Closed Bug 1192096 Opened 9 years ago Closed 3 years ago

Adding newsgroup account is not obvious under "Add other account"

Categories

(Thunderbird :: Account Manager, defect)

38 Branch
defect
Not set
minor

Tracking

(Not tracked)

RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 1727304

People

(Reporter: luweitest, Unassigned)

Details

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:39.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/39.0
Build ID: 20150630154324

Steps to reproduce:

Add a new newsgroup account


Actual results:

In account settings dialogue,  Account actions, there are four options: Add mail account, Add chat account, Add feed account, Add other account. One must select "Add other account", to see in fact there's only newsgroup account that could be added.  What's the purpose of that? It makes one feel newsgroup account is inferior to the other three. And the extra one more click. I think someone will miss it because he cannot imagine "newsgroup account" is hidden under "other account".


Expected results:

Newsgroup account option should be listed with mail account.
Summary: Add newsgroup account not obvious → Adding newsgroup account is not obvious
Component: Untriaged → Account Manager
There used to be an option for movemail too, for linux and osx. Whatever happened to movemail?
I've never understood the rationale for having "Add other account", except to disaude users from using it.
I propose we break news into it's own line item. What do you think?
Severity: normal → minor
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Ever confirmed: true
Flags: needinfo?(acelists)
Summary: Adding newsgroup account is not obvious → Adding newsgroup account is not obvious under "Add other account"
(In reply to Magnus Melin from comment #1)
> There used to be an option for movemail too, for linux and osx. Whatever
> happened to movemail?

Nothing, movemail is still there.

So Wayne, do you then propose to also move Movemail to be a top level menuitem?
Flags: needinfo?(acelists)
(In reply to :aceman from comment #3)
> (In reply to Magnus Melin from comment #1)
> > There used to be an option for movemail too, for linux and osx. Whatever
> > happened to movemail?
> 
> Nothing, movemail is still there.
> 
> So Wayne, do you then propose to also move Movemail to be a top level
> menuitem?

I'm less certain about movemail. 1. I have no idea how popular it is (or could be if made more obvious). It's only exposed to users running on linux. 2. But it is *poorly* maintain - one possible reason to not elevate it. 

Perhaps some linux folks could comment as to its usefulness. And cc joshua because afaik he's the only person to touch the code in years.  The last few years of activity http://mzl.la/1NBLrYv
Flags: needinfo?(mozilla-bugs)
Flags: needinfo?(chriechers)
But aren't you then in the same state as this bug is about? Having a single type of account under "Other account". Or is this bug specifically about the fact that newsgroups account is under "other account" ? The description doesn't sound like that. The reporter is on Windows so he does not see the dialog has the purpose of also having other account types (like the movemail).
(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk, use Needinfo for questions) from comment #4)
> And cc joshua
> because afaik he's the only person to touch the code in years.  The last few
> years of activity http://mzl.la/1NBLrYv

That is not completely true if you look at that list ;)
(In reply to :aceman from comment #6)
> (In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk, use Needinfo for questions) from comment #4)
> > And cc joshua
> > because afaik he's the only person to touch the code in years.  The last few
> > years of activity http://mzl.la/1NBLrYv
> 
> That is not completely true if you look at that list ;)

ah yes, faulty memory here. His interest predates yours. And he's currently merely the module owner.


(In reply to :aceman from comment #5)
> But aren't you then in the same state as this bug is about? Having a single
> type of account under "Other account". Or is this bug specifically about the
> fact that newsgroups account is under "other account" ? The description
> doesn't sound like that. The reporter is on Windows so he does not see the
> dialog has the purpose of also having other account types (like the
> movemail).

yes and yes. but since I already asked for linux comments, perhaps we let that line run its course
IIRC the "add newsgroup account" menu used to be parallel with other "add account" menus. The change of moving it under an ambiguous sub-menu seems an intention of discouraging the use of it, as opposed to the fact or the prospect of TB to be a universal messaging client. And the following dialogue window showing only one item (on Windows) makes the design superfluous, which enhances the feeling of being degraded.

Movemail on Linux, which I know nothing of, is another story maybe. But unless it is buggy or not supported intentionally, it won't hurt to list all kinds of account TB could support. Only five (if movemail is included)! Why so "stingy" about a menu line?
(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk, use Needinfo for questions) from comment #4)
> I'm less certain about movemail. 1. I have no idea how popular it is (or
> could be if made more obvious)

Probably not that popular. I don't use it myself, but I do remember a few questions in the support forum about setting up a movemail account.

> 2. But it is *poorly* maintain - one possible reason to not elevate it. 

I do like the idea to make News a top level menu item. The same could then be done with Movemail, since there is no point keeping the 'Other Account' menu item just for Movemail, unless any new account types are planned, which would fit into the 'Other Account' category.
Flags: needinfo?(chriechers)
Too bad we do not have telemetry - as a result we really have no way of knowing how popular it is in the linux community. Although one might assume it's primarily geeks and admins who would know about it and have cause to use it.  Anyway, I take back that is *poorly* maintained - it's better than I remebered :)
Flags: needinfo?(mozilla-bugs)

We fixed this in bug 1727304.

Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 3 years ago
Resolution: --- → DUPLICATE
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