Closed Bug 107805 Opened 23 years ago Closed 21 years ago

clicking to expand mail folders should not change pane focus

Categories

(SeaMonkey :: MailNews: Message Display, defect)

Product:
SeaMonkey
Component:
MailNews: Message Display
Platform:
x86
Linux
Type:
defect
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
normal

Tracking

(Not tracked)

Status:
RESOLVED WORKSFORME
Milestone:
Future

People

(Reporter: eennjp, Assigned: ssu0262)

References

(
URL
)

Details

From Bugzilla Helper:
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:0.9.5+) Gecko/20011029
BuildID:    2001102910

On clicking on the arrows (in modern theme) which show/hide subfolders of a
folder, focus is given to the folder-list pane.

When moving messages around I invariably first select the messages I want to
move. Then I change the folder-list pane view so that the target folder is
visible. Then I drag and drop the messages to the target folder.

Changing the folder-list pane view might include using the scroll bar or
expanding/contracting folders/subfolder display. If this action gives the
folder-list pane focus, then I must somehow get focus back to the message-list
pane - by hitting tab or...? (selecting the message-list pane by mouse
invariably selects different messages)

Using the scroll bar does not give the pane focus; hitting the small blue
triangles currently does.
QA Contact: esther → olgam
After clicking something in Folder pane, it gets the focus.
If we need to get back to previously selected message, we again go to Inbox,
look for that message and select it. It would be useful enhancement, if this is
possible to keep focus on previusly selected message.  
Jennifer, what is your opinion here?

I'm not sure what the reporter is asking for. Clicking on twisties in folder 
pane should not give folder pane focus?
jglick: yes, exactly. Perhaps could be considered 4.7x regression, since AFAICT
4.7x had (and could have) focus in both panes, since up and down did not move
between folders? Since there is only one focus in mozilla mailnews, in one pane
or another, then the problem I reported surfaces.
Neil, from your bug description: 'Using the scroll bar does not give the pane 
focus; hitting the small blue triangles currently does.'
I don't see change focus to Thread pane (were we have list of messages) from 
Folder pane after expanding/collapsing internal folders. Only if we select 
something in Folder pane, it gets focus as expected. 
Perhaps the problem has been fixed since I reported it? If I can find some space
I'll try a later nightly build.
Just to reiterate the problem:
example folder layout: sibling folder of Inbox, 'parent1', which has a child
folder 'child'. Click on 'Inbox' folder name -> focus goes to folder pane.
Select message (from Inbox) -> focus goes to message-list pane and message
contents are displayed in message pane. Click on 'twistie'/blue-triangle/etc of
'parent1' folder -> focus changes from message-list pane to folder-list pane.

It is this last change that is (IMO) undesirable. It is noticed by the selected
message changing from dark blue (selected) to light blue (selected, but unfocused).
Just to confirm that I still see this behaviour on Build 2001110612 (linux).
Still present in linux 2001110815. This still unconfirmed?
I see this on Win 2K today's build.
My Linux is still not working.
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Ever confirmed: true
I see that this is an additional scenario when a user not only intentionally
selects a folder but also works with it (expanding/collapsing) - and the folder
should keep focus. This is kind of mentioned in bug 70097: comment #39.
We keep this bug for verifying all scenarios.
Updating multiple bugs. This is a valid UI issue. Would be nice to have it fixed
if time allows.
This appears to have been fixed, at least as at 2002010708.
Perhaps there is (or this is) a dupe?

Or...has the folder tree-view been changed to outliner fairly recently? That
might explain it.
reassigning to ssu.  I see this on the 1/15 Windows build.
Assignee: sspitzer → ssu
Target Milestone: --- → Future
All platforms, today's build: 
1. I see focus moved from Thread to Folder pane as soon as I use the scroll bar
(or click on a twisty) on Folder pane. But reporter says that scroll bar use
does not give the pane focus - only using twisty changes the focus.  Is it what
all you see? 
2. Since the previous message is still highlighted (easy to find), I don't see
anything wrong if Folder pane takes focus when we use scroll bar or twisty. On
Mac OSX previously selected message is Not highlighted - this is wrong.
3. There is discussion in bug 70097: comment #39, comment #71 about different
expectation for Focus change: a)default Mail state and b)user's intention (like
mouse selection of any folder). I consider using scroll bar or twisty as 'user's
intention' group and expect Focus changed to Folder pane. The necessary detail
here is to keep highlighted (not working on Mac OSX) previously selected message
till the new folder is selected.
Olga:
My original report was (I think) composed of two problems:
i) clicking on the (folder-list) scroll-bar did not change the message-list
display; clicking on a twisty selected the folder next to the twisty did change
the message-list. This was annoying because of DnD where 'finding' the target
folder (by browsing through collapsed folder-trees) would change the listing of
the source message. In any case, this was fixed fairly recently (can't pin down
when, possibly when outliner came in?).
ii) focus changing to the folder-list on use of associated twisty or scrollbar
changes *keyboard* focus, so using up/down changes the message-list to be a
different folder rather than changing which messages is displayed.

>1. I see focus moved from Thread to Folder pane as soon as I use the scroll bar
>(or click on a twisty) on Folder pane. But reporter says that scroll bar use
>does not give the pane focus - only using twisty changes the focus.  Is it what
>all you see? 

On 2002011108 (linux) I see this behaviour.

>2. Since the previous message is still highlighted (easy to find), I don't see
>anything wrong if Folder pane takes focus when we use scroll bar or twisty. On
>Mac OSX previously selected message is Not highlighted - this is wrong.

Agreed, this fixes part (i), AFAICT.

>3. There is discussion in bug 70097: comment #39, comment #71 about different
>expectation for Focus change: a)default Mail state and b)user's intention (like
>mouse selection of any folder). I consider using scroll bar or twisty as
>'user's intention' group and expect Focus changed to Folder pane. The necessary
>detail here is to keep highlighted (not working on Mac OSX) previously selected
> message till the new folder is selected.

Bug 70097 is a different bug, though related. When clicking on scroll-bar or
twisty, *mouse* focus should change (IYSWIM) but *keyboard* focus should not.
This, part (ii), is not fixed. Perhaps change bug summary to account for this.
*** Bug 208415 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Reporter: Are you happy the way it works now ?

If I select several messages in the message-view, and expand/collapse a folder
in the folder view, the focus is given to the folder-view. However, the
message-view remembers my selection, so I can easily drag them from there to
another folder without having to reselect all of them.

Try a recent build of mozilla and let us know!
Yes this looks fine now, at least with regard to fixing 'part (i)' that I
described. I'm not completely convinced of the worth of part (ii) now anyhow, so
this should probably be closed. I'm happy with the current behaviour.
Glad to hear. I agree.
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 21 years ago
Resolution: --- → WORKSFORME
Product: Browser → Seamonkey
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