bug 1685007 (currently at comment 115) to understand the fireworks of user frustration and anger when forcing users into extra clicks which could be avoided one way or the other. Imho, this bug falls into the same category. ## `Alt+Enter`/`Ctrl/Cmd+I`: OS default shortcuts for *item properties* (up to TB 91: `Edit contact`) ## Similarly, **Thunderbird currently supports the following universal OS default shortcuts on a single selected contact** for the more technical, traditional notion of **item properties** (because whenever editing a contact, you'll actually edit its properties): - `Alt+Enter` on Windows/Linux (on Windows, this will open the properties of virtually any item, try it in Explorer) - `Cmd+I` on Mac (this is the official Mac shortcut for item properties) - `Ctrl+I` on all OS for cross-OS consistency and easier support (this is courtesy of Thunderbird) I don't think we could or should ever use these shortcuts for anything else on a single selected contact, because that would violate ux-consistency with the OS platforms, which may be unexpected for users. `Ctrl/Cmd+I` is a bit tricky as in the main window, we're using that for `New Event`. I would be ok with postponing `Ctrl/Cmd+I` pending further exploration. Also, restoring these shortcuts is pretty independent of the *default action* issue. ## Default action on items in lists: The ux-efficiency booster in Thunderbird and elsewhere (via `Double-click/Enter`) ## The whole point of pre-defining a default action from many possible actions on a given item from a list is to boost ux-efficiency. Imagine if you had to go through `Context menu > Open` every time you open a file from your OS file manager - that would suck, right? Indeed. Same here. It is **universally accepted practice that the default item action will be triggered by a `double-click` on an item** (regardless if it was selected before or not, so you can directly double-click on an item without prior selection). **The keyboard equivalent is pressing `Enter`** on a selected item. So for many lists of items, **`single-click` selects, and `double-click` (or `Enter`) triggers default action. Which is extremely efficient**, and we all benefit from this every day. As Henry has correctly pointed out, **Thunderbird makes extensive use of the *default action* concept:** - double-click on a message from message list triggers `Open message` default action (and you can finetune how it should be opened) - double-click on an attachment from attachments list typically triggers `Open attachment` default action (and you can tweak and change that in several ways) - double-click on a filter from filter list triggers `Open/Edit filter` default action - double-click on a contact from contacts list triggers `Open/Edit contact` default action. All versions of TB up to and including TB 91. **All of these are part of the ux-efficiency design which makes users love and prefer Thunderbird over webmail.** ## Thunderbird 102 introduces new actions for AB contacts - why should `Edit contact` remain the default action for `Double-click/Enter`? ## That's a fair question. I've explored this already in my Bug 1752013 Comment 7. Let's go through the possible actions one by one and see if they are suitable default actions (under the premise that we're not offering the user to choose the default action). It's worth noting that default actions are not *only* about usage frequency. Different users have different needs, so absolute frequency of actions may very and is hard to predict. Maybe you only ever use your file manager to delete or rename files, but would you ever want deleting or renaming as your *default action* on files? Double-click to delete? Double-click to rename? Moreover, would you find it acceptable if your OS would choose deleting or renaming as a default action for files? We have a somewhat similar situation here. It's not just about absolute frequency, it's also about universal acceptance. **Default actions should be safe and work reasonably well (without much surprise) for *all* types of users.** **Note 1: Triggering default action via `Double-click/Enter` must be limited to a single (selected) contact** - Double-click on multiple selected items will typically deselect all items except the one you double-clicked on. - Enter on multiple selected items should be disabled (sometimes works, e.g. on multiple selected files in Windows Explorer) **Note 2: After a selecting a contact (with single left click or navigation keys), the inherent default action is `View contact`. Fixing this regression will not change that!** - `Write`: At first sight this may look like a good default action, and certainly possible *if* we'd allow the user to choose the default action. Otoh, do we really want to *promote* to start writing messages from AB? My take: No need to promote and give high-efficiency access to Write from AB because it probably makes more sense to just use *recipient autocomplete* or *Contacts Sidebar* for that (which has an incompletely realized default action of Write, because it lives in a composition context, where writing would appear the most likely action). Why Write and not Chat? Last but not least, this could be easily realized through `Ctrl+M` (bug 1752028). - `Chat`: Not possible as a default, as many users may not even have this set up. Why Chat and not Write? - `Event`: Certainly very useful, but will this be a safe and useful default for all kinds of users? What if they don't have a calendar set up or they are not using it for invites? Why not Write? - `Search`: Certainly very useful, but will this be a useful default for all kinds of users? - `Edit`: **Given that `Open for viewing` is covered by selecting the item(s), this is a safe default for all kinds of users from Grandma to power user. No surprises. Double-click a contact in your address book, and it will open for editing.** Everyone can understand that, no one can blame us. **This is how things have worked since Thunderbird 1.0, and it's a known concept inside and outside Thunderbird (like you open any other data file for editing).** Nobody has ever requested to change the default. **All users (including enterprise!) who need to edit contacts more than once in a while will love the efficiency**. Remove this, and they will hate us. Editing contacts may also happen pretty frequently e.g. for contacts automatically collected from sending. ## Way forward ## - I strongly believe that removing an every day ux-efficiency feature which has existed forever in Thunderbird should require utmost caution and consideration, and there would have to be strong arguments in favor of removing it, more so given that nobody ever complained. - While Henry has raised some doubts on this, I'm not seeing that he has already positioned himself explicitly against fixing this regression. Let's not misread some of his statements like this one: > However, in our case we already "open" the row on selection, so we have no need to do this on "Enter". Iiuc, this statement is *not* against restoring `Edit contact` as a default action, but simply says that there's no need to make `Open for *viewing*` the default action (via `double-click/Enter`) because we already do that automatically when the user selects a contact (via `single-click`/`keyboard navigation`). Which in turn would allow us to keep `Open for editing` aka `Edit contact` as a default action, exactly as in TB 91. - Iiuc, **what Henry and Alex have said so far boils down to *not having any default action at all***, i.e. make `double-click` and `Enter` on a contact do nothing. As usual (and it's not the first time I'm having such discussions), **I'm failing to see how doing nothing on well-known shortcuts can be better than doing something useful**, for those users who know these universal usage patterns and want to benefit from them. - Fixing this regression will not have any disadvantages for anyone else. **In almost 20 years, nobody has ever complained the status quo. This is *not* a case of ux-error-prevention (for details, see my comment 7)**; if it were, please write to Microsoft and ask them to remove double-click to open files, and make sure you can handle the shit storm that would follow if they did. In fact, iirc, they once tried opening files on single-click in an attempt to ride on the browser hype, but looks like that feature has come and gone fast because nobody wanted that. - If we really believe that users will have strong feelings about making one of the *new* actions their personal default action, **fixing this regression will *not* stop us from implementing a pref allowing users to choose their favorite default action** in the future (definitely too much work for now). ## Yes, but... ## Feel free to disagree with decades of universal ux-efficiency in Thunderbird. If you do, kindly answer all of the following questions: 1. **Why has Thunderbird implemented a default action for other important lists like the message list? Would you advocate for removing those default actions as well?** 2. **What are your specific arguments in favor of removing this long-standing ux-efficiency feature** (especially removing `Edit contact` as a default action, but also removing `Alt+Enter` shortcut for the majority of Windows users)? More so given that nobody ever complained or asked to change it? 3. **What's your answer to enterprise users who may need to edit dozens of contacts every day**, and who have reported to us on countless bugs that every click counts and ux-efficiency matters? 4. If you're proposing to have no default action at all on contacts: **How is doing nothing on well-known shortcuts (`double-click`/`Enter`) better than doing something useful**, for those users who know these universal usage patterns and want to benefit from them? I rest my case. Sorry for wall of text, but tbh I find this outrageous and I'm shocked how some of us are willing to break long-standing basic ux-efficiency so casually, whereas ux-efficiency is part of the brand core of Thunderbird.
## @all: This bug is a regression, not an RFE. ## Dear friends of Thunderbird, I think it's worth noting that **this bug is not a feature request, it's a *regression.*** I cannot believe that we're having this discussion, but let's have it since ideas of ux-efficiency seem to vary widely. ## `Double-click/Enter` to trigger the default action of a list item (up to TB 91: `Edit contact`) ## **For decades, Thunderbird users have been able to edit their contacts by a simple `double-click` on the contact (regardless of its selection state) or by pressing `Enter` on a selected contact, to trigger the contact's *default action*, `Edit contact`. We should not rush to remove such basic ux-efficiency workflows, which has a high risk of backfiring** - please have a look at bug 1685007 (currently at comment 115) to understand the fireworks of user frustration and anger when forcing users into extra clicks which could be avoided one way or the other. Imho, this bug falls into the same category. ## `Alt+Enter`/`Ctrl/Cmd+I`: OS default shortcuts for *item properties* (up to TB 91: `Edit contact`) ## Similarly, **Thunderbird currently supports the following universal OS default shortcuts on a single selected contact** for the more technical, traditional notion of **item properties** (because whenever editing a contact, you'll actually edit its properties): - `Alt+Enter` on Windows/Linux (on Windows, this will open the properties of virtually any item, try it in Explorer) - `Cmd+I` on Mac (this is the official Mac shortcut for item properties) - `Ctrl+I` on all OS for cross-OS consistency and easier support (this is courtesy of Thunderbird) I don't think we could or should ever use these shortcuts for anything else on a single selected contact, because that would violate ux-consistency with the OS platforms, which may be unexpected for users. `Ctrl/Cmd+I` is a bit tricky as in the main window, we're using that for `New Event`. I would be ok with postponing `Ctrl/Cmd+I` pending further exploration. Also, restoring these shortcuts is pretty independent of the *default action* issue. ## Default action on items in lists: The ux-efficiency booster in Thunderbird and elsewhere (via `Double-click/Enter`) ## The whole point of pre-defining a default action from many possible actions on a given item from a list is to boost ux-efficiency. Imagine if you had to go through `Context menu > Open` every time you open a file from your OS file manager - that would suck, right? Indeed. Same here. It is **universally accepted practice that the default item action will be triggered by a `double-click` on an item** (regardless if it was selected before or not, so you can directly double-click on an item without prior selection). **The keyboard equivalent is pressing `Enter`** on a selected item. So for many lists of items, **`single-click` selects, and `double-click` (or `Enter`) triggers default action. Which is extremely efficient**, and we all benefit from this every day. As Henry has correctly pointed out, **Thunderbird makes extensive use of the *default action* concept:** - double-click on a message from message list triggers `Open message [for editing]` default action (and you can finetune how it should be opened) - double-click on an attachment from attachments list typically triggers `Open attachment` default action (and you can tweak and change that in several ways) - double-click on a filter from filter list triggers `Open/Edit filter` default action - double-click on a contact from contacts list triggers `Open/Edit contact` default action. All versions of TB up to and including TB 91. **All of these are part of the ux-efficiency design which makes users love and prefer Thunderbird over webmail.** ## Thunderbird 102 introduces new actions for AB contacts - why should `Edit contact` remain the default action for `Double-click/Enter`? ## That's a fair question. I've explored this already in my Bug 1752013 Comment 7. Let's go through the possible actions one by one and see if they are suitable default actions (under the premise that we're not offering the user to choose the default action). It's worth noting that default actions are not *only* about usage frequency. Different users have different needs, so absolute frequency of actions may very and is hard to predict. Maybe you only ever use your file manager to delete or rename files, but would you ever want deleting or renaming as your *default action* on files? Double-click to delete? Double-click to rename? Moreover, would you find it acceptable if your OS would choose deleting or renaming as a default action for files? We have a somewhat similar situation here. It's not just about absolute frequency, it's also about universal acceptance. **Default actions should be safe and work reasonably well (without much surprise) for *all* types of users.** **Note 1: Triggering default action via `Double-click/Enter` must be limited to a single (selected) contact** - Double-click on multiple selected items will typically deselect all items except the one you double-clicked on. - Enter on multiple selected items should be disabled (sometimes works, e.g. on multiple selected files in Windows Explorer) **Note 2: After a selecting a contact (with single left click or navigation keys), the inherent default action is `View contact`. Fixing this regression will not change that!** - `Write`: At first sight this may look like a good default action, and certainly possible *if* we'd allow the user to choose the default action. Otoh, do we really want to *promote* to start writing messages from AB? My take: No need to promote and give high-efficiency access to Write from AB because it probably makes more sense to just use *recipient autocomplete* or *Contacts Sidebar* for that (which has an incompletely realized default action of Write, because it lives in a composition context, where writing would appear the most likely action). Why Write and not Chat? Last but not least, this could be easily realized through `Ctrl+M` (bug 1752028). - `Chat`: Not possible as a default, as many users may not even have this set up. Why Chat and not Write? - `Event`: Certainly very useful, but will this be a safe and useful default for all kinds of users? What if they don't have a calendar set up or they are not using it for invites? Why not Write? - `Search`: Certainly very useful, but will this be a useful default for all kinds of users? - `Edit`: **Given that `Open for viewing` is covered by selecting the item(s), this is a safe default for all kinds of users from Grandma to power user. No surprises. Double-click a contact in your address book, and it will open for editing.** Everyone can understand that, no one can blame us. **This is how things have worked since Thunderbird 1.0, and it's a known concept inside and outside Thunderbird (like you open any other data file for editing).** Nobody has ever requested to change the default. **All users (including enterprise!) who need to edit contacts more than once in a while will love the efficiency**. Remove this, and they will hate us. Editing contacts may also happen pretty frequently e.g. for contacts automatically collected from sending. ## Way forward ## - I strongly believe that removing an every day ux-efficiency feature which has existed forever in Thunderbird should require utmost caution and consideration, and there would have to be strong arguments in favor of removing it, more so given that nobody ever complained. - While Henry has raised some doubts on this, I'm not seeing that he has already positioned himself explicitly against fixing this regression. Let's not misread some of his statements like this one: > However, in our case we already "open" the row on selection, so we have no need to do this on "Enter". Iiuc, this statement is *not* against restoring `Edit contact` as a default action, but simply says that there's no need to make `Open for *viewing*` the default action (via `double-click/Enter`) because we already do that automatically when the user selects a contact (via `single-click`/`keyboard navigation`). Which in turn would allow us to keep `Open for editing` aka `Edit contact` as a default action, exactly as in TB 91. - Iiuc, **what Henry and Alex have said so far boils down to *not having any default action at all***, i.e. make `double-click` and `Enter` on a contact do nothing. As usual (and it's not the first time I'm having such discussions), **I'm failing to see how doing nothing on well-known shortcuts can be better than doing something useful**, for those users who know these universal usage patterns and want to benefit from them. - Fixing this regression will not have any disadvantages for anyone else. **In almost 20 years, nobody has ever complained the status quo. This is *not* a case of ux-error-prevention (for details, see my comment 7)**; if it were, please write to Microsoft and ask them to remove double-click to open files, and make sure you can handle the shit storm that would follow if they did. In fact, iirc, they once tried opening files on single-click in an attempt to ride on the browser hype, but looks like that feature has come and gone fast because nobody wanted that. - If we really believe that users will have strong feelings about making one of the *new* actions their personal default action, **fixing this regression will *not* stop us from implementing a pref allowing users to choose their favorite default action** in the future (definitely too much work for now). ## Yes, but... ## Feel free to disagree with decades of universal ux-efficiency in Thunderbird. If you do, kindly answer all of the following questions: 1. **Why has Thunderbird implemented a default action for other important lists like the message list? Would you advocate for removing those default actions as well?** 2. **What are your specific arguments in favor of removing this long-standing ux-efficiency feature** (especially removing `Edit contact` as a default action, but also removing `Alt+Enter` shortcut for the majority of Windows users)? More so given that nobody ever complained or asked to change it? 3. **What's your answer to enterprise users who may need to edit dozens of contacts every day**, and who have reported to us on countless bugs that every click counts and ux-efficiency matters? 4. If you're proposing to have no default action at all on contacts: **How is doing nothing on well-known shortcuts (`double-click`/`Enter`) better than doing something useful**, for those users who know these universal usage patterns and want to benefit from them? I rest my case. Sorry for wall of text, but tbh I find this outrageous and I'm shocked how some of us are willing to break long-standing basic ux-efficiency so casually, whereas ux-efficiency is part of the brand core of Thunderbird.
## @all: This bug is a regression, not an RFE. ## Dear friends of Thunderbird, I think it's worth noting that **this bug is not a feature request, it's a *regression.*** I cannot believe that we're having this discussion, but let's have it since ideas of ux-efficiency seem to vary widely. ## `Double-click/Enter` to trigger the default action of a list item (up to TB 91: `Edit contact`) ## **For decades, Thunderbird users have been able to edit their contacts by a simple `double-click` on the contact (regardless of its selection state) or by pressing `Enter` on a selected contact, to trigger the contact's *default action*, `Edit contact`. We should not rush to remove such basic ux-efficiency workflows, which has a high risk of backfiring** - please have a look at bug 1685007 (currently at comment 115) to understand the fireworks of user frustration and anger when forcing users into extra clicks which could be avoided one way or the other. Imho, this bug falls into the same category. ## `Alt+Enter`/`Ctrl/Cmd+I`: OS default shortcuts for *item properties* (up to TB 91: `Edit contact`) ## Similarly, **Thunderbird currently supports the following universal OS default shortcuts on a single selected contact** for the more technical, traditional notion of **item properties** (because whenever editing a contact, you'll actually edit its properties): - `Alt+Enter` on Windows/Linux (on Windows, this will open the properties of virtually any item, try it in Explorer) - `Cmd+I` on Mac (this is the official Mac shortcut for item properties) - `Ctrl+I` on all OS for cross-OS consistency and easier support (this is courtesy of Thunderbird) I don't think we could or should ever use these shortcuts for anything else on a single selected contact, because that would violate ux-consistency with the OS platforms, which may be unexpected for users. `Ctrl/Cmd+I` is a bit tricky as in the main window, we're using that for `New Event`. I would be ok with postponing `Ctrl/Cmd+I` pending further exploration. Also, restoring these shortcuts is pretty independent of the *default action* issue. ## Default action on items in lists: The ux-efficiency booster in Thunderbird and elsewhere (via `Double-click/Enter`) ## The whole point of pre-defining a default action from many possible actions on a given item from a list is to boost ux-efficiency. Imagine if you had to go through `Context menu > Open` every time you open a file from your OS file manager - that would suck, right? Indeed. Same here. It is **universally accepted practice that the default item action will be triggered by a `double-click` on an item** (regardless if it was selected before or not, so you can directly double-click on an item without prior selection). **The keyboard equivalent is pressing `Enter`** on a selected item. So for many lists of items, **`single-click` selects, and `double-click` (or `Enter`) triggers default action. Which is extremely efficient**, and we all benefit from this every day. As Henry has correctly pointed out, **Thunderbird makes extensive use of the *default action* concept:** - double-click on a message from message list triggers `Open message [for editing]` default action (and you can finetune how it should be opened) - double-click on an attachment from attachments list typically triggers `Open attachment` default action (and you can tweak and change that in several ways) - double-click on a filter from filter list triggers `Open/Edit filter` default action - double-click on a contact from contacts list triggers `Open/Edit contact` default action. All versions of TB up to and including TB 91. Same by analogy for `Enter` on any such single item when selected. **All of these are part of the ux-efficiency design which makes users love and prefer Thunderbird over webmail.** ## Thunderbird 102 introduces new actions for AB contacts - why should `Edit contact` remain the default action for `Double-click/Enter`? ## That's a fair question. I've explored this already in my Bug 1752013 Comment 7. Let's go through the possible actions one by one and see if they are suitable default actions (under the premise that we're not offering the user to choose the default action). It's worth noting that default actions are not *only* about usage frequency. Different users have different needs, so absolute frequency of actions may very and is hard to predict. Maybe you only ever use your file manager to delete or rename files, but would you ever want deleting or renaming as your *default action* on files? Double-click to delete? Double-click to rename? Moreover, would you find it acceptable if your OS would choose deleting or renaming as a default action for files? We have a somewhat similar situation here. It's not just about absolute frequency, it's also about universal acceptance. **Default actions should be safe and work reasonably well (without much surprise) for *all* types of users.** **Note 1: Triggering default action via `Double-click/Enter` must be limited to a single (selected) contact** - Double-click on multiple selected items will typically deselect all items except the one you double-clicked on. - Enter on multiple selected items should be disabled (sometimes works, e.g. on multiple selected files in Windows Explorer) **Note 2: After a selecting a contact (with single left click or navigation keys), the inherent default action is `View contact`. Fixing this regression will not change that!** - `Write`: At first sight this may look like a good default action, and certainly possible *if* we'd allow the user to choose the default action. Otoh, do we really want to *promote* to start writing messages from AB? My take: No need to promote and give high-efficiency access to Write from AB because it probably makes more sense to just use *recipient autocomplete* or *Contacts Sidebar* for that (which has an incompletely realized default action of Write, because it lives in a composition context, where writing would appear the most likely action). Why Write and not Chat? Last but not least, this could be easily realized through `Ctrl+M` (bug 1752028). - `Chat`: Not possible as a default, as many users may not even have this set up. Why Chat and not Write? - `Event`: Certainly very useful, but will this be a safe and useful default for all kinds of users? What if they don't have a calendar set up or they are not using it for invites? Why not Write? - `Search`: Certainly very useful, but will this be a useful default for all kinds of users? - `Edit`: **Given that `Open for viewing` is covered by selecting the item(s), this is a safe default for all kinds of users from Grandma to power user. No surprises. Double-click a contact in your address book, and it will open for editing.** Everyone can understand that, no one can blame us. **This is how things have worked since Thunderbird 1.0, and it's a known concept inside and outside Thunderbird (like you open any other data file for editing).** Nobody has ever requested to change the default. **All users (including enterprise!) who need to edit contacts more than once in a while will love the efficiency**. Remove this, and they will hate us. Editing contacts may also happen pretty frequently e.g. for contacts automatically collected from sending. ## Way forward ## - I strongly believe that removing an every day ux-efficiency feature which has existed forever in Thunderbird should require utmost caution and consideration, and there would have to be strong arguments in favor of removing it, more so given that nobody ever complained. - While Henry has raised some doubts on this, I'm not seeing that he has already positioned himself explicitly against fixing this regression. Let's not misread some of his statements like this one: > However, in our case we already "open" the row on selection, so we have no need to do this on "Enter". Iiuc, this statement is *not* against restoring `Edit contact` as a default action, but simply says that there's no need to make `Open for *viewing*` the default action (via `double-click/Enter`) because we already do that automatically when the user selects a contact (via `single-click`/`keyboard navigation`). Which in turn would allow us to keep `Open for editing` aka `Edit contact` as a default action, exactly as in TB 91. - Iiuc, **what Henry and Alex have said so far boils down to *not having any default action at all***, i.e. make `double-click` and `Enter` on a contact do nothing. As usual (and it's not the first time I'm having such discussions), **I'm failing to see how doing nothing on well-known shortcuts can be better than doing something useful**, for those users who know these universal usage patterns and want to benefit from them. - Fixing this regression will not have any disadvantages for anyone else. **In almost 20 years, nobody has ever complained the status quo. This is *not* a case of ux-error-prevention (for details, see my comment 7)**; if it were, please write to Microsoft and ask them to remove double-click to open files, and make sure you can handle the shit storm that would follow if they did. In fact, iirc, they once tried opening files on single-click in an attempt to ride on the browser hype, but looks like that feature has come and gone fast because nobody wanted that. - If we really believe that users will have strong feelings about making one of the *new* actions their personal default action, **fixing this regression will *not* stop us from implementing a pref allowing users to choose their favorite default action** in the future (definitely too much work for now). ## Yes, but... ## Feel free to disagree with decades of universal ux-efficiency in Thunderbird. If you do, kindly answer all of the following questions: 1. **Why has Thunderbird implemented a default action for other important lists like the message list? Would you advocate for removing those default actions as well?** 2. **What are your specific arguments in favor of removing this long-standing ux-efficiency feature** (especially removing `Edit contact` as a default action, but also removing `Alt+Enter` shortcut for the majority of Windows users)? More so given that nobody ever complained or asked to change it? 3. **What's your answer to enterprise users who may need to edit dozens of contacts every day**, and who have reported to us on countless bugs that every click counts and ux-efficiency matters? 4. If you're proposing to have no default action at all on contacts: **How is doing nothing on well-known shortcuts (`double-click`/`Enter`) better than doing something useful**, for those users who know these universal usage patterns and want to benefit from them? I rest my case. Sorry for wall of text, but tbh I find this outrageous and I'm shocked how some of us are willing to break long-standing basic ux-efficiency so casually, whereas ux-efficiency is part of the brand core of Thunderbird.
## @all: This bug is a regression, not an RFE. ## Dear friends of Thunderbird, I think it's worth noting that **this bug is not a feature request, it's a *regression.*** I cannot believe that we're having this discussion, but let's have it since ideas of ux-efficiency seem to vary widely. ## `Double-click/Enter` to trigger the default action of a list item (up to TB 91: `Edit contact`) ## **For decades, Thunderbird users have been able to edit their contacts by a simple `double-click` on the contact (regardless of its selection state) or by pressing `Enter` on a selected contact, to trigger the contact's *default action*, `Edit contact`. We should not rush to remove such basic ux-efficiency workflows, which has a high risk of backfiring** - please have a look at bug 1685007 (currently at comment 115) to understand the fireworks of user frustration and anger when forcing users into extra clicks which could be avoided one way or the other. Imho, this bug falls into the same category. ## `Alt+Enter`/`Ctrl/Cmd+I`: OS default shortcuts for *item properties* (up to TB 91: `Edit contact`) ## Similarly, **Thunderbird currently supports the following universal OS default shortcuts on a single selected contact** for the more technical, traditional notion of **item properties** (because whenever editing a contact, you'll actually edit its properties): - `Alt+Enter` on Windows/Linux (on Windows, this will open the properties of virtually any item, try it in Explorer) - `Cmd+I` on Mac (this is the official Mac shortcut for item properties) - `Ctrl+I` on all OS for cross-OS consistency and easier support (this is courtesy of Thunderbird) I don't think we could or should ever use these shortcuts for anything else on a single selected contact, because that would violate ux-consistency with the OS platforms, which may be unexpected for users. `Ctrl/Cmd+I` is a bit tricky as in the main window, we're using that for `New Event`. I would be ok with postponing `Ctrl/Cmd+I` pending further exploration. Also, restoring these shortcuts is pretty independent of the *default action* issue. ## Default action on items in lists: The ux-efficiency booster in Thunderbird and elsewhere (via `Double-click/Enter`) ## The whole point of pre-defining a default action from many possible actions on a given item from a list is to boost ux-efficiency. Imagine if you had to go through `Context menu > Open` every time you open a file from your OS file manager - that would suck, right? Indeed. Same here. It is **universally accepted practice that the default item action will be triggered by a `double-click` on an item** (regardless if it was selected before or not, so you can directly double-click on an item without prior selection). **The keyboard equivalent is pressing `Enter`** on a selected item. So for many lists of items, **`single-click` selects, and `double-click` (or `Enter`) triggers default action. Which is extremely efficient**, and we all benefit from this every day. As Henry has correctly pointed out, **Thunderbird makes extensive use of the *default action* concept:** - double-click on a message from message list triggers `Open message [for editing]` default action (and you can finetune how it should be opened) - double-click on an attachment from attachments list typically triggers `Open attachment` default action (and you can tweak and change that in several ways) - double-click on a filter from filter list triggers `Open/Edit filter` default action - double-click on a contact from contacts list triggers `Open/Edit contact` default action. All versions of TB up to and including TB 91. Same for `Enter` on any such single item when selected. **All of these are part of the ux-efficiency design which makes users love and prefer Thunderbird over webmail.** ## Thunderbird 102 introduces new actions for AB contacts - why should `Edit contact` remain the default action for `Double-click/Enter`? ## That's a fair question. I've explored this already in my Bug 1752013 Comment 7. Let's go through the possible actions one by one and see if they are suitable default actions (under the premise that we're not offering the user to choose the default action). It's worth noting that default actions are not *only* about usage frequency. Different users have different needs, so absolute frequency of actions may very and is hard to predict. Maybe you only ever use your file manager to delete or rename files, but would you ever want deleting or renaming as your *default action* on files? Double-click to delete? Double-click to rename? Moreover, would you find it acceptable if your OS would choose deleting or renaming as a default action for files? We have a somewhat similar situation here. It's not just about absolute frequency, it's also about universal acceptance. **Default actions should be safe and work reasonably well (without much surprise) for *all* types of users.** **Note 1: Triggering default action via `Double-click/Enter` must be limited to a single (selected) contact** - Double-click on multiple selected items will typically deselect all items except the one you double-clicked on. - Enter on multiple selected items should be disabled (sometimes works, e.g. on multiple selected files in Windows Explorer) **Note 2: After a selecting a contact (with single left click or navigation keys), the inherent default action is `View contact`. Fixing this regression will not change that!** - `Write`: At first sight this may look like a good default action, and certainly possible *if* we'd allow the user to choose the default action. Otoh, do we really want to *promote* to start writing messages from AB? My take: No need to promote and give high-efficiency access to Write from AB because it probably makes more sense to just use *recipient autocomplete* or *Contacts Sidebar* for that (which has an incompletely realized default action of Write, because it lives in a composition context, where writing would appear the most likely action). Why Write and not Chat? Last but not least, this could be easily realized through `Ctrl+M` (bug 1752028). - `Chat`: Not possible as a default, as many users may not even have this set up. Why Chat and not Write? - `Event`: Certainly very useful, but will this be a safe and useful default for all kinds of users? What if they don't have a calendar set up or they are not using it for invites? Why not Write? - `Search`: Certainly very useful, but will this be a useful default for all kinds of users? - `Edit`: **Given that `Open for viewing` is covered by selecting the item(s), this is a safe default for all kinds of users from Grandma to power user. No surprises. Double-click a contact in your address book, and it will open for editing.** Everyone can understand that, no one can blame us. **This is how things have worked since Thunderbird 1.0, and it's a known concept inside and outside Thunderbird (like you open any other data file for editing).** Nobody has ever requested to change the default. **All users (including enterprise!) who need to edit contacts more than once in a while will love the efficiency**. Remove this, and they will hate us. Editing contacts may also happen pretty frequently e.g. for contacts automatically collected from sending. ## Way forward ## - I strongly believe that removing an every day ux-efficiency feature which has existed forever in Thunderbird should require utmost caution and consideration, and there would have to be strong arguments in favor of removing it, more so given that nobody ever complained. - While Henry has raised some doubts on this, I'm not seeing that he has already positioned himself explicitly against fixing this regression. Let's not misread some of his statements like this one: > However, in our case we already "open" the row on selection, so we have no need to do this on "Enter". Iiuc, this statement is *not* against restoring `Edit contact` as a default action, but simply says that there's no need to make `Open for *viewing*` the default action (via `double-click/Enter`) because we already do that automatically when the user selects a contact (via `single-click`/`keyboard navigation`). Which in turn would allow us to keep `Open for editing` aka `Edit contact` as a default action, exactly as in TB 91. - Iiuc, **what Henry and Alex have said so far boils down to *not having any default action at all***, i.e. make `double-click` and `Enter` on a contact do nothing. As usual (and it's not the first time I'm having such discussions), **I'm failing to see how doing nothing on well-known shortcuts can be better than doing something useful**, for those users who know these universal usage patterns and want to benefit from them. - Fixing this regression will not have any disadvantages for anyone else. **In almost 20 years, nobody has ever complained the status quo. This is *not* a case of ux-error-prevention (for details, see my comment 7)**; if it were, please write to Microsoft and ask them to remove double-click to open files, and make sure you can handle the shit storm that would follow if they did. In fact, iirc, they once tried opening files on single-click in an attempt to ride on the browser hype, but looks like that feature has come and gone fast because nobody wanted that. - If we really believe that users will have strong feelings about making one of the *new* actions their personal default action, **fixing this regression will *not* stop us from implementing a pref allowing users to choose their favorite default action** in the future (definitely too much work for now). ## Yes, but... ## Feel free to disagree with decades of universal ux-efficiency in Thunderbird. If you do, kindly answer all of the following questions: 1. **Why has Thunderbird implemented a default action for other important lists like the message list? Would you advocate for removing those default actions as well?** 2. **What are your specific arguments in favor of removing this long-standing ux-efficiency feature** (especially removing `Edit contact` as a default action, but also removing `Alt+Enter` shortcut for the majority of Windows users)? More so given that nobody ever complained or asked to change it? 3. **What's your answer to enterprise users who may need to edit dozens of contacts every day**, and who have reported to us on countless bugs that every click counts and ux-efficiency matters? 4. If you're proposing to have no default action at all on contacts: **How is doing nothing on well-known shortcuts (`double-click`/`Enter`) better than doing something useful**, for those users who know these universal usage patterns and want to benefit from them? I rest my case. Sorry for wall of text, but tbh I find this outrageous and I'm shocked how some of us are willing to break long-standing basic ux-efficiency so casually, whereas ux-efficiency is part of the brand core of Thunderbird.
## @all: This bug is a regression, not an RFE. ## Dear friends of Thunderbird, I think it's worth noting that **this bug is not a feature request, it's a *regression.*** I cannot believe that we're having this discussion, but let's have it since ideas of ux-efficiency seem to vary widely. ## `Double-click/Enter` to trigger the default action of a list item (up to TB 91: `Edit contact`) ## **For decades, Thunderbird users have been able to edit their contacts by a simple `double-click` on the contact (regardless of its selection state) or by pressing `Enter` on a selected contact, to trigger the contact's *default action*, `Edit contact`. We should not rush to remove such basic ux-efficiency workflows, which has a high risk of backfiring** - please have a look at bug 1685007 (currently at comment 115) to understand the fireworks of user frustration and anger when forcing users into extra clicks which could be avoided one way or the other. Imho, this bug falls into the same category. ## `Alt+Enter`/`Ctrl/Cmd+I`: OS default shortcuts for *item properties* (up to TB 91: `Edit contact`) ## Similarly, **Thunderbird currently supports the following universal OS default shortcuts on a single selected contact** for the more technical, traditional notion of **item properties** (because whenever editing a contact, you'll actually edit its properties): - `Alt+Enter` on Windows/Linux (on Windows, this will open the properties of virtually any item, try it in Explorer) - `Cmd+I` on Mac (this is the official Mac shortcut for item properties) - `Ctrl+I` on all OS for cross-OS consistency and easier support (this is courtesy of Thunderbird) I don't think we could or should ever use these shortcuts for anything else on a single selected contact, because that would violate ux-consistency with the OS platforms, which may be unexpected for users. `Ctrl/Cmd+I` is a bit tricky as in the main window, we're using that for `New Event`. I would be ok with postponing `Ctrl/Cmd+I` pending further exploration. Also, restoring these shortcuts is pretty independent of the *default action* issue. ## Default action on items in lists: The ux-efficiency booster in Thunderbird and elsewhere (via `Double-click/Enter`) ## The whole point of pre-defining a default action from many possible actions on a given item from a list is to boost ux-efficiency. Imagine if you had to go through `Context menu > Open` every time you open a file from your OS file manager - that would suck, right? Indeed. Same here. It is **universally accepted practice that the default item action will be triggered by a `double-click` on an item** (regardless if it was selected before or not, so you can directly double-click on an item without prior selection). **The keyboard equivalent is pressing `Enter`** on a selected item. So for many lists of items, **`single-click` selects, and `double-click` (or `Enter`) triggers default action. Which is extremely efficient**, and we all benefit from this every day. As Henry has correctly pointed out, **Thunderbird makes extensive use of the *default action* concept:** - double-click on a message from message list triggers `Open message [for editing]` default action (and you can finetune how it should be opened) - double-click on an attachment from attachments list typically triggers `Open attachment` default action (and you can tweak and change that in several ways) - double-click on a filter from filter list triggers `Open/Edit filter` default action - double-click on a contact from contacts list triggers `Open/Edit contact` default action. All versions of TB up to and including TB 91. Same for `Enter` on any such single item when selected. **All of these are part of the ux-efficiency design which makes users love and prefer Thunderbird over webmail.** ## Thunderbird 102 introduces new actions for AB contacts - why should `Edit contact` remain the default action for `Double-click/Enter`? ## That's a fair question. I've explored this already in my Bug 1752013 Comment 7. Let's go through the possible actions one by one and see if they are suitable default actions (under the premise that we're not offering the user to choose the default action). It's worth noting that default actions are not *only* about usage frequency. Different users have different needs, so absolute frequency of actions may very and is hard to predict. Maybe you only ever use your file manager to delete or rename files, but would you ever want deleting or renaming as your *default action* on files? Double-click to delete? Double-click to rename? Moreover, would you find it acceptable if your OS would choose deleting or renaming as a default action for files? We have a somewhat similar situation here. It's not just about absolute frequency, it's also about universal acceptance. **Default actions should be safe and work reasonably well (without much surprise) for *all* types of users.** **Note 1: Triggering default action via `Double-click/Enter` must be limited to a single (selected) contact** - Double-click on multiple selected items will typically deselect all items except the one you double-clicked on. - Enter on multiple selected items should be disabled (sometimes works, e.g. on multiple selected files in Windows Explorer) **Note 2: After a selecting a contact (with single left click or navigation keys), the inherent default action is `View contact`. Fixing this regression will not change that!** - `Write`: At first sight this may look like a good default action, and certainly possible *if* we'd allow the user to choose the default action. Otoh, do we really want to *promote* to start writing messages from AB? My take: No need to promote and give high-efficiency access to Write from AB because it probably makes more sense to just use *recipient autocomplete* or *Contacts Sidebar* for that (which has an incompletely realized default action of Write, because it lives in a composition context, where writing would appear the most likely action). Why Write and not Chat? Last but not least, this could be easily realized through `Ctrl+M` (bug 1752028). - `Chat`: Not possible as a default, as many users may not even have this set up. Why Chat and not Write? - `Event`: Certainly very useful, but will this be a safe and useful default for all kinds of users? What if they don't have a calendar set up or they are not using it for invites? Why not Write? - `Search`: Certainly very useful, but will this be a useful default for all kinds of users? - `Edit`: **Given that `Open for viewing` is covered by selecting the item(s), this is a safe default for all kinds of users from Grandma to power user. No surprises. Double-click a contact in your address book, and it will open for editing.** Everyone can understand that, no one can blame us. **This is how things have worked since Thunderbird 1.0, and it's a known concept inside and outside Thunderbird (like you open any other data file for editing).** Nobody has ever requested to change the default. **All users (including enterprise!) who need to edit contacts more than once in a while will love the efficiency**. Remove this, and they will hate us. Editing contacts may also happen pretty frequently e.g. for contacts automatically collected from sending. ## Way forward ## - I strongly believe that removing an every day ux-efficiency feature which has existed forever in Thunderbird should require utmost caution and consideration, and there would have to be strong arguments in favor of removing it, more so given that nobody ever complained. - While Henry has raised some doubts on this, I'm not seeing that he has already positioned himself explicitly against fixing this regression. Let's not misread some of Henry's statements like this one: > However, in our case we already "open" the row on selection, so we have no need to do this on "Enter". Iiuc, this statement is *not* against restoring `Edit contact` as a default action, but simply says that there's no need to make `Open for *viewing*` the default action (via `double-click/Enter`) because we already do that automatically when the user selects a contact (via `single-click`/`keyboard navigation`). Which in turn would allow us to keep `Open for editing` aka `Edit contact` as a default action, exactly as in TB 91. - Iiuc, **what Henry and Alex have said so far boils down to *not having any default action at all***, i.e. make `double-click` and `Enter` on a contact do nothing. As usual (and it's not the first time I'm having such discussions), **I'm failing to see how doing nothing on well-known shortcuts can be better than doing something useful**, for those users who know these universal usage patterns and want to benefit from them. - Fixing this regression will not have any disadvantages for anyone else. **In almost 20 years, nobody has ever complained the status quo. This is *not* a case of ux-error-prevention (for details, see my comment 7)**; if it were, please write to Microsoft and ask them to remove double-click to open files, and make sure you can handle the shit storm that would follow if they did. In fact, iirc, they once tried opening files on single-click in an attempt to ride on the browser hype, but looks like that feature has come and gone fast because nobody wanted that. - If we really believe that users will have strong feelings about making one of the *new* actions their personal default action, **fixing this regression will *not* stop us from implementing a pref allowing users to choose their favorite default action** in the future (definitely too much work for now). ## Yes, but... ## Feel free to disagree with decades of universal ux-efficiency in Thunderbird. If you do, kindly answer all of the following questions: 1. **Why has Thunderbird implemented a default action for other important lists like the message list? Would you advocate for removing those default actions as well?** 2. **What are your specific arguments in favor of removing this long-standing ux-efficiency feature** (especially removing `Edit contact` as a default action, but also removing `Alt+Enter` shortcut for the majority of Windows users)? More so given that nobody ever complained or asked to change it? 3. **What's your answer to enterprise users who may need to edit dozens of contacts every day**, and who have reported to us on countless bugs that every click counts and ux-efficiency matters? 4. If you're proposing to have no default action at all on contacts: **How is doing nothing on well-known shortcuts (`double-click`/`Enter`) better than doing something useful**, for those users who know these universal usage patterns and want to benefit from them? I rest my case. Sorry for wall of text, but tbh I find this outrageous and I'm shocked how some of us are willing to break long-standing basic ux-efficiency so casually, whereas ux-efficiency is part of the brand core of Thunderbird.
## @all: This bug is a regression, not an RFE. ## Dear friends of Thunderbird, I think it's worth noting that **this bug is not a feature request, it's a *regression.*** I cannot believe that we're having this discussion, but let's have it since ideas of ux-efficiency seem to vary widely. ## `Double-click/Enter` to trigger the default action of a list item (up to TB 91: `Edit contact`) ## **For decades, Thunderbird users have been able to edit their contacts by a simple `double-click` on the contact (regardless of its selection state) or by pressing `Enter` on a selected contact, to trigger the contact's *default action*, `Edit contact`. We should not rush to remove such basic ux-efficiency workflows, which has a high risk of backfiring** - please have a look at bug 1685007 (currently at comment 115) to understand the fireworks of user frustration and anger when forcing users into extra clicks which could be avoided one way or the other. Imho, this bug falls into the same category. ## `Alt+Enter`/`Ctrl/Cmd+I`: OS default shortcuts for *item properties* (up to TB 91: `Edit contact`) ## Similarly, **Thunderbird currently supports the following universal OS default shortcuts on a single selected contact** for the more technical, traditional notion of **item properties** (because whenever editing a contact, you'll actually edit its properties): - `Alt+Enter` on Windows/Linux (on Windows, this will open the properties of virtually any item, try it in Explorer) - `Cmd+I` on Mac (this is the official Mac shortcut for item properties) - `Ctrl+I` on all OS for cross-OS consistency and easier support (this is courtesy of Thunderbird) I don't think we could or should ever use these shortcuts for anything else on a single selected contact, because that would violate ux-consistency with the OS platforms, which may be unexpected for users. `Ctrl/Cmd+I` is a bit tricky as in the main window, we're using that for `New Event`. I would be ok with postponing `Ctrl/Cmd+I` pending further exploration. Also, restoring these shortcuts is pretty independent of the *default action* issue. ## Default action on items in lists: The ux-efficiency booster in Thunderbird and elsewhere (via `Double-click/Enter`) ## The whole point of pre-defining a default action from many possible actions on a given item from a list is to boost ux-efficiency. Imagine if you had to go through `Context menu > Open` every time you open a file from your OS file manager - that would suck, right? Indeed. Same here. It is **universally accepted practice that the default item action will be triggered by a `double-click` on an item** (regardless if it was selected before or not, so you can directly double-click on an item without prior selection). **The keyboard equivalent is pressing `Enter`** on a selected item. So for many lists of items, **`single-click` selects, and `double-click` (or `Enter`) triggers default action. Which is extremely efficient**, and we all benefit from this every day. As Henry has correctly pointed out, **Thunderbird makes extensive use of the *default action* concept:** - double-click on a message from message list triggers `Open message [for editing]` default action (and you can finetune how it should be opened) - double-click on an attachment from attachments list typically triggers `Open attachment` default action (and you can tweak and change that in several ways) - double-click on a filter from filter list triggers `Open/Edit filter` default action - double-click on a contact from contacts list triggers `Open/Edit contact` default action. All versions of TB up to and including TB 91. Same for `Enter` on any such single item when selected. **All of these are part of the ux-efficiency design which makes users love and prefer Thunderbird over webmail.** ## Thunderbird 102 introduces new actions for AB contacts - why should `Edit contact` remain the default action for `Double-click/Enter`? ## That's a fair question. I've explored this already in my Bug 1752013 Comment 7. Let's go through the possible actions one by one and see if they are suitable default actions (under the premise that we're not offering the user to choose the default action). It's worth noting that default actions are not *only* about usage frequency. Different users have different needs, so absolute frequency of actions may vary and is hard to predict. Maybe you only ever use your file manager to delete or rename files, but would you ever want deleting or renaming as your *default action* on files? Double-click to delete? Double-click to rename? Moreover, would you find it acceptable if your OS would choose deleting or renaming as a default action for files? We have a somewhat similar situation here. It's not just about absolute frequency, it's also about universal acceptance. **Default actions should be safe and work reasonably well (without much surprise) for *all* types of users.** **Note 1: Triggering default action via `Double-click/Enter` must be limited to a single (selected) contact** - Double-click on multiple selected items will typically deselect all items except the one you double-clicked on. - Enter on multiple selected items should be disabled (sometimes works, e.g. on multiple selected files in Windows Explorer) **Note 2: After a selecting a contact (with single left click or navigation keys), the inherent default action is `View contact`. Fixing this regression will not change that!** - `Write`: At first sight this may look like a good default action, and certainly possible *if* we'd allow the user to choose the default action. Otoh, do we really want to *promote* to start writing messages from AB? My take: No need to promote and give high-efficiency access to Write from AB because it probably makes more sense to just use *recipient autocomplete* or *Contacts Sidebar* for that (which has an incompletely realized default action of Write, because it lives in a composition context, where writing would appear the most likely action). Why Write and not Chat? Last but not least, this could be easily realized through `Ctrl+M` (bug 1752028). - `Chat`: Not possible as a default, as many users may not even have this set up. Why Chat and not Write? - `Event`: Certainly very useful, but will this be a safe and useful default for all kinds of users? What if they don't have a calendar set up or they are not using it for invites? Why not Write? - `Search`: Certainly very useful, but will this be a useful default for all kinds of users? - `Edit`: **Given that `Open for viewing` is covered by selecting the item(s), this is a safe default for all kinds of users from Grandma to power user. No surprises. Double-click a contact in your address book, and it will open for editing.** Everyone can understand that, no one can blame us. **This is how things have worked since Thunderbird 1.0, and it's a known concept inside and outside Thunderbird (like you open any other data file for editing).** Nobody has ever requested to change the default. **All users (including enterprise!) who need to edit contacts more than once in a while will love the efficiency**. Remove this, and they will hate us. Editing contacts may also happen pretty frequently e.g. for contacts automatically collected from sending. ## Way forward ## - I strongly believe that removing an every day ux-efficiency feature which has existed forever in Thunderbird should require utmost caution and consideration, and there would have to be strong arguments in favor of removing it, more so given that nobody ever complained. - While Henry has raised some doubts on this, I'm not seeing that he has already positioned himself explicitly against fixing this regression. Let's not misread some of Henry's statements like this one: > However, in our case we already "open" the row on selection, so we have no need to do this on "Enter". Iiuc, this statement is *not* against restoring `Edit contact` as a default action, but simply says that there's no need to make `Open for *viewing*` the default action (via `double-click/Enter`) because we already do that automatically when the user selects a contact (via `single-click`/`keyboard navigation`). Which in turn would allow us to keep `Open for editing` aka `Edit contact` as a default action, exactly as in TB 91. - Iiuc, **what Henry and Alex have said so far boils down to *not having any default action at all***, i.e. make `double-click` and `Enter` on a contact do nothing. As usual (and it's not the first time I'm having such discussions), **I'm failing to see how doing nothing on well-known shortcuts can be better than doing something useful**, for those users who know these universal usage patterns and want to benefit from them. - Fixing this regression will not have any disadvantages for anyone else. **In almost 20 years, nobody has ever complained the status quo. This is *not* a case of ux-error-prevention (for details, see my comment 7)**; if it were, please write to Microsoft and ask them to remove double-click to open files, and make sure you can handle the shit storm that would follow if they did. In fact, iirc, they once tried opening files on single-click in an attempt to ride on the browser hype, but looks like that feature has come and gone fast because nobody wanted that. - If we really believe that users will have strong feelings about making one of the *new* actions their personal default action, **fixing this regression will *not* stop us from implementing a pref allowing users to choose their favorite default action** in the future (definitely too much work for now). ## Yes, but... ## Feel free to disagree with decades of universal ux-efficiency in Thunderbird. If you do, kindly answer all of the following questions: 1. **Why has Thunderbird implemented a default action for other important lists like the message list? Would you advocate for removing those default actions as well?** 2. **What are your specific arguments in favor of removing this long-standing ux-efficiency feature** (especially removing `Edit contact` as a default action, but also removing `Alt+Enter` shortcut for the majority of Windows users)? More so given that nobody ever complained or asked to change it? 3. **What's your answer to enterprise users who may need to edit dozens of contacts every day**, and who have reported to us on countless bugs that every click counts and ux-efficiency matters? 4. If you're proposing to have no default action at all on contacts: **How is doing nothing on well-known shortcuts (`double-click`/`Enter`) better than doing something useful**, for those users who know these universal usage patterns and want to benefit from them? I rest my case. Sorry for wall of text, but tbh I find this outrageous and I'm shocked how some of us are willing to break long-standing basic ux-efficiency so casually, whereas ux-efficiency is part of the brand core of Thunderbird.