490067 - tango icon for archive folder

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Thunderbird :: Message Reader UI, enhancement)

Description

[Bryan Clark (DevTools PM) [:clarkbw]]

I completely overlooked an icon for the Archives folder.  This should be a 16x16 icon to indicate the Archives folder location in the folder pane.  We could also create icons for the Archives sub-folders, I'm not sure what those would be or if it's really necessary.

The archives foldering looks like this w/o the flat archive ( bug 486827 ).  A main Archives folder and then sub-folders by date.

[-] Archives
 |--[-] 2008
     |-- 2008-1
     |-- 2008-2

With the flat archive it would just be the top level "Archives" folder but may have a different name like "All Mail" (in the GMail case).

A tango icon will work for both XP and Linux, so blocking both of those.

Comment 1

[Andreas Nilsson (:andreasn)]

I think the top Archive folder is the most important one, as it's indicating this is not a regular folder. Special icons for the subfolders would be a cute thing, and perhaps further empathize their special nature, but I can only think of odd metaphors for year, month (moon?), day (sun?), and I don't think it's crucial.

Some ideas for metaphors we could use for Archive:
* File cabinet [1] (windows 3.1 and GNOME use this for the general file manager app though)
* Collector Journals [2]
* A wooden box [3] (like those you put lost arks in and store them in a warehouse)
* cardboard box [4]

1. http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00723/SNA3109A-280_723180a.jpg
2. http://www.traktorpower.se/images/produkter/tidningssamlare.jpg
3. http://www.indyfan.com/gallery/wander/raiders/warehouse.jpg
4. http://klaudiamarrgallery.com/images/links/2365-OrangesandCardboardBox_w.jpg

Comment 2

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

xref bug 480470 for a toolbar button (which also would need an icon)

Comment 3

[Andreas Nilsson (:andreasn)]

I just realized that we actually drew day/week/month icons for Firefox3 (that didn't get included if I recall correctly), so we can use those.

Under Milestone 3.
http://people.mozilla.com/~faaborg/files/20071207-iconsM2/iconsM2i2.png_large.png

Comment 4

[Lapo Calamandrei]

Considering tb can host calendar plugins I will stay away from dates based metaphors.

Comment 5

[Lapo Calamandrei]

Attachment: Archive folder icons metaphor test

Here are some metaphor tests, a wrapped folder (I'd stay away from folders for themeability reasons), a file cabinet (screams for file management), a refrigerator (as store stuff away) and a bunch of stacked mails. Suggestions?

Comment 6

[Andreas Nilsson (:andreasn)]

I would find it odd to store letters in a refrigerator, but it could work as a general cupboard store thing.
Even though I'm not a fan of too many envelopes used in e-mail applications, I like the stacked letter approach.

Comment 7

[Bryan Clark (DevTools PM) [:clarkbw]]

yeah, i like the stacked letter look.  I think we'll want to avoid the date icons for the subfolders.  It's configurable (and will likely be more so in the future) how the folder system is implemented, one folder, years only, years and months...

Comment 8

[Andreas Nilsson (:andreasn)]

Attachment: archive folder icon

here is the final icon from Lapo

Comment 9

[Andreas Nilsson (:andreasn)]

Attachment: archive icon

Merged it into the folderpane.png image map.

Comment 10

[Andreas Nilsson (:andreasn)]

Attachment: icon as patch on trunk

Here is the archive icon merged into the folder-pane.png image map as a patch on trunk. This is my first shot at this patching business, so let me know if there are any issues.

Comment 11

[Bryan Clark (DevTools PM) [:clarkbw]]

nice!  it looks good and works for me.

I added the folderPane.css code to make it work and it works fine.

diff --git a/mail/themes/gnomestripe/mail/folderPane.css b/mail/themes/gnomestripe/mail/folderPane.css
--- a/mail/themes/gnomestripe/mail/folderPane.css
+++ b/mail/themes/gnomestripe/mail/folderPane.css
@@ -131,6 +131,15 @@
   list-style-image: url("chrome://messenger/skin/icons/folder-blank.png");
 }
 
+/* ..... Archives ..... */
+
+.tabmail-tab[type="folder"][SpecialFolder="Archive"] > .tab-image-middle > .tab-icon > .tab-icon-image,
+treechildren::-moz-tree-image(folderNameCol, specialFolder-Archive) {
+  background-image: url("chrome://messenger/skin/icons/folder-pane.png");
+  background-position: left -192px;
+  list-style-image: url("chrome://messenger/skin/icons/folder-blank.png");
+}
+
 /* ..... Shared folders .....
 
 treechildren::-moz-tree-image(folderNameCol, imapShared-true) {

Comment 12

[Andreas Nilsson (:andreasn)]

Attachment: patch with the image and css change

For some reason I can't get this to work on my system. I have no idea why.
Hopefully others can try it out and say if it works for them or not.

Comment 13

[Bryan Clark (DevTools PM) [:clarkbw]]

Comment on attachment 377148 [details] [diff] [review]
patch with the image and css change

works for me.  

Magnus, can you take a look at this?

Comment 14

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

Comment on attachment 377148 [details] [diff] [review]
patch with the image and css change

Sure, looks good to me! r=mkmelin

Comment 15

[Mark Banner (:standard8)]

Checked in: http://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/a79bdb9026ee