143970 - add "dont ask me again" option to "advance to next unread message in another folder/newsgroup" dialog

Status: NEW

(SeaMonkey :: MailNews: Message Display, enhancement)

Description

[Andrew Jones]

From Bugzilla Helper:
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win 9x 4.90; en-US; rv:1.0rc2) Gecko/20020510
BuildID:    2002051006

When there are no more unread messages in a certain folder, 'Advance to next
unread message in ...' appears when 'Next' is pressed. This should be optional;
the user should be able to automatically go to the next unread message even if
it is in another folder.

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1. Make sure you have subscribed to at least one newsgroup.
2. Wait until there is at least one unread message in both your mail inbox and
the newsgroup's folder.
3. Select your inbox.
4. Press 'next' until 'Advance to next unread message in...?' appears.

Actual Results:  'Advance to next unread message in...?' appeared.

Expected Results:  Displayed 'Advance to next unread message in...?' and advance
to next unread message when 'ok' is pressed OR advanced to the next unread
message automatically. (Depending on the user's preference).

Will happen with any theme, and on any OS.

Comment 1

[Alex Bishop]

So basically, you want a 'Don't ask me this again' checkbox?

Comment 2

[morpheus]

Yes, pretty please?  Was about to open an RFE for this when I saw that it
already exists!

Comment 3

[Mikko Kinnunen]

Just out of curiosity: why does this confirmation exist at all? It's not like
the user is deleting files or formatting his hard drive, he is simply asking to
read the next message (which happens to be in another folder/newsgroup). I just
can't think of any reason why this would be such a "dangerous" operation that it
needs to be confirmed each and every time.

Comment 4

[Daniel Wang]

*** Bug 186908 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 5

[Daniel Wang]

*** Bug 217948 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 6

[Matthew Flaschen]

Mikko, it could result in a user reading mail out of context.  If a user 
believes he is reading mail from a certain party for example, but actually is 
not, that could have unfortunate consequences.

Comment 7

[Mikko Kinnunen]

Attachment: Illustration of option 2

User needs to know which group he is reading, but a confirmation dialog is a
really bad way of achieving that. It is an interruption and an annoyance (why
this bug exists).


Some options:

1. Show a brief message in the content area. Hitting Next shows the message,
hitting Next again moves on to the next group. Use a big font and/or other
methods to distinguish this message from regular newsgroup posts:

---
No unread messages in 
netscape.public.mozilla.win32

Advance to 
netscape.public.mozilla.wishlist
--- 


2. When group-transitions occur, briefly highlight the group name in such a way
that the user doesn't miss it. In the attached screenshot the group name is
expanded and highlighted with color. Show for 3-5 seconds so user has time to
read the entire group name.


These are just couple of very quick examples off the top of my head, better
metheds can surely be invented.

Comment 8

[Daira Hopwood]

Applies also to Thunderbird (1.0.2). Should I open a separate bug for
Thunderbird or can this apply to both?

Comment 9

[Conor McDermottroe]

One can avoid being prompted by changing the preference

mailnews.nav_crosses_folders

from 1 to 0.

If found this in bug 274728. (dup?)

This works on Thunderbird version 2.0.0.4 (20070604) on OS X. I have no idea what version this option was introduced at.

As an additional point, the name of this preference and the direction of it are pretty poor. :-) I would expect mailnews.nav_crosses_folders=0 to mean "navigation does not cross folders" rather than "don't bug me when I'm crossing folders".

Comment 11

[Pander]

workaround: http://www.mozilla.org/support/thunderbird/tips#beh_nextunread

Comment 12

[Saul Reynolds-Haertle]

I'd like to bring this one back up to the top of the list since TB5 has changed the shortcuts around. Dismissing the confirmation box now requires noticing it and changing from hitting N to hitting [space], which seems like a bit of a usability issue.